Cocoon

Three old men at a retirement home in Florida have got into the habit of swimming in the empty pool next door. One day tenants move into the house and leave large stone cocoons in the water. The men keep swimming and find themselves as they were years ago: no pain, strength back, desire back. Inside the cocoons are twenty companions of the visitors from the planet Antarea, left behind here when Atlantis sank. Ron Howard directed. Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Hume Cronyn are in the cast. Brimley was only fifty when he took the part and was aged with makeup. Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct first and was replaced by Howard. Filming ran from August to November 1984 in St. Petersburg, Florida. James Horner wrote the score. It opened on 21 June 1985 and took 85.3 million dollars against a 17.5 million budget, the sixth highest-grossing film of that year. It won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actor for Don Ameche and Best Visual Effects. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 82 percent, with critics calling it gentle and heartwarming. Who it is for: viewers who like ageing and death handled inside a warm science fiction frame. Who it is not for: anyone wanting hard edges. The film raises its questions and pursues none of them, choosing comfort instead.