The Ice Storm
Ang Lee
United States
1997
Suburban Connecticut, 1973. While the Watergate hearings blast from the TV, the wayward Hood and Carver families try to navigate a Thanksgiving break simmering with unspoken resentments, sexual experimentation, and cultural confusion. With crystalline clarity, characteristic subtlety, and even a dose of wicked humor, Academy Award–winning director Ang Lee adapts Rick Moody’s acclaimed novel of American malaise into a trenchant, tragic portrait of lost souls. Featuring a tremendous cast of established actors (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver) and up-and-coming stars (Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes), The Ice Storm is one of the finest films of the nineties.
Cast
| Ben Hood | Kevin Kline |
| Elena Hood | Joan Allen |
| Janey Carver | Sigourney Weaver |
| Paul Hood | Tobey Maguire |
| Wendy Hood | Christina Ricci |
| Mikey Carver | Elijah Wood |
| Jim Carver | Jamey Sheridan |
| Sandy Carver | Adam Hann-Byrd |
| Libbets Casey | Katie Holmes |
| Francis Davenport | David Krumholtz |
| Phillip Edwards | Michael Cumpsty |
| George Clair | Henry Czerny |
| Dot Halford | Allison Janney |
| Neil Conrad | Glenn Fitzgerald |
Credits
| Director | Ang Lee |
| Screenplay | James Schamus |
| Producer | Ted Hope, Ang Lee and James Schamus |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Editing | Tim Squyres |
| Based upon the novel by | Rick Moody |
| Music | Mychael Danna |
| Production Design | Mark Friedberg |
| Costume design | Carol Oditz |
Disc Features
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Ang Lee and director of photography Frederick Elmes
- Audio commentary featuring Lee and producer-screenwriter James Schamus
- New documentary featuring interviews with actors Joan Allen, Kevin Kline, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Sigourney Weaver, and Elijah Wood
- New video interview with novelist Rick Moody
- Deleted scenes
- Footage from an event honoring Lee and Schamus at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image
- Visual essays featuring interviews with the cinematographer, production designer, and costume designer
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A new essay by film critic Bill Krohn
From the Current
’TIS THE SEASON
Nov 3, 2009The term holiday movie doesn’t have to conjure Christmas carols or miracles at Macy’s. Case in point: the personal, even skewed, films chosen by a few filmmakers as their holiday favorites for a seasonal http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/movies/01favorites.html?_r=1&ref...
ANG’S PIECE OF PI
Nov 2, 2009Ang Lee has confirmed that his next film will be an adaptation of Yann Martel’s mammoth best-seller Life of Pi, the fanciful tale of a young boy from Pondicherry, India, who survives a shipwreck only to be stranded in a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger as his companion. The...
The Ice Storm: Baby, It’s Cold Outside
by Mar 17, 2008Asked by French journalists in a 2001 interview what recent films he most admired, Brian De Palma named Ang Lee’s 1997 The Ice Storm. It was surprising to hear one of the...
