Viking Night: The Ice Storm
By Bruce Hall
February 18, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
And Ang Lee ruined it all with The Ice Storm.
For those not in the know, this would be the film adaptation of the novel by Rick Moody. It would be Ang Lee’s second English language film, so why not follow a stuffy, 18th century classic with a cynical, sexually charged indictment of the upper middle class nuclear family, circa 1973? Not only is there no chance you’ll be accused of repeating yourself, but you’ll get a chance to stretch your legs; maybe set yourself up for an Oscar later. Even without the benefit of hindsight, you could say the combination of a bright young filmmaker on the rise, an ensemble cast of talent both new and established, and critically acclaimed source material combined for one of the better overlooked films of the late 1990s.
One of the cool things about where I live is that the surrounding neighborhood was designed in the 1970s. This means the usual allotment of homes that look like something out of Logan’s Run, and a lot of giant, splintery wood beams placed at unusual angles. But there’s also a series of open spaces and walking trails interlinking the subdivision, so that it feels as much like an open space as a neighborhood. Close your eyes and imagine this arrangement, but spread out more and separated by trees. Then imagine you have the resources for a 5,000 square foot split level home, but not to know that your daughter has more experience with drugs than you do or that your wife has got more miles on her than the family car.
Now open your eyes, and say hello to the Hoods and the Carvers.
The Hoods consist of father Ben (Kevin Kline), who makes good money and thus has lots of friends, but he has the coping skills of a 16-year-old, so his life is an increasingly unfulfilling circus of home avoidance and self-gratification. His wife Elena (Joan Allen) has a maternal streak a mile wide and dresses like a card carrying member of the 700 Club. She seems ideal for a guy like Ben, but deep inside she seems to know what she’s gotten herself into, and could be looking for an excuse to spread her wings. Their son Paul (Tobey MacGuire) literally is Peter Parker. He’s a kind hearted dweeb with a heart of gold who takes constant abuse from everyone he knows, and does so with the good natured humility of a true hero. His best friend is his younger sister Wendy (Christina Ricci), a socially conscious, sexually adventurous teenager whose outrageous behavior belies a heart as callow as her father’s.
Just a hop, skip and a hump away are the Carvers, who seem less dysfunctional only because dad’s never around. Jim (Jamey Sheridan) was probably captain of the football team, is a hard worker and says his prayers every night before bed. But he’s also an oblivious twit who’s away on business for weeks at a time, and is Mr. Missionary with the Missus when he’s home. Janey (Sigourney Weaver) was probably the Prom Queen, and slept with all of Jim’s friends before marrying him for his stable nature and solid income. She indulges her boredom by regularly knocking boots with Ben, but she’s growing tired of his childlike level of self-preoccupation. The Carver children are Mikey (Elijah Wood), a nature obsessed weirdo with eyes (and other bits) for Wendy. His younger brother Sandy (Adam Hann-Byrd) is a perpetually shell shocked basket case whose gentle heart is exceeded only by his simple mind.
The overarching narrative is implied to be from Paul’s point of view, but each character’s path is subjected to ample examination. And the film’s events take place against the backdrop of a looming ice storm – freezing rain that leaves a deadly slick, unearthly sheen over everything it touches. The incoming freeze mirrors, to some degree, the disintegration of almost all the relationships in the movie, and the high point of the story comes as the storm hits. The adults are defiantly holed up at an avant-garde sex party (really, is there any other kind?) while their children are left to literally wander through their feelings alone. It sounds sad, but there’s a dark, twisted streak of humor present that comforts you as you watch fathers, sons, mothers and daughters alike stumble through equally broken relationships with equal levels of adolescent clumsiness.
But there are ties that bind them, as there are with all friends and with all families. And that unity is what holds together a captivating, but very slow moving story. Ang Lee has a gift for capturing things on film that cannot be seen, and his graceful work here lends serenity to chaos, and helps infuse even moments of humor with ripples of emotion. The cast members are uniformly superb, to the point that even Katie Holmes (as an object of Paul’s longing) doesn’t annoy me the way she usually does. The only real bitch I have is that the story ends so awkwardly. We know that sooner or later these characters are going to be forced to reckon with what they’ve wrought and either unite as families or tear each other apart for good. But the eventual catalyst for this, and the way that it’s handled, leave you feeling a little empty – but perhaps that’s the point.
It is by no means a masterpiece, but it’s a fascinating, funny, atmospheric (and somewhat exaggerated) look at how lack of communication can kill relationships, and how constant longing for what’s on the other side of the fence creates a hole in your soul that can never be filled. Sometimes it takes the unexpected to shake a family out of dysfunction and bring them together - or tear them further apart. And as The Ice Storm comes to an end, some of the characters are headed one way, and some the other. If you like a movie that leaves you wondering what happens to everyone AFTER the credits roll, then The Ice Storm will intrigue you. For the rest of you, it may be an exercise in frustration. As for me - despite the complete absence of an orbiting nuclear weapons platform anywhere in the story – it remains one of my favorite overlooked films of the ‘90s.