Review from the Vault: American Beauty

(Review from the Vault)

American Beauty (1999)

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Synopsis (Rotten Tomatoes): AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach), a technique that adds an inevitable tension to the proceedings and keeps the story moving forward at all times. On a whim, Lester quits his job and begins a regression into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering the overflowing sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis of sorts. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is pursued by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around with him at all times. When Ricky's militaristic father, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially horrifying on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's actions boils over, the time bomb finally explodes.

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Impressions that I Get: There are just not enough words to do this film justice, in my opinion. I was locked in to the purely authentic aura of Lester Burnam's suburban America from start to finish of this movie, something which does not happen all of the time. The story might be built on some generalizations, but never did I feel as if there was anything cliche or predictable about the way the film played out. Sam Mendes wasn't trying to be swave or prophetic as he made this, he was simply trying to capture what it meant to be alive for a few, very insignificant people that appeared to be average on the surface, but contains layers upon layers of complexities that were slowly revealed as the movie went along. The acting was stellar with especially standout performances from Kevin Spacey and Chris Cooper (the racist and harsh former army colonel), characters that seem to directly contrast in a subtle, but poignant manner. The style in which "beauty" is presented is so stunning and fresh that the whole point of the movie may very well be that to be simply alive is to be surrounded by beauty. There is a film clip of a paper bag "dancing" in the wind inside the movie and the way it was presented struck me as being one of the best scences in a movie I had ever seen. On top of that, the ending monolouge by Burnam (Spacey) is perhaps one of the best monolouges I have ever heard in a movie either. But watch it for yourself and take away what you will. As stated, my words hardly capture the excellence of this movie and I would politely reccommend that you go out and see this movie sometime soon if you already haven't. The Oscars don't get it right all of the time, but they really nailed it when this won Best Picture. -AT

Acting (9.5/10)

Plot (8/10)

Cinematography (9/10)

Originality (9/10)

My Grade: A (But it's close to getting an A+)