The Ice Storm

This is an almost cringe-makingly detailed trip through middle-class confusion in 1970s Connecticut, beautifully adapted from Rick Moody's highly-regarded novel by Lee's regular producer James Schamus.

The Ice Storm takes place as an early winter storm descends on Connecticut, casting over Thanksgiving a shroud of impending doom.

...the film pivots around two intertwined and interdependent conflicts: old world tradition versus change and society's expectations versus an individual desires.

...this is a period social drama - intelligent, worthy, wordy, and choc full of dodgy flares, big hair, Frank Zappa and flowery shirts. But it's also one of the finest of its genre you will ever see.

Ang Lee's chilly, oddly distant look at unhappy suburbanites trying to make sense of the new morality and their miserable lives is an honorable film, beautifully acted...