Introduction ~~
Set in a small suburban town in America, American Beauty is about the lives of what appear to be normal and ordinary people for the outside except are quite far from that in reality. The story focuses around Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening)
Lester Burnham begins his “mid-life crisis” as he slowly descends into a life of soft drugs, fast cars and a taste for younger women though achieved by all this is a greater emotional intelligence and a delicate, fractured fucked-up web begins to slowly unravel.
Look Closer
Story ~~
The story to American Beauty is full of twists and turns and keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat. Though this film could have been just any standard Hollywood flick if it wasn’t for the excellent direction of Sam Mendes. Mendes directs American Beauty in a unique style that makes this film so unlike any other Hollywood movie. It seems refreshing to see a film come out of Hollywood except be so unlike Hollywood. So how is this film different? Well for a start British director Sam Mendes tells us the ending of the film at the beginning of the film – something not many directors do.
Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) is introduced into American Beauty as quite frankly a weirdo, obsessed with filming people and things 24 hours a day he is seen by most as a mental person. Even rumours fly about him being sent to a mental hospital. Though Jane Burnham (Thora Birch) gradually becomes close with Ricky and we see another side to him. We then see a third side to him, that he is a drug dealer. He has a huge stash of cannabis hidden beneath draws in his room, this illegal business proves quite profitable for him. And Lester Burnham is a valuable customer of Ricky, buying lots of cannabis off him.
Ricky’s father; Colonel Frank Fitts a homophobic, army-loving nationalist hugely opposes to Ricky’s taste for cannabis and goes to the lengths of taking urine samples to ensure he is “clean.” Colonel Frank Fitts takes an unexpected twist in this tale and learns a thing or two…
Look Closer
Cast ~~
The cast in American Beauty is brilliant, there is no weak link. Spacey and Bening are good as Mr. & Mrs. Burnham and give strong, powerful performances. Thora Birch gives a dark but realistic performance as the Burnham’s daughter Jane. Wes Bentley gives a brilliant performance as Ricky, he plays a difficult character and excels. Chris Cooper gives a very bold performance as Colonel Frank Fitts, who plays a fairly small part in the film but has a significant character.
Overall the cast to American Beauty is a strong one and the acting quality is fantastic. Most starring in American Beauty had previously acted in good films but they can certainly add American Beauty to the list.
Look Closer
Soundtrack ~~
The American Beauty soundtrack is superb, then again so is the score. Two pieces on the soundtrack album are wrote by Thomas Newman, the rest of the soundtrack is well-chosen and sets the scene very well. Unfortunately none of the score is on the soundtrack album and the score is only available on import. But you can get the score on Audiogalaxy, I recently got “Dead Already”.
Look Closer
Overall ~~
Okay well if you haven’t seen American Beauty and wonder what the look closer crap is about look closer is the tagline to the film. But it is no ordinary tagline like this is no ordinary film as it is so very true.
Films like this are rare, rarely do films have such truth and reality but still have some humorous moments. It is easy to tell that director Sam Mendes has traditionally worked in theatre as he seems to direct the film like a play, the way everything flows. You will understand if you have seen the film and if you haven’t why not? Overall a film I recommend, American Beauty has worked its way into my top 10 of films. (Number 1 is Dazed and Confused if you wondered.)
Thanks for reading
Cheers
James