airolg’s review published on Letterboxd:
Set in sexually revolutionary 1973, The Ice Storm profiles two suburban families in New Canaan, Connecticut dealing with new norms and social changes of their time. Director Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) produces a stunning look into the affluent but dysfunctional lifestyles of the neighbored Hood and Carver families.
Father Ben Hood (Kevin Kline) becomes dependent on alcohol while he has an affair with matriarch Janey Carver, played by Sigourney Weaver. Betrayed wife Elena Hood (Joan Allen) tries to find herself again while she deals with pressure and temptation to have sex outside her marriage.
Young Christina Ricci plays 14 year-old nymphet Wendy Hood. She finds her own desires with the Carver boys, played by Elijah Wood and Adam Hann-Byrd.
Tobey Maguire plays sweet, awkward 16 year-old Paul Hood commuting home for Thanksgiving from his NYC prep school by train. The film also chronicles his side story with trying to get laid and facing drugs with a pretty girl interested in his best friend.
Both the parents and adolescents parallel in their exploration of forbidden pleasures including sex and substances and how they deal with those new challenges. The parents are just as frustrated and inexperienced at handling sexual situations and experimentation. We see that although both age groups are facing the same things, the adults' careless actions lead to major consequences.
If you liked American beauty, you will love The Ice Storm. Both films profile inevitable flaws that come with the American Dream in modern-day suburbia. I personally think that this film may have actually been an inspiration for American Beauty, which came out two years after The Ice Storm's 1997 release.
Beautifully written and directed, The Ice Storm immerses watchers in the quaint, real world of New Canaan, CT and provides a look into the lives of its imperfect residents. 8.5/10
I found a link to a thorough comparison here:
(SPOILER ALERT- don't read the bottom half of the page before watching)
cla.calpoly.edu/cla/legacies/rsimon/rsimonsite/hum410/IceSAmeBchart.htm