1. American Beauty
American Beauty is a film of a unique and incredibly high calibur. Even after a few more months of films were released, none could come close to rivaling the singular masterpiece that this film is one of the top ten films of the 1990's decade.
Amazingly enough, this film came from a director who was making his feature film debut, Sam Mendes. This film, while telling a very interesting story, was also an actor's dream project, and every single one of the performances in the film are brilliant and accomplished.
The film begins narrated by Kevin Spacey's character, Lester Burnham, as he tells us that he is already dead, and what we are about to see is the last year of his life. Lester is tired of everything, sick of his marriage, sick of his deadend desk job, sick of the way his life has turned out.
He is desperately searching for something to reinvigorate his life, and when a strange next door neighbor, Ricky Fitts, befriends him, he finds the spirit to quit his job. And in a very strange twist, he also finds his sexual energy reinvigorated by the young friend of his estranged daughter, a teenage cheerleader who begins appearing to him in surrealistic dreams, including one where Lester looks up to his bedroom ceiling to see her naked surrounded by red roses.
And while Lester is enduring this mid life crisis and trying to come to terms with his life, the people around him are also going through crises of their own, and the film and screenplay are absolutely brilliant in how they manage to make all of these characters all so well rounded and all so very intriguing.
Lester's wife, Carolyn, played by Annette Bening, is just as detached from her marriage and has an affair. The Burnham's only daughter, Jane, played stunningly by Thora Birch, is completely estranged from her parents, and finds herself instead attached to the strange young man next door, Ricky, who continues to videotape her and everything for some strange reason.
And even next door, there is tragedy. Ricky sells drugs, unknown to his incredibly strict military father, played brilliantly by Chris Cooper. And eventually, all their paths will intertwine in a stunning climax.
This film is brilliant on so many levels. While it's been classified as a tale of tragedy in suburbia, it's much more than that. It's a human tragedy, as all of us can see some parts of ourselves in these characters. Rare for Hollywood films, it's a character driven film, with characters who stick with you long after the film is over.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Nicholas Moreau's Academy Awards topic, please visit the Discussions page.