I will often refer to Close Encounters as my favorite Spielberg film. For me, all of the magic that makes every Spielberg movie stand out is all wrapped up into the nice package that is Close Encounters. This is mostly due to the strong visual style with wonderful practical effects, the interesting characters, and the music. As a start, the characters work incredibly well in the film. Roy’s decent into madness is only heightened by the fact that Spielberg took elements from his personal family life, and used them to create Roy’s family. That dysfunctional nature that was a real element for Spielberg allows the very low-level, personal conflict in the story much more interesting. However, while the acting for the most part, there were some times where I chuckled to myself at how bad some of the dialogue was. If I had a dime for every time Barry’s Mom yelled somebody’s name repeatedly, I’d have a number of dimes… but more than I would like to have. Another great character in the story is John Williams’s score. Although one could make the argument that the score is “just a background piece” of the movie, Close Encounters is different. Like Jaws, the musical cues are so distinct that the music is all that is necessary for the audience to make a connection. Doing that in the way John Williams does makes the audience feel smart for recognizing this, which is a great thing. The story itself is quite simple, but also equally impactful. I’d argue that under just about any other director, the movie would not work. What allows it to work is Spielberg’s eye for inventive shots that add to the story. For example, one of the best scenes is when Roy makes a sculpture of Devil’s Tower while a TV in the background plays Looney Tunes. Not only does this offer some fun visual comedy, but it also adds to the reality of the situation, which is important in a movie all about aliens making people addicted to their newest single album. Speaking of the music (again), it brings me back to earlier in the film in a scene that I found did not age particularly well that I felt the need to address. There is a group of scenes in India where large groups of people flock to basically worship the aliens. While I understand the intention being to see how the aliens affect the entire world, it feels somewhat degrading to portray that large group of people in that way. Really, the scenes just didn’t age well. This is a very American centred movie, and I would have liked seeing the way other countries reacted to the issue of an alien threat. But, this is an incredibly engaging film. The flow of the story is clear and, like Jaws, straight to the point. So, being that the film has probably resonated with me longer than any other Spielberg project I’ve seen, I’m probably ranking this higher than I should. But, I’m going to give it an 8.5/10
Another Flipping Film Blog 