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<blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 360817" data-attributes="member: 23"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial</span></strong> (1982)</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.saymedia-content.com%2F.image%2Fc_limit%252Ccs_srgb%252Cfl_progressive%252Cq_auto%3Aeco%252Cw_700%2FMTc0NDYxOTg4NzEyMjI4MjAw%2Ffilm-review-et-the-extra-terrestrial.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2c151d1378c03ba4d2da7c640e07241be3760485838cc6d0a695a90b8c040ade&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 533px" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">For my entire adult life I've been meaning to re-watch this, but never got round to it until last night. All these years later it's still a beautiful, magical film.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">A couple of things in particular struck me about it last night.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">First was the choice to make it a kids' adventure by showing things almost entirely from their POV. For the first three quarters of the film the only adult face we see is that of Mary. All other adults are either shown from waist down (like the teacher during the frog dissection scene) or completely covered up (the hazmat suit wearing agents who invade the family home) or in the shadows or in extreme long shot. This doesn't shift until Keys arrives and E.T. is no longer just the kids secret. This choice never registered with me as a child, but it leapt out at me last night.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Secondly, I was surprised at how aesthetically dark it is. Many of the scenes take place at night, in shade or in darkened rooms. This all gives the film an air of mystery and secrecy.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Steven Spielberg always presents suburbia in an interesting way and I love the way it's done here. The juxtaposition of the newly broken family in the house which is the image of middle class comfort works well. There's also a big heart and a great deal of emotional intelligence (at one point it occurred to me that if <em>Knots Landing</em> had done an alien storyline, this is pretty much what we'd have got). Themes of grief and loss and trust are all present and correct.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">I also noticed (for the first time) a couple of familiar Spielberg techniques used in this film... most notably the dolly zoom:</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[MEDIA=youtube]3qY5Twk-RpI[/MEDIA]</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">And an axial cut just before the flying sequence (at 1:05 here):</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[MEDIA=youtube]oR1-UFrcZ0k:63[/MEDIA]</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">For all the limitations of the time with SFX, E. T. himself is as effective as ever. He has such a brilliantly expressive face that every look is filled with meaning.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mel O'Drama, post: 360817, member: 23"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=6]E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial[/SIZE][/B] (1982) [IMG width="533px"]https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.saymedia-content.com%2F.image%2Fc_limit%252Ccs_srgb%252Cfl_progressive%252Cq_auto%3Aeco%252Cw_700%2FMTc0NDYxOTg4NzEyMjI4MjAw%2Ffilm-review-et-the-extra-terrestrial.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2c151d1378c03ba4d2da7c640e07241be3760485838cc6d0a695a90b8c040ade&ipo=images[/IMG] For my entire adult life I've been meaning to re-watch this, but never got round to it until last night. All these years later it's still a beautiful, magical film. A couple of things in particular struck me about it last night. First was the choice to make it a kids' adventure by showing things almost entirely from their POV. For the first three quarters of the film the only adult face we see is that of Mary. All other adults are either shown from waist down (like the teacher during the frog dissection scene) or completely covered up (the hazmat suit wearing agents who invade the family home) or in the shadows or in extreme long shot. This doesn't shift until Keys arrives and E.T. is no longer just the kids secret. This choice never registered with me as a child, but it leapt out at me last night. Secondly, I was surprised at how aesthetically dark it is. Many of the scenes take place at night, in shade or in darkened rooms. This all gives the film an air of mystery and secrecy. Steven Spielberg always presents suburbia in an interesting way and I love the way it's done here. The juxtaposition of the newly broken family in the house which is the image of middle class comfort works well. There's also a big heart and a great deal of emotional intelligence (at one point it occurred to me that if [I]Knots Landing[/I] had done an alien storyline, this is pretty much what we'd have got). Themes of grief and loss and trust are all present and correct. I also noticed (for the first time) a couple of familiar Spielberg techniques used in this film... most notably the dolly zoom: [MEDIA=youtube]3qY5Twk-RpI[/MEDIA] And an axial cut just before the flying sequence (at 1:05 here): [MEDIA=youtube]oR1-UFrcZ0k:63[/MEDIA] For all the limitations of the time with SFX, E. T. himself is as effective as ever. He has such a brilliantly expressive face that every look is filled with meaning.[/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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