After the huge success of Jaws in 1975, Steven Spielberg would direct the special effects marvel Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977. It is about the experiences of a few individuals and their connection to extraterrestrial life in a small American town in the present. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Terri Garr, and Francois Truffaut, among others.
Dreyfuss does a great job of conveying a sense of madness and obsession with his seemingly extrasensory relationship to the alien life forms. There is however a line that is crossed at some points in the film into the realm of the preposterous as his character goes to great lengths to reconstruct the mountainous structure he has telepathically received in his mind's eye with a) a pile of mashed potatoes, b) clay, and c) the entire earthly elements of his backyard within the confines of his living room.
There is a lot of sci-fi hogwash going on all at once at times, almost to the point of causing dumbfounded awe and confusion in the eyes of the viewer. The film also drags bit in the last quarter before the highly anticipated entrance of the mothership and its inhabitants. Overall, however, this is a landmark film for its time, perhaps to be overshadowed by the success of Star Wars that same year.
There are good performances, amazing special effects, and a mystical, spiritual quality that is infused to elevate it above the ranks of your average science fiction film.
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