Review: The Ice Storm

Set in affluent Connecticut in 1973, and centring on two families who are both perfect ‘Apple Pie’ American families on the outside, but beneath the surface, both parents and children are full of boredom, angst, rebelliousness, deceit, lust, and utter confusion. Kevin Kline and Joan Allen’s marriage has hit a dull patch, and so Kline is seeking sexual fulfilment from bitchy Sigourney Weaver, whose own husband Jamey Sheridan is barely around. Allen, for her part, is being wooed by a long-haired, unorthodox preacher. Christina Ricci and Tobey Maguire are Allen and Kline’s kids. The latter is away at boarding school and trying to get into the pants of cute Katie Holmes, whilst pal David Krumholtz is ready to add her to his many conquests. Ricci, meanwhile, is just 14, but is already politically-savvy, and is even in the early stages of sexual experimentation through Weaver’s kids; sensitive young Elijah Wood and his even younger, oddball brother Adam Hann-Byrd.

 

This powerful, sometimes darkly humorous 1997 Ang Lee (“Sense and Sensibility”, “Brokeback Mountain”, “Hulk”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) drama appears to be one of those films you either wholeheartedly get or you don’t get it at all. I’m firmly in the former category, but even I’ll admit the characters are, excuse the pun, a bit chilly for the most part. It’s a tribute to Lee, the cast, and the material (based on a book by Rick Moody), that I became quite emotional before the film was over. In fact, the characters here made me very angry. With the exception of Maguire’s Paul (whose role as narrator at first seems thankless, but at least proves to be the only person who ultimately acts responsibly in the entire film), everyone in this film behaves absolutely terribly and recklessly, and as the film reaches its climax, it all comes to tragedy that affects everyone. The film isn’t so much about affluent life in swinging early 70s America, as it is about parental neglect, self-absorption, and children being left to grow too fast too soon. That’s not to say that the parents here are the only ones behaving badly here; Ricci’s character is pretty dreadful to both Wood and Hann-Byrd, and even Maguire has underhanded motives in mind, at least initially. But at the end of the day, these are just kids mostly, and when one looks at how their parents behave, it’s no wonder they’re all starting to behave inappropriately.

 

Sigourney Weaver, in an astonishing performance (she’s a terribly underrated actress to begin with), plays perhaps the worst offender of the adults here. Whilst it’s perhaps fair to say that bad spouses aren’t necessarily bad parents, Weaver proves to be a pretty shocking parent. When she finds Ricci and Hann-Byrd (who is younger than Ricci) playing ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’, her response is to give the two young teenagers an hilariously bizarre, wholly age-inappropriate lecture on some book she read about coming of age in an indigenous culture. I mean, this woman clearly has no idea how to communicate with children, I’m not sure why she even has them, nurturing is about as far from her nature as you can possibly get. That’s not to say she’s an evil person, just a self-absorbed one who needs a big wakeup call. Had she been more aware of her children’s presence, she’d see that weird little Hann-Byrd (who has destructive tendencies) and Wood (who has discovered the wonderment of boobs) are in dire need of someone (rational) to talk to, which is why the finale is so utterly tragic. Her treatment of adults isn’t all that much better, she finds her husband boring so she is sleeping with the also married Kline. But when he starts whining about his day, her response is cold and incredibly ruthless; ‘I already have a husband...I don’t particularly feel the need for another’. But at least she’s forthright about who she is, which is better than can be said for Kline, who is not only a gutless wonder (almost apologetic about his spinelessness, actually), he’s insecure, and a total hypocrite. For the latter, witness the scene where he’s visiting Weaver for a little ‘Afternoon Delight’, and catches Wood with his 14 year-old daughter Ricci. All in this one moment he gets to play lying jerk, terrible guilt, shocked parent, and total hypocrite at the same time. And yet, one of the more likeable characters in the film, thanks solely to Kline’s innate affability. It’s his best-ever work, in my opinion (and he’s usually pretty damn good). His character isn’t a bad man, just an unfaithful husband and a father who can’t quite connect with his kids the way he probably wants to. Meanwhile, Allen’s always been a bit frosty and overrated in my view, but her long-suffering character might be one of the easiest for most people to relate to. I preferred her in “Pleasantville” (she’s never been warmer than in that film as yet another bored housewife), but she does fine work here as a woman who might be about to make similar mistakes (Can you say, ‘Key Party’, anyone?) as her husband just to get back at him. But who really wins in that kind of situation? No one, that’s who. Christina Ricci’s character as I said, behaves dreadfully, but her performance is so perceptive she allows us to see that yes, she does treat others badly, but she’s ultimately not as grown-up and wise as she thinks she is. Ultimately, she’s still a little girl who needs her daddy to comfort her. She also has some pretty amusingly acerbic (her Thanksgiving dinner speech is the film’s comedic highlight) and downright oddball moments throughout that show she’s not your usual cookie-cutter young talent. Maguire, whilst a fine actor in other films (“Pleasantville”, “Spider-Man”), ultimately gets the least interesting of the film’s main characters. If anything, he’s like our window into the film, rather than a fully-fleshed out character himself. If the film has a flaw, it’s that Maguire’s adventures in trying to score with Holmes (in her cinematic debut) aren’t nearly as interesting as the rest of the film. He doesn’t really get all that much to do, unfortunately. Look for Allison Janney as an hilariously enthusiastic ‘key party’ host, she’s in pitch-perfect form. The film’s pretty heavy-going and some will call it a bit aloof, but Janney is proof that it’s not all dour and depressing stuff. Hell, even the Maguire scenes at least function as a bit of light relief for the most part.

 

The other thing that is crucial to this film’s success is its finale, which in its aftermath allows the majority of its characters to see the error of their ways and hopefully try and do better from now on. It’s just so sad that a tragedy had to be the catalyst for this shared understanding. It’ll make you sad and angry.

 

This is easily one of the best films of 1997, and far more emotionally devastating than another ice-related film from 1997 that I could name, which sadly ran off with 11 Oscars. This film wasn’t even nominated for any! That’s a travesty, in my view. A must-see, and thankfully there’s no Celine Dion cat-strangling on the soundtrack, either. The screenplay is by James Schamus (Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Taking Woodstock”), adapting Moody’s novel.

 

Rating: B+