THE BIG CHILL 15
Friends in need…
1983 ★★★★☆ OUT 29 AUGUST BD
EXTRAS ★★★☆☆ Documentary, Featurette, Deleted scenes, Booklet
Whether it’s nostalgia talking or not, the film that critics once loved to hate holds up better than it should. Sure, many complaints stick: too privileged, too slick… But director Lawrence Kasdan’s quarter-life-crisis ensemble piece cuts into the muddle of adult lives keenly, giving form to flux.
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe that the Good Lord had a plan,” says a priest as seven friends gather for the funeral of an eighth number (played by Kevin Costner - or his limbs, at least). Former radicals now grappling with kids, careers, impotence and otherwise, these boomers understand the priest’s observation: as they reflect on disappointment, despair and more, the sense that life isn’t unfolding to plan resonates.
Smartly cast, the leads tease finessed character studies from the shores of self-indulgence: notably, Jeff Goldblum’s glib writer resembles his later career in microcosm. Glenn Close, William Hurt, Tom Berenger, Kevin Kline and Meg Tilly also excel in a cast whose groomed fronts bely underlying turmoil. Kasdan and Barbara Benedek’s script meticulously sustains that sense of irresolution in reflections on creative ambitions stalled by parenthood, or on the suicide note that never got written. Kasdan gives adult compromise a human face, all the way to a spot-on finale: a conversation plays on over the credits, loose ends dangling. Criterion’s extras include an essay by Lena Dunham.
THE VERDICT As insightful as it was influential, Kasdan’s dramedy captures unresolved lives with sharp-eyed precision.