I re-saw "The Big Chill" last night. It's a 1983 star vehicle (Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, etc.) where a bunch of former college friends who have sold out in their professional lives re-unite at the funeral of one of their group and together try to reconnect with their youthful college idealism. Across a weekend together, however, in subtle ways they re-enact their various sell-outs, providing the needed clues as to why their dead friend committed suicide.
A long documentary comes with the rental disk, providing some interesting background. In the documentary the director explains that the title "The Big Chill" refers to when you have a close friend with the same background and personality as you, but he occasionally expresses opinions that are repugnant to you. It's the "big chill" of estrangement and alienation that runs down your spine at such times, a realization that life has somehow gotten between the two of you and sent you both in different directions and that you'll never really understand each other.
"The Big Chill" is intended a dark comedy. Across the years reviewers have focused on the "reconnecting with their youthful idealism" aspect of the film, giving it a reputation as a feel-good film. But the director talks about how college idealism is mostly an illusion, that professional life after college tests our beliefs, and that ultimately we have to yield to reality and abandon our illusions. Hence the darker theme of alienation and estrangement. The director says that in the end all we can do is laugh at ourselves and each other and try to love each other despite our flaws and frailties.
One other bit of trivia: The corpse that is being dressed and groomed at the start of the movie while the credits are rolling is the young actor Kevin Costner. Costner was supposed to play the dead friend in a college flashback, but the flashback scene ended up on the cutting room floor and in the end we just see a few close-up shots of Costner's hands and legs and hairline in the initial grooming scene.
It gave me a huge feeling of overwhelming nostalgia, a lot in part due to the theme of the film itself but also because I've kinda grown up with these movies. I remember going on a date to see Toy Story 2 in the theater long ago. It's interesting to watch these characters grow up over the course of the movies. Seeing the ending tied up a lot of loose ends and so for me that was kind of sad - like saying goodbye to old friends. A bittersweet thing for me. It reminded me of my own childhood and toys I had in the past. Unfortunately I only have VHS copies of the first 2 movies and this made me want to rewatch the entire series again! Gotta remedy that problem.
) Toshiro Mifune was especially excellent. 
