"The Ice Storm" left me cold, really cold. At the end of the movie I was left with the feeling of being sucked dry. I spent 90 minutes enduring an endless series of pointless dysfunctional encounters that made me squirm in my chair with terminal embarrassment. The characters were dismal emotional wrecks with no moral inclination whatsoever. They had managed to ruin perfectly good lives and then inflict themselves onto me.
If there was a point to this story it might have been - Adultery, wife swapping, and etc. will destroy you and all those around you. So what ? I never formed any emotional ties to any of these people anyway.
How could you take so many talented actors and create a story no one should ever see? The writers obviously had talent, how else could they create situations that actually had me hiding my face waiting for the agony to subside. They had talented actors like Joan Allen and Kevin Kline, and yet wasted their time and ours. I found it hard to believe that this came from the same director/writer team that produced the charming "Eat Drink Man Women".
On the plus side, the acting was good, the circa 1970's homes and wardrobes were the best 70's piece ever, and the cinematography outstanding. If you are the kind of person that stops to enjoy the carnage of a good train wreck, then this movie might just be for you.
If there was a point to this story it might have been - Adultery, wife swapping, and etc. will destroy you and all those around you. So what ? I never formed any emotional ties to any of these people anyway.
How could you take so many talented actors and create a story no one should ever see? The writers obviously had talent, how else could they create situations that actually had me hiding my face waiting for the agony to subside. They had talented actors like Joan Allen and Kevin Kline, and yet wasted their time and ours. I found it hard to believe that this came from the same director/writer team that produced the charming "Eat Drink Man Women".
On the plus side, the acting was good, the circa 1970's homes and wardrobes were the best 70's piece ever, and the cinematography outstanding. If you are the kind of person that stops to enjoy the carnage of a good train wreck, then this movie might just be for you.