The Big
Chill was a mix of friendship, Motown music, and life lessons
that really touched me. When Glenn Close got up on stage to talk about the
film, she was like an angel. She was just glowing with adoration for the movie,
which was produced 30 years ago and directed by Lawrence Kasdan (the writer
behind the film version of The Empire
Strikes Back), and she gushed on about the talented cast and crew, the
chemistry and camaraderie between the characters, and the off-screen
friendships that developed and still continue to this day. I was a little
apprehensive before it began because I wasn’t sure if a film centered around a
group of middle-aged friends would have anything to do with my own life or
anything to which I could relate. Seeing as how that has never really kept me
from seeing other films that were not necessarily targeted at my demographic, I
went into the film with as few presuppositions as I could manage.
Whether you’ve experienced the same things that this group of friends has or you haven’t, it was still a fantastic piece of work and can be received by just about anyone. The director really took you into the lives of these people and made it such a character-driven film, and I think the chemistry between the cast, and the way their relationships felt so genuine while dealing with their friend’s recent suicide, was what made it so moving. Although several hundred years may lie between Shakespeare’s time and The Big Chill’s, there’s something to be said about the way these works, from both creators, base their stories around the intricacies of their character networks. Shakespeare’s plays are not just read today because people have nothing else to fill their time; with all of the recent innovations in entertainment, you might think that plays written four hundred years ago would have become relics of a time gone by. But they are still read because of the intimate human connections that exist between the characters, amidst the magical language and the twisted plot lines. The Big Chill has achieved high cinematic status not just because of the good looks of Glenn Close or Kevin Cline (who was also Bottom in the 1994 version of Midsummer Night’s Dream), but because audiences saw something in the relationships between these characters that they loved, that was relevant in their own lives. We hold onto these films and plays made years ago because the situations these characters go through are the ones we have gone through, or will. My biggest takeaway from this film and from Glenn Close’s lecture is that whether it’s a film or a play or any piece of art, if we as human beings can connect to it in some way, whether it be emotionally or on a different level, we are infinitely more inclined, as time goes on, to carry those works with us in our hearts and minds.
Whether you’ve experienced the same things that this group of friends has or you haven’t, it was still a fantastic piece of work and can be received by just about anyone. The director really took you into the lives of these people and made it such a character-driven film, and I think the chemistry between the cast, and the way their relationships felt so genuine while dealing with their friend’s recent suicide, was what made it so moving. Although several hundred years may lie between Shakespeare’s time and The Big Chill’s, there’s something to be said about the way these works, from both creators, base their stories around the intricacies of their character networks. Shakespeare’s plays are not just read today because people have nothing else to fill their time; with all of the recent innovations in entertainment, you might think that plays written four hundred years ago would have become relics of a time gone by. But they are still read because of the intimate human connections that exist between the characters, amidst the magical language and the twisted plot lines. The Big Chill has achieved high cinematic status not just because of the good looks of Glenn Close or Kevin Cline (who was also Bottom in the 1994 version of Midsummer Night’s Dream), but because audiences saw something in the relationships between these characters that they loved, that was relevant in their own lives. We hold onto these films and plays made years ago because the situations these characters go through are the ones we have gone through, or will. My biggest takeaway from this film and from Glenn Close’s lecture is that whether it’s a film or a play or any piece of art, if we as human beings can connect to it in some way, whether it be emotionally or on a different level, we are infinitely more inclined, as time goes on, to carry those works with us in our hearts and minds.
Vicki, this is a heartfelt account of your own transport--and in particular, the special delight in seeing an actor step out of the screen and appear in three dimensions. I think there is something interesting to be said about the trailing history of parts played that inflects the film; Kline as Bottom (15 years later) becomes indissociable from Kline in other roles. The notion ties in with the special conditions of this screening, in which a star appears alongside the film she once acted. Your particular link to Shakespeare is otherwise failry unparticular: shared greatness, through the depiction of rich and complex human relationships. I think you're right, but I wonder whether you can draw in some of the works we have read to work this out.
ReplyDelete