Synopsis
We are not alone.
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Directed by Steven Spielberg
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
The Special Edition: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Close Encounter of the Third Kind, CE3K, Watch the Skies, Encuentros cercanos del tercer tipo, Unheimliche Begegnung der dritten Art, Rencontres du troisième type, Incontri ravvicinati del terzo tipo, Близкие контакты третьей степени, Tehlikeli İlişkiler, Blízká setkání třetího druhu, Encuentros en la tercera fase, Encontros Imediatos do 3º Grau, Harmadik típusú találkozások, Närkontakt av tredje graden, 第三类接触, Блиски сусрети треће врсте, 未知との遭遇, Nærkontakt af tredje grad, Στενές Επαφές Τρίτου Τύπου, Bliskie spotkania trzeciego stopnia, מפגשים מהסוג השלישי, 미지와의 조우, Kolmannen asteen yhteys, Contatos Imediatos do Terceiro Grau, Întâlnire de gradul trei, Encontres a la tercera fase, Encuentros Cercanos del Tercer Tipo, Близки срещи от третия вид, Близькі контакти третього ступеня, Blízke stretnutie tretieho druhu, Encontros na Terceira Fase, 第三類接觸, มนุษย์ต่างโลก, Bliski susreti treće vrste, Artimi trečiojo laipsnio kontaktai, Nærkontakt av tredje grad, Kolmanda astme lähikontakt, Trešās pakāpes ciešie kontakti, Sự Tiếp Xúc của Thế Giới thứ Ba
In the doc that precedes the 40th anniversary release, director Denis Villeneuve suggests the movie is a personal one for Spielberg beyond his obvious fascination with the material. He says the movie is about movie-making too, which struck me as a little trite – and cliche – in the moment. I mean, how many directors and their films has this been/could it be said about?
And yet, watching this time, I was struck by Roy Neary's journey from blue-collar electric lineman to obsessed artist, chasing the perfect representation of his vision regardless of how it alienates him from his family, friends, and co-workers – all of society, really. I never gave it a second thought before, but it's notable that…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
A movie about the importance of leaving your wife and kids in order to pursue your passion (to fly in a UFO).
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Oof, I'm ready for the blow back. Guys, gals, I really did not enjoy "Close Encounters." It was way too long, kind of boring, and the story is nearly nonexistent. What's going on here? Richard Dreyfuss is visited by aliens, goes crazy, and abandons his family to party with outer space little people. This is a timeless family classic?
There is some stuff I enjoyed, like the scene in Dreyfuss's car when he first is visited by the aliens, the mashed potatoes "This means something" scene, and the visual effects throughout the whole climax. But the rest of it... eh.
I didn't think there was any internal logic to the movie nor were the characters motivated by anything other than…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
100
(35mm, Director's Cut)
If Jaws was the rise of the commercial blockbuster - albeit one with sharp, savage technical bravura and small character dynamics - then Close Encounters was the setting sun of abstract, sprawling, experimental science-fiction. Spielberg's trademarks are all here in abundance (crumbling family units, cross-talking, sustained sequences of suspense) but the focus in this 1977 classic is primarily one of sculpture and confrontation, engagement and rapport. Spielberg communicates through universal methods of information - TVs, radio signals, air traffic controllers etc. - but deliberately keeps Roy in the dark to fend for his own journey, one formed via artistic creation and sculpting of visions and flashes of inspiration. Much of Close Encounters is hinged on the…
What makes this science-fiction drama/conspiracy-thriller so special and poetic is that you can watch it as a kid (like I did) and simply go oh hell yeah UFOs are REAL and the government is LYING to us and we should go on an adventure to prove that there are cool little mischievous alien guys out there, and the movie is immaculately crafted (shoutout Vilmos Zsigmond, Douglas Trumbull + John Williams) in order to work on that exciting and satisfying genre movie level. But then you return to it as an adult and it is first and foremost a domestic horror film; one of the most heart-wrenching depictions of a family unit and home in the process of breaking down.
A…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
An experiencer dad abandons his shrewish wife and four extremely annoying and ungrateful children to smoke weed and play keyboards in space with alien grays. Very cool.
There is also some stuff about how grays have been doing electro stim to the prostates of WWII era pilots for forty years and the French government is really interested in this for some reason.
“He says the sun came out last night. He says it sang to him.”
In a scene toward the end of William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives, a film boldly confronting some painful realities of war decades before it was fashionable, an unemployed and unemployable veteran bombardier, played by Dana Andrews, finds himself wandering through a graveyard of B-17 bombers. Seating himself in the nose of a gutted warplane, he remembers the sensation of the engines starting before the aircraft taxis for take off; a feat Wyler achieves with remarkable efficiency through the use of score, camera movement and the audience’s imagination.
Key to this sequence is a tracking shot that evokes the sensation of the dead B-17…