E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Country: US
Technical: col 115m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote
Synopsis:
A small boy befriends an alien visitor left behind by his spaceship, and intuitively attempts to hide him from the adult world.
Review:
The film which probably says more about the Spielberg psyche than any other, and which certainly tapped into a vein with a hugely appreciative worldwide audience. This is Science-Fiction lite compared with Close Encounters: here the Lacombe character is reduced to a bogeyman-like sideshow, until he is revealed to be nothing more than a grown-up version of the film's hero Elliott. Instead what we have is another version of the Peter Pan myth, with the child hero forming a friendship with a magical figure from a world beyond the quotidian, a figure who both appreciates and inhabits him until it is time for it to leave him behind, forever altered. The extremely simple tale is put together with consummate artistry and engaging performances from its young cast, maestro Williams delivers his best Spielberg score to date, and there are a couple of nods to Lucasfilms' own animatronic star, Yoda, unveiled a couple of years before. Indeed, the film functions on a level quite apart from its thematic interest as reassuring fable (a world without evil characters), namely that of socio-historical document, with its privileged and prolonged glimpse into a suburban American home.
Country: US
Technical: col 115m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote
Synopsis:
A small boy befriends an alien visitor left behind by his spaceship, and intuitively attempts to hide him from the adult world.
Review:
The film which probably says more about the Spielberg psyche than any other, and which certainly tapped into a vein with a hugely appreciative worldwide audience. This is Science-Fiction lite compared with Close Encounters: here the Lacombe character is reduced to a bogeyman-like sideshow, until he is revealed to be nothing more than a grown-up version of the film's hero Elliott. Instead what we have is another version of the Peter Pan myth, with the child hero forming a friendship with a magical figure from a world beyond the quotidian, a figure who both appreciates and inhabits him until it is time for it to leave him behind, forever altered. The extremely simple tale is put together with consummate artistry and engaging performances from its young cast, maestro Williams delivers his best Spielberg score to date, and there are a couple of nods to Lucasfilms' own animatronic star, Yoda, unveiled a couple of years before. Indeed, the film functions on a level quite apart from its thematic interest as reassuring fable (a world without evil characters), namely that of socio-historical document, with its privileged and prolonged glimpse into a suburban American home.
Country: US
Technical: col 115m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote
Synopsis:
A small boy befriends an alien visitor left behind by his spaceship, and intuitively attempts to hide him from the adult world.
Review:
The film which probably says more about the Spielberg psyche than any other, and which certainly tapped into a vein with a hugely appreciative worldwide audience. This is Science-Fiction lite compared with Close Encounters: here the Lacombe character is reduced to a bogeyman-like sideshow, until he is revealed to be nothing more than a grown-up version of the film's hero Elliott. Instead what we have is another version of the Peter Pan myth, with the child hero forming a friendship with a magical figure from a world beyond the quotidian, a figure who both appreciates and inhabits him until it is time for it to leave him behind, forever altered. The extremely simple tale is put together with consummate artistry and engaging performances from its young cast, maestro Williams delivers his best Spielberg score to date, and there are a couple of nods to Lucasfilms' own animatronic star, Yoda, unveiled a couple of years before. Indeed, the film functions on a level quite apart from its thematic interest as reassuring fable (a world without evil characters), namely that of socio-historical document, with its privileged and prolonged glimpse into a suburban American home.