Year: 1983
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Country: US
Language: English
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Big Chill is about a group of seven former college friends who gather for a weekend reunion at a posh South Carolina winter house after the funeral of one of their friends who committed suicide.
The plot regarding "old friends reuniting and reminiscing about their childhood" has been ridiculously overplayed in Hollywood lately. In the last three years alone it shat out Last Vegas, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2 and Hot Tub Time Machine. They appeal to, and are made by, tired old men who are desperately clinging to their youth. Thankfully Kasdan's film is more intelligent, less homophobic and less misogynistic than those crap-fests. It is also very funny, in a very humble kind of way.
The Big Chill is well acted, although with a cast consisting of Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berenger and William Hunt (among others) it's hard to see how it wouldn't be. The dialogue is realistic, natural and honest. It observes wonderfully well how its veterans of the 1960s have grown up into adulthood, consumerhood, parenthood, drunkenhood, adulteryhood, and regrethood. Kasdan creates a profoundly philosophical flick that boldly attempts to understand and address the nature of death, life and love. Each character is well developed and multi-faceted, these are not caricatures but seem like people you could meet in reality.
In conclusion, The Big Chill will certainly have you thinking long before the film is over. Its emphasis on substance over style is refreshing. It's a deliberately paced film that feels very real. Overall it's an underrated picture of the 80's and has very few flaws.
Praise it! 5/5
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