American Beauty (1999) Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Chris Cooper, Scott Bakula, Sam Robards. Music by Thomas Newton. Cinematography by Conrad Hall. Screenplay by Alan Ball. Directed by Sam Mendes. 122 minutes. Rated R, 4.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to ejohnsonott@prodigy.net
Midway through "American Beauty," a young man obsessed with videotaping asks a new friend if she'd like to see the most beautiful thing he ever filmed. He shows her a video of an empty plastic grocery sack caught in a breeze. With a brick wall behind it and a leaf-strewn sidewalk below, the bag dances in the wind; darting, fluttering, almost touching the ground, only to be swept up again to continue its herky-jerky aerial ballet. The image is mesmerizing and neatly underscores the film's central theme: look closer.
Silky, seductive and unsettling, "American Beauty" is an dazzling piece of movie-making, nimbly shifting from dark comedy to drama to horror to pure poetry and back again. While its examination of what lies beneath the well-manicured facade of suburban life is nothing new ("The Ice Storm, " "Happiness" and "Blue Velvet" are just a few of the works that have covered similar turf), the film's nervy script and remarkably assured approach, coupled with flawless cinematography and use of music, yields numerous rewards all its own.
The story begins with a shot of a red door, accompanied by a voice-over introduction from lead character Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey). "I'm 42 years old," he quietly intones. "In less than a year, I'll be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet. In a way, I'm dead already." Indeed he is. For years, Lester has gone through life on cruise control. He cohabits a house with his high-strung wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening) and sullen daughter, Jane (Thora Birch) in an atmosphere of simmering animosity. His job as a writer for a dull media publication hangs by a thread. Most of the time he is numb. "I know I've lost something," he says, "but I don't know what it is." One thing he does know is that he didn't always feel this sedated.
It's easy to toss around phrases like "mid-life crisis," but actually experiencing the phenomena is another matter entirely. Dealing with the prospect of one's own mortality, while realizing that the vitality of life has been smothered by day-to-day routine and the Quixotic quest for the illusion of security, is absolutely devastating. From the inside, a mid-life crisis is a Herculean struggle for survival of the soul that can lead a person to some pretty strange behavior.
Two events trigger Lester's peculiar epiphany: the loss of his job and his infatuation with a gorgeous high school girl. At a cheerleading demonstration, he falls head over heels in lust for his daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvani). Determined to seduce her, he starts pumping iron with a vengeance (she likes tight pecs), striving to recapture the appearance and passion of his youth.
Informed by his boss that his services will no longer be needed, Lester blackmails the man into giving him a big severance package. Freed of his job and financial concerns, he launches into a giddy joyride of irresponsibility. Remembering his carefree youthful days at a fast-food joint, Lester takes a job flipping burgers at Mr. Smiley. He smokes dope openly while cruising around town in his new dream car, begins speaking with devastating frankness and adopts an impulsive approach to life.
The new Lester leaves his wife horrified and his daughter disgusted. Carolyn focuses desperately on her work as a real estate agent, while eyeing Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher), known in realty circles as "The King. " Jane hooks up with a strange new neighbor kid, Ricky (Wes Bentley), who deals dope, videotapes everything and constantly ducks from his severe drill-instructor of a father (Chris Cooper) and near-catatonic mother (Allison Janney). The tension within this circle of humanity is palpable and an explosion is clearly imminent.
Kevin Spacey anchors the swirl of conflict with the best performance of his already stellar career. As Lester changes from repressed sardonic loser to freewheeling overage kid, Spacey is stunning, totally inhabiting the character. Despite his pursuit of an underage girl, you care for this man caught up in the heady euphoria of living without a safety net.
"American Beauty" navigates a fine line, creating stereotypes for the social satire, then humanizing the players for the drama. It doesn't always work. A great effort from Annette Bening manages to make Carolyn more than a materialist cliché, but even an actor of Chris Cooper's skill cannot turn Ricky's militaristic father into more than an evil cartoon.
The film's biggest misstep comes with a kiss late in the proceedings. Intended as a revelation, the kiss is too easy a shock, playing like a page out of Psych 101. Understand, though, that I'm nit-picking. Even with its flaws, "American Beauty" is a whale of a movie. More than anything, it provokes thought and reflection, something that happens all too rarely in contemporary cinema. The film is similar to a Rorschach Test. How you react to this compelling, ambitious creation could reveal a bit about your place in this amazing corporeal journey we share. Look closer.
© 1999 Ed Johnson-Ott
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews