Ang Lee is simply one of the greatest directors alive. Last year's Life Of Pi solidified that for me. I would compare him to Stanley Kubrick in the way he is able to adapt to many different genres, and master them. Examining any three of his films in a row, in this case 1997's The Ice Storm, an atmospheric, fatalist drama of 1970's New England suburbanite family dysfunction, sandwiched between 1995's Jane Austen period comedy Sense And Sensibility, and 1999's civil war drama Ride With The Devil, shows an artist unwilling to settle into a comfort zone.

When I first saw The Ice Storm, during its theatrical release in 1997, I knew it would become one of the best films…

Suburbia has always been a fascinating subject to watch on film. Speaking for myself, the allure to the subject has always been the dark secrets that distinguish each household apart in an otherwise indistinguishable neighborhood.

The Ice Storm centers around two middle-class, suburban families, the Hoods (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, and a very young Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci) and the Carvers (Jamey Sheridan, Sigourney Weaver, and a very young Elijah Wood and Adam Hann-Byrd, in the early 1970s as they deal with how the social and political events of the 60s begin to influence suburbia. Every character is looking for love, and it is through their experimentation with sex, drugs and alcohol that they expect to find it.

Ang…

I haven't read the novel on which this film is based but will probably seek out for it as I haven't been this impressed and shaken by a (fairly) recent American drama in a long time. Ang Lee's look at suburban, middle-class life is quietly powerful and unfolds in a slow but riveting manner. The titular ice storm is beautifully shot and due to its nature increases the feeling of confinement in the film. It's a very down-to-earth, small-scale film chronicling a few days in the lives of two neighboring families, punctuated by key events that themselves don't immediately create drama but linger over the film in the same way the storm does. The result is atmospheric, cold and brooding,…

Ang Lee's devastating drama about awkward sexuality and suburban malaise in the early 1970s, THE ICE STORM has not aged a day, though the younger cast members certainly have! (More on that later).

Set in the days when the sexual revolution of the late '60s was creeping its way clumsily into the suburbs, the film concerns an intricate web of deceptions, awakenings, and tragedies (both minor and major) that occur over the Thanksgiving holiday for two neighboring families.

The ensemble cast is absolutely first-rate, without a single slack or uninteresting performance. Kevin Kline and Joan Allen star as Mr. and Mrs. Hood, whose relationship has stalled after 17 years of marriage. Mr. Hood is having an affair with icily sexy…

Janey: Ben, you're boring me. I have a husband. I don't have a need for another one.

It's honesty hits you hard but underneath it's cold veneer, Ang Lee's beautiful adaptation of Rick Moody's novel is heartfelt and wonderfully acted that lingers with you well after the final act.

An intense and sometimes humourous examination of suburban Connecticut families in meltdown - not in the most obvious sense but through quiet interactions and sexual indiscretions. This leads up to a night of sexual exploration, jealousy, childish ways and a tragedy that is the result of adults own self-importance and inability to thaw their emotions.

As always, Ang Lee is a wonderful director of actors and his entire cast is prove…

It's quite something to come back to this movie after 15 years. It was always my favourite Ang Lee movie but I suspected that my opinion of it as a 16 year old was deeply flawed and never gave it the respect it deserved. I've had a burning desire to revisit it for the past year and now have finally got my hands on a copy, never to let it go again.

Great set design and costume are the first things that strike you about this authentic feeling 70s suburbia. Ang Lee's direction seems to be paced perfectly and is aided in wonderful compositions by cinematographer Frederick Elmes. But it is so much more than pretty pictures and measured storytelling.…

Ang Lee is simply one of the greatest directors alive. Last year's Life Of Pi solidified that for me. I would compare him to Stanley Kubrick in the way he is able to adapt to many different genres, and master them. Examining any three of his films in a row, in this case 1997's The Ice Storm, an atmospheric, fatalist drama of 1970's New England suburbanite family dysfunction, sandwiched between 1995's Jane Austen period comedy Sense And Sensibility, and 1999's civil war drama Ride With The Devil, shows an artist unwilling to settle into a comfort zone.

When I first saw The Ice Storm, during its theatrical release in 1997, I knew it would become one of the best films…

I think the thing that I liked most about the film was the ability of Ang Lee and James Schamus to inject humor, emotion into this tale of two neighbor families without making it melodramatic, overblown (surely what haters of American Beauty would criticize about that film), that's saying a lot because the cast is great. It's really an all-star cast, as Kevin Kline (one of the more underrated actors of his generation if you ask me), Joan Allen are brilliant as a husband and wife going through marital troubles, throw in a strong supporting turns from Sigourney Weaver, Jamey Sheridan, a cast of teens that have all gone unsurprisingly on to successful adult careers in Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci,…