It’s difficult to argue that Martin Scorsese is an underrated filmmaker given that many of his films are frequently cited as some of the best of all time, but for such a renowned director, he has a surprising number of hidden gems. It remains one of the best films of the ‘90s even though it’s frequently overlooked. Critics at the time noted its nuanced portrait of a moment in recent history that was full of suppressed upheaval, and lauded it for its restraint and faithfulness to the source material. The Ice Storm is similarly understated and moving without a hint of overwrought melodrama despite the storyline. Lee has taken on a variety of settings to depict social isolation and longing, from Sense and Sensibility to Brokeback Mountain. When an ice storm hits, the neighborhood is brought together in sordid and tragic ways. Meanwhile, their kids (Ricci and Maguire) are drifting away from the family to pursue their own infatuations. While Nixon defends Watergate and the Vietnam War grinds forward, Ben (Kline) has an affair with a married neighbor, as his wife (Allen) is trying to bring a spark back into the marriage.

Based on Rick Moody’s 1994 novel of the same name, it takes place over the Thanksgiving weekend of 1973 and follows a wealthy family in the Connecticut suburbs as it slowly unravels. Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, and Allison Janney all appear, many of them before they were A-listers. The cast of Ang Lee’s suburban drama The Ice Storm is even starrier in retrospect than it was at the time of its release in 1997.

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