Imagined Futures in Sci-fi: Close Encounters

I am taking a course called "Utopia/Dystopia: Imagined Futures in Sci-fi" which focuses on science fiction films from the fifties to the present. I will be writing a few words about each of the films I watch in class.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Released November 16, 1977

When I first saw this movie however many number of years ago, I really did not like it. The music was grating and the plot, as I remembered, was a little weird. In the past few years, I had thought to myself that perhaps it was just the effect of being a child watching a complex movie. On the second viewing, it does not improve much. It is quite funny, but mostly for unintentional reasons, though I suspect Spielberg knew that was may have passed for dramatic quality back then might eventually become corny. Almost every aspect of this film is undeniably cheesy. I have never been a huge fan of Richard Dreyfuss, though he is certainly energetic enough. I still cannot understand how Melinda Dillon got an Oscar nomination for this film just calling out "Barry" the whole movie. As far as the utopian/dystopian value of the film goes, it is certainly a bright, idealistic one of the friendly alien who comes to communicate by using, what else - music.

C