The Ice Storm

A showcase of the director Ang Lee's work. It is an ambitious psychological drama that strives to capture the crisis of moral values through the gradual deterioration of two marriages. The film has a refined form, which I give 5 stars, but in terms of content, it lags behind. The emotional impact of several strong scenes, such as the wife swapping through key drawing, is greater than all seasons of Californication combined, and it is nice that the film does not try to exploit this chaos and looks at the actions of the film characters critically, but the raging elements and the fateful accident were supposed to be the catalyst of conflict and drive their heroes towards catharsis. Here, it feels more like a dampening element that masks the fact that none of those who went back to their homes changed their characteristics and behavior. The weak one remains a coward, the self-centered remains selfish, and the hypocrite remains a hypocrite. In terms of the cast, it is a luxurious affair. Just for this, The Ice Storm is worth seeing. And there is one more thing that makes Ice Storm interesting. It is one of the last Hollywood films where smoking tobacco is depicted as a common part of the middle-generation lifestyle. American cinema once played a significant role in promoting tobacco on screen, but in the mid-90s, studio executives sensed a change in the social climate and, with their own hypocrisy, caused cigarettes to disappear from films before any pressure could come from activist organizations. As the protagonist of the film Thank You for Smoking says, if a smoker appears in a movie today, they are either a psychopath or a European. Overall impression: 90%. (01/11/2013)

A cynical materialization of the inherent comicality of interpersonal relationships. We see the ridiculousness of upper-middle-class marital etudes everywhere, but The Ice Storm offers no relief even in the innocent humping of socially incarcerated teens, whose loves and relationships are portrayed here with equal picaresque and brokenness with virtually no possibility of repair. This is aided by the cast of then-young freaks Maguire, Ricci, Hann-Byrd, and Wood, all of whom come across as terribly creepy here. "I’m back!" "You were gone?". (03/28/2021)

The actress is quite convincing, the chemistry between the man and woman is average, but it’s very good between the husband and wife, albeit not completely believable. Ang Lee portrays the problem of adolescence very sensitively and many scenes are heart-wrenching. The intimacy is immense. The adult world is not as excellent and there are holes in the story, especially the malfunctioning third weel in the form of Sigourney Weaver, whose character is not strong or distinctive enough. But it is definitely worth watching. Ang Lee is a man of many visions and he was close to fulfilling one here. (06/07/2008)

I liked these two weirdly connected families a lot. The drama was palpable, Tobey Maguire wasn’t spitting cobwebs everywhere (which was a good thing), Christina Ricci was like Wednesday again (which was even better), and I savored all the quiet desperation. (12/26/2021)

A film that stands on incredibly stable foundations of actors' performances, where not a single actor is poorly chosen and they all play what is needed for a given scene. Above all, young actors who deliver truly great work will surprise you. Kevin Kline should also be given more opportunities in good films. (03/29/2016)