Le Temps des Secrets (2022) - Barratier misses with period drama with an acute case of the cutes

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Three happy children roam the wild hills of Provence on this pleasant poster for Christophe Barratier's Le Temps des Secrets

Marcel goes away with his family for Summer vacation in Provence and reaffirms his friendship with the local peasant's son there. But this year, a girl comes between the two.

Le Temps des Secrets is written by Laurent Turner (La Chance de Ma Vie (2010)) and co-writer/director, French master filmmaker Christophe Barratier (The Chorus/Les Choristes (2004)). It is an adaptation of French writer/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol's autobiographical Souvenirs D'Enfance novels (1957-60). The title translates to 'the time of secrets'.

Barratier lavishes expensive camera work and production values but regrettably comes to present a film that feels too much like window dressing and prettying up of its period, France anno 1905, than an authentic travel back in time. The costumes are too neat, the actors too well-groomed, and the kids, though not bad performers, lack blemishes. It strains the naturalism that they look like they were tricked away from a soap commercial in this case anyway. The grand and 'storytelling' score is also too much and often only further alienates.

One comes to look at the story, which is a yarn of various boyhood experiences, including a dangerous grotto and snake capture, the strange and dubious family of the snooty girl that Marcel falls for, his own father's infidelity and mother's women's lib engagement and a few other entanglements. SPOILER The ending gives us a major reveal (the girl is actually a boy), but no more knowledge or insight into the curious fact, nor into the fate of her or her peculiar swindling family.

Despite sweet moments, beautiful landscapes and tolerable craftsmanship, Le Temps des Secrets is an unsatisfying experience, where one wonders what Barratier was aiming for. It is a bit here, a bit there, and generally too sentimental and pat. The Pagnol novel series have been adapted before, in the undoubtedly more worthwhile My Father's Glory (1990) and My Mother's Castle (1990) by Yves Robert, - lauded films that are on my watchlist now.

Related posts:

Christophe Barratier: Top 10: Best French movies

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Chorus/Les Choristes (2004) - The inspiring-teacher masterpiece 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 9.27 mil. €, approximately 9.5 mil. $

Box office: 3 mil. $ and counting

= Mega-flop (has returned 0.31 times its cost to date)

[Le Temps des Secrets premiered 21 January (Alpe d'Huez Festival, France) and runs 108 minutes. 12 companies and support bodies collaborated in making the film. It opened #2 in France, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and has grossed 3 mil. $. Other markets are Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Sweden, with grosses from there not reported online yet and likely negligible. Barratier does not have his next movie announced yet. 161 IMDb users have given Le Temps des Secrets a 6.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Le Temps des Secrets?

Pain and Glory/Dolor y Gloria (2019) - Almodóvar's 8½

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Delicious character snapshots from the film are ordered together on this poster for Pedro Almodóvar's Pain and Glory

Aging Spanish filmmaker Salvador Mallo has health problems that restrict him from his craft, which in turn makes him depressed. He reacquaints himself with an old actor friend, thinks of his upbringing and acquires a new dangerous habit.

Pain and Glory is the 22th feature from Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (High Heels/Tacones Lejanos (1991)). It is unique in his body of work in that it is admittedly at least partly auto-biographical, (notice on the deep red poster under the review that the shadow of lead actor Antonio Banderas (Desperado (1995)) has been altered to that of Almodóvar himself.)
It brings to mind the autobiographical film of life as a free-spirited filmmaker, 8½ (1963) from Italian master filmmaker Federico Fellini. - Almodóvar's film is understandably very different, not least because Fellini was in his early 40s, when he made his introspective classic; Almodóvar is turning 70 in a couple of weeks. Judging from the filmmaker we meet in Pain and Glory, Salvador Mallo, this may be Almodóvar's last film.
Pain and Glory is a very quiet film; it has an elegant, subdued score and comes from a noticeably older Almodóvar than we are used to: SPOILER Mallo has quit fancies of a love life; his craft is beyond him due to ailments, which take up much of his energy, - and a considerable amount of the screen-time, - and he smokes heroin as a new hobby instead. Though this aging, melancholic, ailment-complaining filmmaker is well-acted by Banderas, - who would prefer this compared to Almodóvar's past, vivid masterpieces? (This, of course, is also the painful, melancholy reality that growing old confronts the old person with itself.)
I think it is the other part of Pain and Glory that is especially worth the price of admission: The flashbacks to Mallo's childhood, living in poverty with his graceful mother: Penélope Cruz (Ma Ma (2015)) is gorgeous and natural in the part of Mallo's mother, and debuting Asier Flores is terrific as the precocious, wilful chap, who has his first experiences of lust in the perfected shape of workman César Vicente (A Different View/La Otra Mirada (2019, TV-series)), whom the boy teaches reading and writing.
There is warmth and life breathing through these scenes; more so than in the ones about present-day Mallo/Almodóvar, although perhaps honest, the aging creative is too dramatically unopposed here. Nevertheless the result for a longtime cinephile (and therefore obviously a fan of Almodóvar) is like a moving interaction with an old friend.

Related posts:

Pedro Almodóvar: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess 
The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over
Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 26.5 mil. $ and counting
= Unknown - but likely a box office success
[Pain and Glory premiered 13 March (Madrid, Spain) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place in Spain, including Madrid, for 44 days from July - September 2018. The film has become the highest-grossing Spanish film in Spain of the year so far with a 6.5 mil. $ gross there (24.5 % of the gross to date), its biggest market yet. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been France with 5.8 mil. $ (21.9 %) and Italy with 3.5 mil. $ (13.2 %). The film has yet to open in North America: It is scheduled to open in 8 more markets in September and October: Netherlands, Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, USA, Indonesia, Singapore and Canada. The film may well end up the filmmaker's highest-grossing since his last major hit Volver (2006), which made 85.5 mil. $. If made on a realistic 10 mil. $ budget, it would already rank as a box office success. It was screened in competition in Cannes, where it won Banderas the Best Actor prize, losing the Palme d'Or to Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. The film has also been chosen as Spain's entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year. Almodóvar does not have an announced next project. Banderas returned in El Hormiguero: Vacaciones en el Titanic (2019, short) and in Netflix's The Laundromat (2019); Cruz also in El Hormiguero: Vacaciones en el Titanic and theatrically in Wasp Network (2019). Pain and Glory is certified fresh at 95 % with an 8.27/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pain and Glory?

Shoplifters/万引き家族 (Manbiki kazoku, 2018) - Kore-eda gives another poignant family tale

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+ Best Japanese Movie of the Year + Best Tokyo Movie of the Year

This happy poster for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters seems to show an ideal family, but the film's title tells us that there is more to their story than meets the eye here

In a small house in Tokyo lives a ragtag 'family' of individuals who are not biologically connected but share each others' limited means, as they discover a little neglected and abused girl in the neighborhood, whom they decide to take in.

Shoplifters is the 13th film from Japanese master writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Like Father, Like Son/Soshite chichi ni naru (2013)). It is a film which, like previous films from his hands, probes the fabrics that make a family a family. It also delves into some of the strategies that underclass people employ in order to make ends meet:
Lily Franky (After the Storm/Umi yori mo mada fukaku (2016))  is poignant as the 'father', who teaches his 'son' and new 'daughter' how to shoplift successfully. The young woman does striptease shows. The 'grandmother' (the late Kirin Kiki (Rage/Ikari (2016)) is a natural as the tough old bird) collects an indemnity and receives pity donations. And so on. But the sadness of their low plight is countered by the fact that they cling together and act as something like a real family. But as crises hit them that fabric is tested. SPOILER In the film's moving ending, we are shown how abandonment and neglect are poison to family relations, and how family breaks create wounds that run deep. SPOILER On the more optimistic side, Shoplifters leaves the little girl back with her poorly equipped biological mother but implicitly shows us that the time spent in an actual, loving environment stays with the girl, who is tough and will likely make it.
Kore-eda's humdrum pace is laced with moments of intimacy, humor, confusion and pain, as he brings several complex relationships together in this fine, intelligent, compassionate, humanistic film. 

Related posts:
 
Hirokazu Koreeda: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
After the Storm/海よりもまだ深く (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) (2016) - Koreeda's striking portrayal of a disappointing man
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Like Father, Like Son/そして父になる (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) (2013) - Koreeda's magnificent reflection on upbringing and family  

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: In excess of 55.1 mil. $
= Uncertain, but most likely a huge hit
[Shoplifters premiered 13 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 121 minutes. Kore-eda developed the story during his making of masterpiece Like Father, Like Son (2013). Shooting took place in Japan, including Tokyo, from December 2017 - ?. The film won the main prize, the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival under jury president Cate Blanchett. Its biggest markets have been its production country Japan with 37.8 mil. $ (68.6 % of the total gross), making it one of the highest-grossing domestic releases there for the year, China with 14 mil. $ (25.4 %) and South Korea with 1.2 mil. $ (2.2 %). Several markets' grosses are not listed on the film's Box Office Mojo sheet yet, and it has yet to open in several markets: 22 Nov. (Portugal), 23 Nov. (UK, Ireland, US), 12 Dec. (France), 13 Dec. (Holland), 21 Dec. (Sweden), 27 Dec. (Germany), 3 Jan. (Brazil), 10 Jan. (Hungary), 18 Jan. (Turkey) and 7 Feb. (Argentina). More countries may be added. If made on a realistic 7 mil. $ budget, which may be set too high, the film would have made back already 7.87 times its cost. It has been chosen as Japan's official Oscar entry for the year. Kore-eda returns with The Truth (2019), his first non-Japanese film, starring Ethan Hawke, Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve. Franky returned in The Gun/Jû (2018). Shoplifters is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Shoplifters?

The Art of Crying/Kunsten at Græde i Kor (2006) - Fog's South Jutland incest drama adaptation is a deeply affecting masterpiece

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Adaptation of the Year

'When dad is happy he forgets to kill himself' reads the tagline on this ominous Danish poster for Peter Schønau Fog's The Art of Crying

In 11 year-old Allan's family in Southern Jutland, his father Henry regularly gets 'poorly' and has to be 'comforted' by Allan's sister Sanne, while their mother leaves them on sleeping pills. But when funerals hit their small town, Henry gets an occasion to shine; by getting everyone to cry with his eulogies.

The Art of Crying is written by Bo Hr. Hansen (Word of God/Gud Taler Ud (2017)), adapting Erling Jepsen's (Frygtelig Lykkelig (2004)) same-titled, autobiographical 2002 novel, and directed by debuting Danish master filmmaker Peter Schønau Fog (You Disappear/Du Forsvinder (2017)).
It is an exceptional, original, heartbreaking and often awfully funny film, which manages eminently to catch the dilatory cadence of the people and region it takes place in, and their rather chilling gloom, especially as it plays out in Henry's intimate and also overly intimate relationship with death. Dark humor also runs as an invisible current through the flat landscapes and the people that move around in them, and through Jepsen and Hansen's dialog.
The film's superb quality of course also stems from first rate performances all-round: Especially Jesper Asholt's (Truly Human/Et Rigtigt Menneske (2001)) portrayal of the terribly destructive Henry and Jannik Lorenzen (Young at Heart/Ungt Hjerte (2016)) and Julie Kolbeck as his two unlucky children are fiercely real in their deeply moving performances.
The Art of Crying is likely the best Danish film in years.

Related posts:

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a short clip from the film here, in which Allan and his milkman father Henry are out on a visit  

Cost: 16.5 mil. DKK, equaling approximately 2.53 mil. $
Box office: 2.2 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.86 times the cost)
[The Art of Crying premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 107 minutes. The funding includes 8.2 mil. DKK in state support. The film was the 18th highest-grossing in Denmark in 2007 with 2.2 mil. $ from 228,303 admissions, an impressive number in the small country, but although it was screened at at least 15 festivals and released regularly in a few countries, it hasn't registered foreign grosses (besides 16k $ in Mexico). The film won an AFI award, 2/4 Bodil award nominations (Denmark's film critics' award), the Nordic Council film prize, 8/11 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and many other honors. It was also Denmark's entry for the 2008 Oscars, but it was snubbed. Fog returned with You Disappear/Du Forsvinder (2017). Asholt returned in Temporary Release/Ledsaget Udgang (2007), Lorenzen in April 9th/9. April (2015). 1,996 IMDb users have given The Art of Crying a 7.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Art of Crying?

The Florida Project (2017) - Baker skewers Disney Florida's backyard's social travesties with potent mother-daughter drama

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+ Best Florida Movie of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Social Realism Movie of the Year

A brightly colored, semi-psychedelic poster for Sean Baker's The Florida Project with its lead mother-daughter duo at its center

At a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, near Walt Disney World, 6 year-old Moonee lives with her mother Halley, whose life is a constant battle to secure next week's rent and providing the basics for the two.

The Florida Project is the 6th theatrical feature from great New-Yorker filmmaker Sean Baker (Tangerine (2015)), who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Bergoch (Starlet (2012)). The Florida Project was an early name for the Orlando, Florida Disney park. The downright psychedelic quality of Florida in general and Orlando in particular are highlighted in the film, which begs the question of how that style affects the mentality of the permanent inhabitants there. - I certainly was not inspired to throw my hard-earned holiday money towards a stay in Florida from the presentation of the state given here.
Watching The Florida Project reminded me of Andrea Arnold's recent, great American Honey (2016), which deals with youths that also reside in shady motels, however not for long, in their hustling journeys and uncertain lives across America. That film is more enjoyable to sit through, simply because it has a lighter, compelling story and an air of youth and survival and unity to it. The Florida Project is an equally accomplished piece of independent filmmaking but a more oppressive and tough watch, because it deals with the mother of a little girl, and the other kids around who grow up in similarly under-stimulating circumstances. - Is American Honey's Star (played soulfully by Sasha Lane) going to end up like Halley here, I wonder? The possibility certainly exists.
Halley is a terrible mother. She doesn't reach the level of Precious' mother Mary, (played chillingly by Mo'Nique back in Lee Daniels' great Precious (2009)), because she is available for her daughter and loves her. But her own lifestyle, - and no-doubt also her personal experiences growing up and becoming a woman, - have left her as a multi-tattooed, blue-haired young woman in the skimpiest outfits and with the trashiest mouth. Her rudeness and physical affront seems to be a self-enforcing bad circle for her, as it makes her unemployable and hard to befriend for just about everyone around her.
The situation is only made more complicated from the fact that Moonee lives with her and naturally takes influence from her mother's behavior.
Baker gets dauntingly realistic, naturalistic performances from his cast of mostly amateurs: Bria Vinaite's (Adultland (2019)) Halley is a provocative character to say the least, but she is somehow also hard to completely reject, and this is a serious feat; she is undeniably a mother, no matter how we feel about what she passes on. Brooklynn Prince (Monsters at Large (2018)) is a true find as Moonee, a true star and a fierce and incredible emotional center for the film. She is helped by two other fine child performances, from Christopher Rivera and Valeria Cotto (Backup Plan (2018, short), who together share some childhood fun, adventure and misbehavior that most will be able to relate to. The film also has a master turn from Willem Dafoe (Fireflies in the Garden (2008)), the cast's only veteran and star actor. Dafoe plays the motel's upstanding manager, who is both a policing and care-giving social presence on the premises, and does it to a T, adding a layer of humanity to the otherwise somewhat grim social realism. One scene in particular, in which Dafoe's alert eye spots an elderly man who has wandered into the children's grounds and goes to handle the man, who has definite ill intentions, is a standout and a riveting scene in The Florida Project, in which one good man protects his turf and the children on it.
This and other scenes in The Florida Project graze the crimes, ugliness and debasement that is inherent in these high-risk living conditions with equal subtlety. This makes the film easier to take, but the images and what could so easily have happened haunt our imaginations as adult audiences nonetheless, which is part of its agenda. But what could be done about a situation such as Halley and Moonee's portrayed here is no easy question.
Baker and The Florida Project deserve high praise for inviting us to experience lives such as theirs so skillfully rendered for a while regardless of this.

Related post:

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 10.8 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit
[The Florida Project premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival) and runs 111 minutes. Baker and Bergoch interviewed people in the area as research for the screenplay to achieve its authenticity. Shooting took place on location. The many helicopters in the film are in it, because the production could not afford to pay them not to operate by the motel. The film is shot on 35mm film, except for its last scene: SPOILER Moonee running from the motel to the Walt Disney Land was shot without getting permission from Disney with an iPhone 6S Plus. The film opened #27 in 4 theaters to a strong 157k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 229 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5.9 mil. $ (54.6 % of the gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd markets so far have been France with 1.2 mil. $ (11.1 %) and the UK with 807k $ (7.5 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Supporting Actor (Dafoe), lost to Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, won an AFI award, nominated for 2 Independent Spirit Awards, won 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. The Florida Project is certified fresh at 96 % with a 8.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Florida Project?

Fanny and Alexander/Fanny och Alexander (1982) - Bergman's treasured mammoth drama farewell

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Carefully arranged on a portrait photograph, the title characters of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander attract attention for the film on its Swedish poster

Fanny and Alexander are siblings in Sweden in 1907, born into the large upper middle-class Ekdahl family. After they lose their father, their mother turns to the local bishop for a second, respectable husband. Life has its good and bad times for her and her children.

Fanny and Alexander is a wonderful, warm film about sorrow and death, childhood and religion. - Its thematic range could even be expanded to simply be: Life. It was the first film by Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (The Magician/Ansiktet (1958)) that I saw, and this only makes it more special for me. Bergman wrote and directed the film, which is semi-autobiographical.
Fanny and Alexander is a drama in epic length, which narrative charts a different course than most traditional films. - Still, the way the story is told is masterful, and the actors of the large ensemble carry the film admirably.
The storytelling of Fanny and Alexander is thoroughly evocative, making us feel as though we can almost sense the heat of the crackling fire in the hearth we are watching. The production design in the film, - from the flamboyant Christmas party of the Ekdahls in the first part of the film to the bare, grimly cold home of the bishop, - is detail-oriented and outstanding. Fanny and Alexander is an experience one shouldn't rob oneself of.

Related post:

Ingmar Bergman: The Magician/Ansiktet (1958) or, Fool the Townfolk

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6-7 mil. $ (different sources)
Box office: 6.7 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain
[Fanny and Alexander premiered 17 December (Sweden) and runs 188 minutes (theatrical version) and 312 minutes (TV miniseries version, - which I regrettably still haven't seen). Bergman wrote the script in the summer of 1979, intending it to be his last film, explaining; "I don't have the strength any more, neither psychologically nor physically." The film was molded around his own childhood in Uppsala, Sweden, which he termed "happy and privileged." The film's 40 mil. SEK budget made it the most expensive Swedish film up to that time. Swedish stars Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow ditched the film for different reasons before shooting and were replaced, which they both later regretted. Shooting took place from September 1981 - March 1982 in Uppsala and in Stockholm studios, Sweden. Gunnar Björnstrand (Filip Landahl in the film) acted despite suffering from Alzheimers, and Gunn Wållgren (Helena in the film) suffered from cancer and was secretly in pain but acted anyway. The film has 60 characters with lines, employed 1,200 extras and featured 1,250 costumes. Bergman intended Fanny and Alexander as a miniseries but for commercial reasons was obligated to cut a theatrical version, which he did with many pains, calling it "to cut into the nerves and lifeblood of the film." A year after the release, the 312 minute full version was released in Swedish cinemas, later recognized as one of the longest films in history. Audiences were large in Bergman's native Sweden for both versions, and it became his biggest hit there. It made 6.7 mil. $ in North America, where it played in the summer of 1983 and was later (in 1991) recognized as the 5th biggest Swedish film in North America up to that time. A world gross is not made public, but the film drew the following crowds; 374k (France), 165k (Germany) and 70k (Denmark). - Whether it became financially successful theatrically is hard to decipher based on these numbers alone. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, the 3rd most nominated film of the year: Best Art Direction (won), Cinematography (Sven Nykvist, won), Costume Design (won), Director (lost to James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment), Foreign Film (won) and Original Screenplay (lost to Horton Foote for Tender Mercies). It was barred from the Best Picture race due to Sweden's nominating it for the Best Foreign Film category. The film also won 1/2 Golden Globes, 1/3 BAFTAs, one César award, 3 David di Donatello awards, 3 Guldbagge awards, 2 National Board of Review awards, the Venice Film Festival's FIPRESCI award and many other honors. Stage adaptations of the film has been played in many countries in the new millennium. While Bergman continued to work on especially TV movies, Fanny and Alexander is his last theatrical feature. Fanny and Alexander is fresh at 100 % with an 8.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Fanny and Alexander?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment, the ultimate in movie magic

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One of the marvelous posters for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which references Michelangelo's classical painting The Creation of Adam and underscores the film's religious undercurrent

In a nice suburban neighborhood near Los Angeles lives the boy Elliott with his big brother, little sister and mother. Their father/husband has left them for Mexico. A creature from space meets Elliott, they bond, and it benefits from his warm child's heart.

E.T. is the second masterpiece of master Ohioan filmmaker Steven Spielberg's (Saving Private Ryan (1998)) incredible career, the first one, of course, being Jaws (1975). Every time I have watched it, it has moved me tremendously, like no other film. E.T. is a film that is made with such technical and visual mastery, humanity, artfulness and forcefulness, - it makes you swell up with warmth inside, and after seeing it feel positively purified. - What other films can you name that does all of that?
John Williams' (Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) Oscar-winning score is sheer perfection, musically storytelling in the best possible way, boosting every moment of the film with wonder, adventure and emotion.

The story, developed by Spielberg with recently passed, great screenwriter Melissa Mathison (The BFG (2016)), is wonderful. Henry Thomas (The Last Ride (2012)), Drew Barrymore (Blended (2014)) and everyone else are fantastic in it. Thomas is especially phenomenal, and so, of course, is Carlo Rambaldi's legendary creature design of E.T.
E.T. can be enjoyed as a religious reminder of the existence and importance of goodness and innocence in the world, with E.T. interpreted as a Jesus-like character or a symbol of childhood. At the same time the film's entirety works as a unique allegory of the full passage of life; with its dangers, mysteries, losses, adventures, unity and love.
E.T. is Spielberg's greatest accomplishment to date, one that is impossible to top. An absolutely spectacular film.

Related posts:

Steven Spielberg: War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 10.5 mil. $
Box office: 792.9 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial premiered May 26 (Cannes) and runs 117 minutes. The story is inspired by the divorce of Spielberg's parents in 1960, his estrangement from his father and development of a fantasy friend. E.T. began development as Spielberg's darker sci-fi project Night Skies, about evil aliens, collapsed. Columbia Pictures made one of the great errors of movie history when their management at the time passed on E.T., calling it "a wimpy Walt Disney movie." The E.T. puppet took 3 months and 1.5 mil. $ to make, but was still so ugly, in the nervous eyes of some, that Mars, Incorporated refused the use of M&Ms in the film. The Hershey Company then jumped in, and their profits rose 65 % after the release of the film, prominently featuring their Reese's Pieces candy. Filming took place from September - December 1981, mostly in Culver City, LA. The shoot was mostly chronological, especially to help the children's performances, and production wrapped four days early. It was the first film on which Spielberg did not use meticulous storyboarding. The film premiered at the closing gala of the Cannes Film Festival, a screening that has gone down in Cannes history as among the greatest the festival has ever enjoyed. The film opened #1 with an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for 6 consecutive weeks, fluctuating between #1 and #2 in October and returning #1 once again in December. By 1983, E.T. surpassed Star Wars (1977) as the highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation). It had grossed 359 mil. $ in North America and 619 mil. $ worldwide. E.T. was re-released in 1985 and 2002, adding 60 and 68 mil. $, respectively, to its gross. The film held its top-grossing spot for 11 years until Spielberg bested it with Jurassic Park (1993), although it stayed #1 in North America until a 1997 Star Wars re-issue beat it. The North American gross stands at 435.1 mil. $ (54.9 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are Japan with 66.9 mil. $ (8.4 %) and the UK with 29.6 mil. $ (3.7 %). E.T. is still the 4th highest-grossing film in North America ever, adjusted for inflation, only bested by Gone with the Wind, Star Wars and The Sound of Music. Bengali master filmmaker Satyajit Ray has claimed that Spielberg plagiarized his 1967 script The Alien, which Spielberg has refused, although Martin Scorsese and Richard Attenborough have substantiated the claims. Spielberg has addressed the Christian undertones of the film and made clear that they are unintentional on his part, pointing to his being Jewish.  Despite much pirating of the film was reported, it made an additional 75 mil. $ on VHS sales in North America alone. E.T. was nominated for 9 Oscars, winning for Best Score, Sound, Visual Effects and Sound Effects. It lost Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing to Attenborough's Gandhi. It was nominated for 5 Golden Globes, winning for Best Picture - Drama and Best Score. A 20 year anniversary edition of E.T. was released with some minor changes made using CGI, which prompted controversy. Spielberg has decided against doing so in the future releases of his past films and recommends watching the original 1982 version of E.T. Atari, Inc. released a video game based on the film in 1982, which is widely regarded among the worst video game ever made. A 40 mil. $ theme park ride based on the film was created for the Florida Universal Studios park in 1990. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is certified fresh at 98 % with a 9.2 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
Do you agree that it is Spielberg's greatest achievement?