The Ice Storm (1997)
83%RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 BAFTA Award
6 wins & 34 nominations total
Director Ang Lee revisits the ennui-laden decadence of 1970s suburban America with deft humor and gripping pathos
The Ice Storm” is a movie that captures the essence of suburban life in the 1970s. It’s like watching a time capsule of a time when people were trying to find their way in a world that was changing rapidly. The movie is beautifully directed by Ang Lee, and the performances are top-notch. The story is told through the eyes of the children, which adds a layer of innocence to the film. It’s a movie that will make you laugh, cry, and think about your own life. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride!
Production Company(ies)
Orion-Nova Productions,
Distributor
Fox, 20th Century Fox
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
New Canaan, Connecticut, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for sexuality and drug use, including scenes involving children, and for language
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 53m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 27, 1997 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 17, 2002
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Sigourney Weaver, directed by Ang Lee, written by Rick Moody and James Schamus, drama, R-rated, box office gross $7.9M, produced by Ted Hope, Ang Lee, James Schamus, reviewed by Gene Siskel, David Ansen, Todd McCarthy, Brian Eggert, David Thomson, Tom Meek, Owen Gleiberman, Margaret Pomeranz, Michael Atkinson, Brian D Johnson, ensemble cast, Thanksgiving, suburban America, infidelity, sexual affairs, ice storm, upper-middle-class, emotional deep freeze, 1970s, Watergate scandal, drugs, alcohol, swinging, dysfunctional families, suppressed emotions, tragedy, subtle brilliance, hypnotizing, gripping pathos, deft humor, ennui-laden decadence, surgical precision, compassionate, alienation, moral vacuity, puberty, sexual evolution, compassion, ensemble pieces, upper-middle-class, emotional deep freeze, surgical precision, compassionate, alienation, moral vacuity, puberty, sexual evolution, compassion
Worldwide gross: $8,038,061
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $14,983,596
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,817
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,633,980
US/Canada gross: $8,038,061
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $14,983,596
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,495
US/Canada opening weekend: $75,183
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $140,147
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,813
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $18,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $33,553,456
Production budget ranking: 1,085
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $18,068,536
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$36,638,396
ROI to date (est.): -71%
ROI ranking: 1,812
Joan Allen – Elena Hood
Henry Czerny – George Clair
Adam Hann-Byrd – Sandy Carver
David Krumholtz – Francis Davenport
Tobey Maguire – Paul Hood
Sigourney Weaver – Janey Carver
Christina Ricci – Wendy Hood
Elijah Wood – Mikey Carver
Director – Ang Lee
Producers – Ted Hope, Ang Lee, James Schamus
Writers – Rick Moody, James Schamus
Director(s)
Ang Lee
Writer(s)
Rick Moody, James Schamus
Producer(s)
Ted Hope, Ang Lee, James Schamus
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 BAFTA Award
6 wins & 34 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (69) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (10)
Nothing less than one of the year’s best pictures, a portrait of wealthy Connecticut suburbanites in the 1970s whose lives have no emotional or spiritual rudder.
March 28, 2019 | Rating: 4/4
Gene Siskel
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
The Ice Storm captures this place, this season, this garish and confused moment in history, with surgical precision…It’s Lee’s sympathetic detachment that gives the movie its paradoxical power.
February 27, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
Among its many virtues, ‘The Ice Storm’ keenly captures the sheer, visceral terror of puberty-of grappling with these urges, trying to do what you think you’re supposed to, and lashing out when you can’t.
October 7, 2017
Jason Bailey
Vice
TOP CRITIC
I think one of the things [Ang Lee] really specializes in is ensemble pieces like this one.
February 27, 2014
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
September 7, 2011 | Rating: B+
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
A well-observed and deftly performed examination of upper-middle-class emotional deep freeze…
July 28, 2008
Todd McCarthy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The Ice Storm contains a deeply human authenticity and willingness to portray, but not resolve, its characters’ collective alienation.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Family life — the real focus of The Ice Storm — is rendered as having something like the alienating density of prison; each solitary feels enclosed in his or her own sentence and injustice.
August 12, 2020
David Thomson
Esquire Magazine
The film’s smartly told through the eyes of the children…
August 7, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Tom Meek
Cambridge Day
The key to The Ice Storm’s ambiguity and unexpected depth is that the events of the story mean wholly different things to different characters — there’s no moral, just life sliced like a loaf of bread.
October 25, 2019
Michael Atkinson
Spin
Elegantly directed by Sense and Sensibility’s Ang Lee, it frames the moral vacuity of the Seventies with cool, contemporary hindsight.
October 11, 2019
Brian D. Johnson
Maclean’s Magazine
What struck me about it was the fluidity and discipline of Lee’s direction, the performances which captured so beautifully the confusion of that period of cultural and sexual evolution, and the compassion which I think is a feature of all of Lee’s films.
February 27, 2014
Margaret Pomeranz
At the Movies (Australia)…
Plot
During the 1973 Thanksgiving weekend, the Hoods are – relationship-wise, skidding out-of-control, isolated from each other; Benjamin reels from drink-to-drink, His wife, Elena’s losing patience with Ben’s incessant lies. Home for the holidays, their son, Paul, heads into Manhattan, in search of a rich girl from his prep school. Wendy, the teenage daughter, roams the neighborhood, exploring the liquor and lingerie of her friends’ parents, looking for something – anything – new. Then, an ice storm hits, and their problems seem inconsequential, and nothing will ever be the same.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for The Ice Storm.
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