Storms Remembered
Jan. 20th, 2026 05:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
setsuledI used to love watching Ang Lee movies constantly. Around 25 years ago, if I wanted a guaranteed good time, I'd pop in Eat Drink Man Woman or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. So it's weird that it's been so long since I watched one. The Criterion Channel has had 1997's The Ice Storm online for a couple months and I started watching it again and was amazed how I kind of forgot about this movie that I used to watch repeatedly. It's a Thanksgiving movie and I never even think of it when Thanksgiving rolls around. It's weird.
The last Ang Lee movie I really got excited for was Lust, Caution, which was a decent movie and one I ought to watch again since I've been reading about that period in Japanese history, it would be nice to get the Chinese perspective as well on Japan's occupation of Manchuria. But after Lust, Caution, Life of Pi was just okay and then I didn't even feel interested in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and Gemini Man. I have no idea why.
I'd forgotten how funny The Ice Storm is. Almost every scene concludes with an excellent punchline of some kind, which is strange because when one thinks of it, whether one has seen it or not, one tends to think of it as a grim family tragedy, which it is as well. But it's also really funny. My favourite character is Sigourney Weaver's character, Janey. Of all the confused and conflicted characters, she knows exactly what she wants and has little patience for all these crazy people. She's having an affair with Kevin Kline's character and tells him bluntly she already has a husband and doesn't want another one when he starts trying to chat with her after sex.
I love her reaction in this scene when he tries to talk about his wife suspecting their affair. Her facial expression clearly says, "Why are you even talking?"
Janey's all physical and is impatient she has to put up with this world of abstract thought and morals. My favourite part is when she catches Christina Ricci's fourteen year old character exposing herself to her son. So she pulls her aside and babbles about how her body's a temple and then goes on to a vague story about kids in ancient tribes being sent off into the woods to "learn a thing or two."
This ensemble movie kind of sits at a junction of Hollywood history. It has these two '80s stars, Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, and then a bunch of up-and-comers--Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, and Katey Holmes. And they're all good in it.
The Ice Storm is available on The Criterion Channel.
The last Ang Lee movie I really got excited for was Lust, Caution, which was a decent movie and one I ought to watch again since I've been reading about that period in Japanese history, it would be nice to get the Chinese perspective as well on Japan's occupation of Manchuria. But after Lust, Caution, Life of Pi was just okay and then I didn't even feel interested in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and Gemini Man. I have no idea why.
I'd forgotten how funny The Ice Storm is. Almost every scene concludes with an excellent punchline of some kind, which is strange because when one thinks of it, whether one has seen it or not, one tends to think of it as a grim family tragedy, which it is as well. But it's also really funny. My favourite character is Sigourney Weaver's character, Janey. Of all the confused and conflicted characters, she knows exactly what she wants and has little patience for all these crazy people. She's having an affair with Kevin Kline's character and tells him bluntly she already has a husband and doesn't want another one when he starts trying to chat with her after sex.
I love her reaction in this scene when he tries to talk about his wife suspecting their affair. Her facial expression clearly says, "Why are you even talking?"
Janey's all physical and is impatient she has to put up with this world of abstract thought and morals. My favourite part is when she catches Christina Ricci's fourteen year old character exposing herself to her son. So she pulls her aside and babbles about how her body's a temple and then goes on to a vague story about kids in ancient tribes being sent off into the woods to "learn a thing or two."
This ensemble movie kind of sits at a junction of Hollywood history. It has these two '80s stars, Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, and then a bunch of up-and-comers--Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, and Katey Holmes. And they're all good in it.
The Ice Storm is available on The Criterion Channel.
