A Film Review by Mark O'Hara
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American Beauty (1999)
There's something classic about the word "American" when it's used in a title. It's appeared in the names of films, fiction, music and many more genres, and gains a certain amount of dignity perhaps from the nomenclature of history: wars and political events.
"American Beauty," from director Sam Mendes, spins this proper adjective in an altogether new direction.
The film opens with an aerial shot, voice-over narration running as the camera closes in on a city and then a neighborhood and street. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) tells us this is his town and street - his life. And he will be dead within a year.
Why the artifice, the super-removed point of view from a crucial character? It's part of the approach that lifts "American Beauty" beyond mediocrity and places it on the level of classic.
This guy Lester is your basic loser - at least his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) and their only child Jane (Thora Birch) think so. A schmuck that slaves for an advertising agency, Lester is on his way out due to downsizing. His marriage is loveless, his wife caught up in her business as pusher of real estate, seemingly obsessed with beating out her competition, Buddy Kane, the "King" of Real Estate (played by a graying Peter Gallagher). Daughter Jane is part of a high school troupe, sort of dancing cheerleaders, and often shows her sullen teen demeanor. When Mom and Dad actually show up at the half time of a basketball game to catch the dancers' performance, Lester catches sight of Jane's friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) and begins a fixation that traces his fall from typical American grace. It is as though Angela dances for him alone, and we see the first of segments set in unreal time, the fantasies that feature Angela in sensual poses, surrounded by loads of red rose petals.
But Lester's life is not the only one beset by unhappiness and miserable hope. Wife Carolyn becomes smitten by no other than Buddy the "King" himself, and Jane shows fascination with a new neighbor kid named Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), who has come out of two years in a mental hospital and now sells exotic marijuana to a wide clientele. Ricky's father is a military retiree who introduces himself as "Colonel Fitts, U. S. Marine Corps."
What goes down largely involves Lester's abandoning of the American work ethic. He writes an absurd diatribe of a job description for himself, ensuring his firing, but blackmails his way into a year's full salary and benefits, using knowledge of managerial infidelities. After Angela comments to Jane that she would find Jane's dad attractive if he would just work out a little, Lester indeed begins to work out. He also begins to speak his mind to his wife, and to smoke Ricky's very best blend. We never expect Lester to be happy in the long term, as we know his fate already; but he does have a heck of a good time in his reconciliation with reality.
The ensemble cast does a marvelous job of portraying individuals with lost dreams. Kevin Spacey fills in the blanks of Lester's life with terrible nuances: we are at once repelled and drawn by his devil-may-care antics. For a long time Lester is caught in his unsmiling rut. When he finally breaks out and grins, we are happy for him, and realize the best side of the film: it's a very dark comedy that pokes you in the ribs, getting as many winces of pain as it gets laughs. For his sketching of Lester Burnham, Spacey deserves at least a few nominations.
Annette Bening shows her talent for comedy and melodrama, often in the same scene. At one point she shows a hopeless cause of a house (which she herself cleans) to several reluctant couples. After the open house is over, Carolyn leans against the patio door and sobs, finally slapping herself out of it. She is a creature attracted to success to an extreme degree, using mantras like "I am going to sell this house today," and "I will no longer be a victim." Carolyn's love for Lester is on hold, but she could connect once again if she could stop worrying about his ruining the furniture.
Thora Birch is wonderful as Jane, an angry girl looking for any type of attention. With a talent for using a deadpan expression, Birch shows utter contempt for her parents, yet commences to see the beautiful side of her creepy neighbor Ricky. This actress also shows perfectly natural, if a bit reluctant, nonchalance when she is the subject of Ricky's ever-present videocamera.
Chris Cooper, one of the best character actors now working, plays Colonel Fitts with gripping naturalness. Although we need to know more about his motivation, Fitts treats son Ricky with extra-stern discipline, virtually jailing him for two years after the boy smokes pot and severely beats a schoolmate. Late in the film Fitts shows more of his butch-headed mania; in every scene he thrills us with what he might do to any character around him.
First-time film director Sam Mendes does a nice job with Alan Ball's script. One criticism is that Mendes, a veteran of theater, is overly enamored with the medium of film. Composition and framing are often very noticeable, distracting viewers from the action, and in fact causing the action to move at a slow pace at times. But the shots are nevertheless amazing to watch: perfectly groomed living rooms, double and triple images of Jane on Ricky's camera and television screens as she poses for him across the side yard. Further, imagery involving red roses and water lend the story a whimsical resonance. Several scenes benefit from a stark soundtrack of piano and marimba.
What the film ultimately takes as its topic is just what the title suggests: Beauty. Angela Hayes is as beautiful as the red rose of the film's name, but beauty is in fact skin deep. Ricky often mentions beauty when talking of his filming. In one sequence that he shows to Jane, a white plastic bag is tossed in a tiny whirlwind among the leaves on an empty sidewalk, a symbol of the beauty that results from being human - from being tossed about and absorbing the aches we get from love or the lack of it, which is neglect. The beauty these characters experience or miss is again typically American, and the result is a tale of immorality and wonder that causes mixed feelings toward the characters and their actions.
"American Beauty" has come out a couple of months before December's Oscar competitors, but some nominations should come its way. The film is rated R for language and drug use, a couple of scenes of extreme violence, and strong sexual content. I would hesitate taking along anyone under 17, the American recommendation for mature viewing audiences.
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