MovieChat Forums > The Ice Storm (1997) Discussion > Why watch this film?? Brief Response (SP...

Why watch this film?? Brief Response (SPOILERS).

posted 15 years ago by SissyGoforth
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In response to debate about whether this film is as good as/better than American Beauty or whether it is a film of merit I would argue:

The film doesn't compare to American Beauty - for me this film is more universal: the totality of the film's style is more realistic than American Beauty, the despair of the characters is less melodramatic and more mundane, and there is an option for hope at the end of this story which doesnt exist in American Beauty - the known fate and likely consequences for increased separation within the Carver family compared to the opportunity for the "Kline/Allen" family to communicate and return to their earlier bonds was fragile but plausible.

The pathos is more disturbing in The Ice Storm - the father's grief at finding his son dead in comparison to the silent witnesses of the scene was the greatest insight into that character, unfortunately left too late. And the following scene with the Sigourney character opening her eyes at the sound of her husband's cries when you know that she is about to learn that her child is dead was sublime, there was no need for anything further to be filmed there.

The presentation of each generation as subject to the same frailities also distinguishes The Ice Storm from American Beauty - this film doesn't seek to portion blame on the parents for the disconnect but leaves the viewer as a passive voyeur of the broader ramifications of a society in freefall.

Watch this film, is brilliant.

[–] prplmnstr 15 years ago

I liked both of them, but American Beauty is one of my all-time favorites whereas The Ice Storm is not. The Ice Storm and In the Bedroom both are of the same genre as American Beauty, I would say, but American Beauty speaks the most to me, personally as it has that bit of Billy Wilder in it, not to mention the gobs of Ordinary People. I can't say whether it's better than worse, but it peeves me when folks say, "The film doesn't compare to [insert film here]." Both are films, aren't they? If I want to compare The Godfather and Up I can do it, too, and American Beauty OBVIOUSLY shares many themes with The Ice Storm.

American Beauty doesn't just blame the parents, it blames everyone, and also simultaneously removes some of the blame; we even see Chris Cooper's character as a flawed, tragic figure in the same way we see Spacey and Bening.

I found the whole ice storm part of the movie to be kinda weird, really. I mean, what was the point of the whole film? I gave it 8/10 'cuz I thought it was very good with the tension and dialogue (especially the Christina Ricci stuff; realistic, hilarious and touching!), but the ending is where it fell apart for me; the climax was an anticlimax. This subdued ending was obviously Ang Lee's intent, but it just didn't work for me. True, life oftentimes has anticlimaxes, not climaxes, but for all the places the story seemed to be going, killing off a kid seemed like a freakin' cop-out, especially the way it happened. Maybe if he fell, cracked his back and died of hypothermia it might be plausible (and we'd see the search party trying to find him, only to get to him a little bit too late), but the movie's version just didn't work for me. Also, the soundtrack was not nearly as effective as American Beauty's. Again, Ang Lee's intent, probably, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.