Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
I said it before and I’ll say it again, but
Steven Spielberg is a freakin’ movie-making genius. Even in the infancy of his
career, you could see he was destined for big things in Hollywood. Well, he
struck gold with Jaws (see my review), and now he
returns with his science-fiction feature Close Encounters of the Third
Kind. Along with Star Wars, you can
credit this movie for bringing sci-fi back into the realm of filmmaking. That
is just one of the variety of reasons why I love this movie. It is an honest,
mysterious movie about extraterrestrial life. The film gives off a sense of
aura of mystery and wonder that will stay with you long after the movie is
over. Unlike most aliens in movies, I love how Spielberg created these beings
as peaceful, friendly aliens, and that Spielberg gave his human characters that
sense. In other words, no one is hell-bent on annihilating these aliens. With a
wonderful cast and crew behind him, Spielberg created one of cinema’s richest,
influential movies about aliens.
So this movie has two important segments that
are interwoven with each other. Each segment is a connective tissue for the
other segment, and Spielberg (who also wrote this film) incorporates his magic
very well. Our first segment has a bunch of scientists investigating mysterious
objects that appear out of nowhere in the desert regions and these scientists
are perplexed until French scientist Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut) uses
knowledge of music as a basis of communication with these objects. The
responses they get are confusing until cartographer David Laughlin (Bob
Balaban) figures out the meaning of these responses. Meanwhile in the small
town of Muncie, Indiana, electrician Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and
single mother Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) lives are connected when they
experience a bunch of flashing lights in the form of UFOS. Their lives become
affected in every way as Roy starts having visions about what is occurring
and is obsessed with finding out what is going on, and Jillian needs
to figure out the connection between these mysterious UFOS and her
three-year-old son, Barry.
The cast and the crew do a wonderful
job in putting this film together. After a huge blockbuster,
Spielberg gained the right to make any film he wanted , and he chose this film
to do. Somewhat of a passion project for him. Not to my surprise, Spielberg did
an amazing job as director. He created a tight, effective story and he leaves
the audience clamoring for more. The look of the film is really good, thanks to
the amazing work done by cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. There are two scenes
that just show the majesty of his camerawork. The first scene is where Barry
opens the door to this orange flashing light of the UFOS, The use of color here
is amazing, and in return we get one of the most iconic shots of the film. The
final scene I want to mention is when a whole bunch of UFOS fly over the town.
There is a high-angle shot of a large UFO shadow hanging over a pickup truck.
Brilliant camerawork!
Now this film wouldn’t have worked as well if
it wasn’t for the amazing score by John Williams. He previously worked with
Spielberg on Jaws and created one of the most iconic scores ever
made thanks to the use of only two notes. Well, this time he works with only
five notes. These five notes is the main communication method of the mother
alien ship and then Williams incorporated it into the main theme. Like many of
William’s works, this score is an all-time great.
Now the film is very well-acted. I really
loved Richard Dreyfuss’s performance. After his roles in American Graffiti and Jaws, I was not sure
that he could have done a better performance. Well he did just exactly that.
His obsession became quite enticing to watch even as it was negatively messing
up his life. I liked the way he figured out clues-really loved that scene with
the mashed potato sculpture of Devil’s Tower. The other performances are solid,
even if they’re not exactly memorable. Sure, we have the likes of Francois
Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, and Teri Garr (who played Roy’s wife), but I think
this was mostly a one-man show for Richard Dreyfuss. Although the kid who
played Barry did a good job.
Overall, Close Encounter of the Third
Kind is a very worthy follow-up to Jaws. I love what
kind of science-fiction movie this is. One that delivers a sense of awe and
mystery throughout the entire film. See, I love looking up at the night sky and
wondering if there is any life out there at all. This film asks that question
and more. It also asks if there was life, what kind of beings would they be?
Well the film’s jaw-dropping finale tells us the answer. I loved how the film
introduced us to these aliens, but also how it dealt with first contact in the
confines of Devil’s Tower. The ending will blow your mind away. Give credit
where credit is due, but those visual effects are quite polished for a 1977
feature. I highly recommend this movie because it is one of the greatest sci-fi
films of all time. Not many films reach the heights this film does. Thank you
for this expertly-crafted movie, Mr. Spielberg.
My Grade: A
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