American Beauty
Directed: Sam Mendes
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Coming of Age, Drama, Mystery
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169547
Summary
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend.
Movie Reviews
A little masterpiece..., 26 February 2000Author: ryan_lynch from IMDB
"American Beauty" is tour de force cinema. Sam Mendes' brilliant debut
feature depicts a web of characters who yearn for their own 'American
Dream' - yet, in the end, only one character truly attains it.
Having seen "Happiness" only recently, I could not help but draw
comparisons: both films centre around a microcosm of society in which the
people, in their own unique way, all strive to be successful or simply
'happy'. But here the similarities end: the characters in "Happiness"
undergo a self-realisation process through which they become increasingly
aware of their meaningless existence, and go on to wallow in their own
depravity. "Happiness" shows no signs of redemption; whereas in "American
Beauty" the audience is offered a sense of hope, of salvation, though the
characters must endure a similar fate, or more accurately, they must endure
the way of life in which they are trapped.
The pivotal character upon which this theme centres, is the father Lester,
played impeccably by Kevin Spacey. He is presented to us as a bit of a loser
who plays the subjugated
figure in the home and at work. He appears resigned to an unhappy life in
which he is treated badly by his wife and daughter and his boss at work.
Seemingly beyond redemption, Lester transforms from being a loser.
Mendes portrays this transformation admirably well: he shows Lester on his
'path to enlightenment' pushed up against a grim background of suburbanite
existence. These early scenes are well balanced, forming a steady rhythm of
TV commercial-like vignettes which prove very comical, if at times
unsettling. As Lester reflects in the film: "My life is like a commercial".
And how this rings true: like in "Happiness", all the characters hide
underneath this veneer of normality and respectability, yet they are all
revealed to be nothing but the opposite: depressed, depraved and desperate.
Lester's wife, played by Annette Benning, is the most success-driven
character in the story which renders her the most hopeless in the film's
tone of moral conviction. "In order to be successful in life one must
project the appearance of success" is the maxim she adopts from the 'king'
of real estate, Buddy King. It is a phrase which resonates throughout the
film: for Benning's pawn, life is all about keeping-up appearances. This is
where Lester differs from her: his emancipation is enabled by him discarding
the constraints of 'normal life' and following what his heart desires.
Lester is the catalyst in this narrative in which the ancillary characters
either follow suit (as does his daughter and Ricky) or pay the price (as
does his wife and the Colonel). The irony inherent in this film, and it
grows with resonance as the film draws to a conclusion, is that the only
character who truly becomes free must sacrifice everything in order to
achieve it. Yet it is through his sacrifice that he is able to afford the
surviving characters a glimpse of hope in life.
This film left me gasping for air: its hyper-realism conveys, at the same
time, a portrait of the suburban comedy, a jolting-shock of realisation, and
a cathartic sense of hope. Mendes depicts a certain people who, to varying
degrees, all strive for a certain 'American Dream', yet so few actually
attain it. Though whilst one may have difficulty with tagging this film with
the 'feel good' label, the beauty of "American Beauty" is that it sits
half-way between a desperate cry for help and a reassuring sense of
happiness and fulfilment and that is cinema at its best.