This WAS a breakthrough movie for Hanks. I LOVED it when it came out! It's a masterpiece of storytelling, like a modern-day fable.
I saw this when I was 17, and it was the only truly inspiring film I'd ever seen. For me, it was about how people can get lost in the drudgery of daily existence, and become scared and inhibited, and completely lose sight of the beauty and spirituality of the world, how their life can be so much grander if they'll only step out of their shell.
I've always loved this movie. Another movie with the same hidden theme is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's not so solely a UFO movie as it is a subversive tale of non-conformity. Neary, who has surrendered to a life of 3 kids and a housewife who doesn't do much but argue with him, finds that there is something more out there than his banal existence. His encounters with the UFOs test his "sanity" or what appears to be sanity, but actually is conformity. It's total brilliance.
If you pause it at 2:04, the factory entrance looks like a crazed face, and the two smoke stacks are like horns (face of the devil), and then everyone descends into this nightmarish underground scene, replete with rectal probing.
Great analysis of a very meaningful and vastly under-rated movie. I can't get enough of this movie -- I've seen it many times.
ProfessorMystic 4 weeks ago
This WAS a breakthrough movie for Hanks. I LOVED it when it came out! It's a masterpiece of storytelling, like a modern-day fable.
I saw this when I was 17, and it was the only truly inspiring film I'd ever seen. For me, it was about how people can get lost in the drudgery of daily existence, and become scared and inhibited, and completely lose sight of the beauty and spirituality of the world, how their life can be so much grander if they'll only step out of their shell.
katinaanimator 1 month ago
I love this movie...always have!
canadianmapleleaf31 3 months ago
I've always loved this movie. Another movie with the same hidden theme is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's not so solely a UFO movie as it is a subversive tale of non-conformity. Neary, who has surrendered to a life of 3 kids and a housewife who doesn't do much but argue with him, finds that there is something more out there than his banal existence. His encounters with the UFOs test his "sanity" or what appears to be sanity, but actually is conformity. It's total brilliance.
princesseilonwy 6 months ago
If you pause it at 2:04, the factory entrance looks like a crazed face, and the two smoke stacks are like horns (face of the devil), and then everyone descends into this nightmarish underground scene, replete with rectal probing.
MrLotharofhillpeople 7 months ago
Very nice. You've pointed out a lot I never noticed about the imagery in the movie. Thanks for helping me appreciate this classic even more.
noncontradiction 9 months ago