film review

Film Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Society & Entertainment
Film Review
What do you get when you combine aliens, a little bit of
mystery,
tasteful comedy, good acting, and award-winning direction? A
wonderful film
from one of the most celebrated directors of our time, Stephen
Spielberg.
"Close Encounters" places Richard Dreyfuss and Melinda Barro in
roles of regular
suburbanites who both believe to have seen a UFO. The plot
thickens and the
intrigue begins when these two determined people try to find out
what is really
going on in their town. Dreyfuss, obsessed with the UFO
sightings, nearly
drives his family away, and destroys his home in suburbia because
of his
unrelinquished need to answer his own questions. Although this
is obviously a
science fiction film, Dreyfuss also turns in just the right
amount of delightful
comedy to keep boredom from the audience's grasp. Spielberg has
won a hit with
his heartfelt, intriguing, sci-fi flick that has that patented
Spielberg ending
we all have grown to love over the years.
The reason for the greatness of this movie lies firmly in
the
outstanding performances by Dreyfuss, Barro, and co-star Terri

Garr. Dreyfuss
has a knack for being able to portray an erratic man who in one
instant is
completely normal, and at other times becomes utterly insane.
Melinda Barro
also puts in an extremely believable performance as Dreyfuss's
side-kick in
search of her abducted son. But perhaps the most hidden success
of this movie
is the very underrated actress Teri Garr, who put in her two
cents as Dreyfuss's
wife. Garr did play a small role, yet it was effective, it
produced a gauge of
just how crazy Dreyfuss was really getting. The wonderful acting
carried the
film over the obvious special effects that Spielberg uses.
This film was pretty much original for it's time, but
once you see the
special effects, you are instantly reminded of films like E.T.,
Star Wars and
other such science fiction slash space odyssey's of our time.
But since this
movie was made before many of these others, I believe it was just
a draw off all
of the stories and possibilities of encountering another life
form.
"Close Encounters" has a good mixture of character and
film
cinematography. Spielberg relies on the actors to make the
special effects seem

that much more special. He also uses several very effective
camera techniques,
like tilt shots to convey the message of power or insignificance,
or a series of
jump-cuts to relay the feel of intenseness to the audience. In
one particular
scene, a chase scene, Spielberg effectively uses jump-cutting
between the
protagonists, Dreyfuss and Barro, and the government, who are
trying to keep
these two away from a rendezvous with the aliens. During most of
the movie the
shots were straight up full shots with some interesting close-ups
to bring
significance to character or object, relying on the special
effects to wow the
audience.
I believe that Spielberg wanted simply to make the
audience think. He
wanted us to ponder the possibilities of an encounter with
another life form as
well as to think of the many things that we are naive to. He
wanted us to
realize that we know very little of what the government does, and
far less about
the rest of the universe. "Close Encounters" is not another one
of those no-
brainers that spoon feed everything to you; the film makes you
think and
formulate your own opinions. For me, this flick was very

interesting and
extremely worth the time and money I spent to watch it. Hooray
for Spielberg!!!