Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Boop Boop Boop Boop Booooop

   Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) is my favorite "space brethren" film. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this story beautifully illustrates what it is like to be an "experiencer". Richard Dreyfuss perfectly portrays the various levels of the "loosening grip upon reality" that so many people, who have had their own encounters with cosmic beings, have described.
   Though the special effects are impressive, not to mention the grandeur of the closing sequence, what makes this film so timeless is the way in which Spielberg has depicted the regular lives of the main characters; messy houses, unkempt kids, nosy neighbors, the TV constantly on. It is this sharp contrast with the unreal quality of the UFO encounters that makes this movie so appealing.
   According to Spielberg, prior to releasing the movie, NASA sent him a 20 page letter which explained why there was danger in letting people see it. Rather than scaring him, the letter galvanized for the filmmaker the need to tell this story.

Close Encounter of the Third Kind is on Starz at 9p.