I recently watched Super 8, JJ Abrams homage to ET and Spielberg generally. It's quite a good film, the first hour is very good and then it gets stupid. Is it anywhere nearly as good as ET? Of course not! Nothing is as good as ET, a film to soften the hardest of hearts. How can you not cry when watching this? I start welling up when ET first lifts the bikes up into the air and I don't really stop until the closing credits. And I am not someone who cries much when watching films. I've been called Stoney Heart by some of my closest friends. Like I say, ET will touch cynics.
What I love about ET is that it is told completely from a child's point of view, the camera angle is famously at a child's height. The children aren't made to seem ridiculous nor are they precocious. Well, Elliot is kind of annoying actually but the old brother Greg is great. The actor who plays Greg has done no acting work since 1992. I call that a crying shame. Gertie is of course played by Drew Barrymore and I don't think there is a cuter kid in film history.
She's adorable. And she's great in this. Everyone is great in this. The slightly harassed mother, the policeman who hints at romance towards her, Erika Eleniak, the boys who help them rescue ET. It's simply a wonderful film, directed by Spielberg at the top of his game and was a mega-hit. I can remember being taken to see this by my dad at Leicester Square and being so excited. And if I recall, he was a little damp about the eyes afterwards.
Thank goodness a sequel was never made. It stays perfect and a masterpiece.
The bit when they defib ET and Gertie jumps in shock and starts to cry has in floods of tears EVERY time. I'm not convinced that Drew was acting, I think she really thought that ET was dying and each time I see it I just want to give her a hug and tell her it will all be ok!
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