Steven Spielberg: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

When Steven Spielberg boldly created one of cinema’s most audacious films with Jaws, one would contemplate how he would attempt to outdo himself in his next going. This project would become an Close Encounters of the Third Kind a film that doesn’t transports its audience into the startling terror of its characters, but instead it conveys the unrelentless force of dazzling awe.

It’s worth repeating that Steven Spielberg is a genuinely captivating director, a filmmaker who manages to balance his films with moments of marvelous sensations and dramatic depth, cohesively held by his ability to evoke penetrating sentimentality. Close Encounters of the Third Kind takes that wonderful sense of childlike naivety and takes us on a journey that is so full of glamorous colour and sounds. Spielberg's fascination
with extraterrestrial life is something personal to him, it’s a prospect we eventually thought about at a younger age, a time in our life when we could believe in anything.

Yet whilst the UFOs and the extraterrestrials were merely subversions, it's the humane family dynamic that drives the film. Roy Neary (Dreyfuss) is an average man but we see his struggles to try to remain sane after witnessing such an event which leads to the feeling of alienation from a fragile family after his perverse obsession. It is upsetting to see his unfortunate condition slowly tear his family apart to such great lengths. Yet Roy is not portrayed as a bad guy that we’re meant to despise: at no point in the film does he wrong his wife. He is genuinely enthralled by something otherworldly that happened to him outside his own control, yet the people closest to him are unable to understand him; where as in this film, the perspectives of the family are not mutually exclusive.

The final half an hour of the film, the glorious first contact of the aliens themselves, is of course the highlight of itself.
My eyes were welling from its flashing lights and glowing scenery, and the entire scene was one of the most absorbing moments in cinema; and much of this is due to the powerful and emotionally gripping direction from Spielberg. There’s a deep personal connection found in his screenplay and through his bravura filmmaking, he was able to transmit his own personal views and emotions to his audience. This moment shines with brilliant music composed from legendary John Williams and advanced special effect by Douglas Trumbull; both providing treats for my ears, eyes, and heartstrings.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind may not be my favorite Spielberg film overall (that would belong to Jaws, for those keeping score) but it definitely comes straight from his heart and is one of the films that best defines the person he is and as a filmmaker. It leaves me with a great sigh that he as never been able to even rekindle an iota of this magic upon the last decade his career despite showing the capacity to direct a few quality films in this
period.