CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Note perfect
released OUT NOW! 1977 | PG | 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray Director steven spielberg Cast richard dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda dillon, Francois Truffaut
Star Wars defined ’70s SF cinema but Steven Spielberg made the movie that held the heart of the decade. Powered by the Jaws-maker’s personal passion for UFOlogy, Close Encounters collides post-Watergate paranoia with the kind of New Age, paperbackfriendly mysticism that inspired a generation of suburbanites to open their third eyes.
Time has changed our perception of the film – the abstract poetry of the title, so familiar now; the surprise of friendly aliens after the film persuades us they’re malevolent techno-poltergeists – but this dazzling 4K restoration reminds us it’s essentially a hymn to cinema, to sound, to image, to awe.
Indiana Jones looked away from the light (“Don’t look, Marion!”). Roy Neary can’t take his eyes from it. Guess which one’s the real Spielberg.
Extras All three versions of the film are bundled in this set: 1977’s theatrical version, 1980’s Special Edition – complete with studiomandated pay-off of Roy Neary inside the mothership – and the 1997 Director’s Cut, merging the best of both. Features newly created for this release include “Three Kinds Of Close Encounters”, with contributions from Spielberg plus JJ Abrams and Denis Villeneuve. There’s also “Steven’s Home Videos And Outtakes” – personal footage shot by Spielberg, prowling behind-thescenes; “A View From Above” – pop-up info graphics detailing the differences in the three editions. Plus extras are recycled from the last Blu-ray release: a “Steven Spielberg: Thirty Years Of Close Encounters” featurette; “Watch The Skies”, a satisfyingly lengthy Making Of from ’97; deleted scenes; storyboard-toscene comparisons; photo gallery. Nick Setchfield
The famous five-note sequence can be heard when a scientist keys in a door-lock code in 1979 Bond movie Moonraker.