Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 135m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut (as the one character, Lacombe, who does know what is going on), Teri Garr
Synopsis:
Scientists investigate apparent extra-terrestrial phenomena across the globe, and in Wyoming a husband and single mother leave their homes for differing reasons to renew contact with the alien force.
Review:
A film which might be accused of ponderousness and overkill but which does achieve moments of ingenuity and visual power typical of its director. The deceptive benevolence of the whole show is maintained for maximum dramatic effect (a cunning reversal of audience expectations from a director fresh from the success of Jaws), and it plays like a mystery story for intellectuals with uncomprehending characters to root for all the while. The domestic scenes were initially strident and over-extended but trimmed for the Special Edition in 1980, when some superfluous interior shots of the spaceship were also added. One element quickly became a Spielberg mannerism, and passed into the Hollywood lexicon: the shot of awestruck faces, incorporating a slow forward track.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 135m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut (as the one character, Lacombe, who does know what is going on), Teri Garr
Synopsis:
Scientists investigate apparent extra-terrestrial phenomena across the globe, and in Wyoming a husband and single mother leave their homes for differing reasons to renew contact with the alien force.
Review:
A film which might be accused of ponderousness and overkill but which does achieve moments of ingenuity and visual power typical of its director. The deceptive benevolence of the whole show is maintained for maximum dramatic effect (a cunning reversal of audience expectations from a director fresh from the success of Jaws), and it plays like a mystery story for intellectuals with uncomprehending characters to root for all the while. The domestic scenes were initially strident and over-extended but trimmed for the Special Edition in 1980, when some superfluous interior shots of the spaceship were also added. One element quickly became a Spielberg mannerism, and passed into the Hollywood lexicon: the shot of awestruck faces, incorporating a slow forward track.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 135m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut (as the one character, Lacombe, who does know what is going on), Teri Garr
Synopsis:
Scientists investigate apparent extra-terrestrial phenomena across the globe, and in Wyoming a husband and single mother leave their homes for differing reasons to renew contact with the alien force.
Review:
A film which might be accused of ponderousness and overkill but which does achieve moments of ingenuity and visual power typical of its director. The deceptive benevolence of the whole show is maintained for maximum dramatic effect (a cunning reversal of audience expectations from a director fresh from the success of Jaws), and it plays like a mystery story for intellectuals with uncomprehending characters to root for all the while. The domestic scenes were initially strident and over-extended but trimmed for the Special Edition in 1980, when some superfluous interior shots of the spaceship were also added. One element quickly became a Spielberg mannerism, and passed into the Hollywood lexicon: the shot of awestruck faces, incorporating a slow forward track.