Close Encounters Of The Third Kind October 25, 2007

Laszlo Kovacs Tribute

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

at 8:00
(1977) dir Steven Spielberg w/Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Francois Truffaut; additional photography by Laszlo Kovacs [132 min]

It is telling that Kovacs, who helped to create independent-minded studio films at the dawn of the 70s, was also involved in this film that helped to destroy it. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS is a great film, there’s no denying, but its blockbuster status (paired with the success of Jaws) renewed the studio heads faith in big budget spectacles at the expense of the more intimate character driven films that had been the lifeblood of prior 70s filmmaking. Kovacs partnered with his friend Vilmos Zsigmond on the photography for Spielberg’s fascinating, beautiful film about the appearance of aliens in our midst – not for invasion but for inter-species learning and betterment.

Official Website: http://www.brattlefilm.org/brattlefilm/movie_detail/071025.html