Film critic David Denby was right on the money when he called Close Encounters of the Third Kind “a post-Vietnam, pacifist science-fiction film.” After years of Hollywood dropping sci-fi disaster flicks/Cold War allegories in which people have to defend the world from unwelcome, destructive visitors, then-young buck Steven Spielberg followed up his revolutionary blockbuster Jaws with a kinder, gentler alien-invasion flick (which, of course, would not be his last), featuring Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss playing one of many people hoping to make contact with some curious extraterrestrials. Just like that other mega-successful space flick from 1977, Encounters provided a cinematic respite for those who wanted to escape the melancholy of the Me Decade and hang out with otherworldly life-forms. As we approach the film’s 50th anniversary, it’s safe to say ain’t a damn thing changed. I know I’d rather search for signs of intelligent life in the universe than deal with dumbass earthlings who are already doing a bang-up job fucking up the planet. Visit belcourt.org for showtimes.
April 11 & 14 at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
