American Beauty
by Sam Mendes
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Annette Bening, Kevin Spacey, Mena Suvari, Thora Birch, Wes BentleyDirector: Sam Mendes
Cinematographer: Conrad L. Hall
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Producer: Alan Ball
Writer: Alan Ball
Producer: Bruce Cohen
Producer: Dan Jinks
Producer: Stan Wlodkowski
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: French (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 122 minutes
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Movie Reviews of American Beauty
Movie Review: Heart Rot
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Sam Mendes is a very well known Theater director in England . He had directed actors like Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes in classical roles, working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He directed Nicole Kidman in THE BLUE ROOM. He won a Tony for his Broadway revival of CABARET. Considered an "actor's director", Steven Spielberg (Filmworks produced the film) personally recommended Mendes for the director's chair. With an ample budget, Mendes was able to rehearse his actors for two weeks before shooting started. This always tightens dialogue and deepens characterizations. He also encouraged improvisation during the shoot. BEAUTY was his feature film debut. He did his homework, and came prepared with his story boards completed, and the movie clearly in his head. He has gone on to direct other fine films including ROAD TO PERDITION (2002), and JARHEAD (2005), which turned out to be a strong anti-war film in the guise of a gung-ho actioner. He has been called the "new" Kubrick by some. He is married to Kate Winslet, and they have homes in London and California .
Alan Ball, who wrote the screenplay, is a noted New York playwright. He was having lunch one windy day at the World Trade Center Plaza , and he watched a paper bag frisking and floating in the breeze; giving him the inspiration to write first a play, and then a screenplay. The theatrical version has never been produced. An outspoken gay activist and practitioner, he weaved the homosexual references expertly into the fabric of the story. It was not overdone, and it was certainly not overlooked. Much of the final action of the plot hinged on homophobia and closeted eroticism.
One of the most striking things about the movie was the astonishingly good cinematography by veteran cameraman Conrad L. Hall. He won an Oscar for his effort on the film. He gave us some masterful set ups that played lovingly with light and shadow, a bit reminiscent of James Wong Howe. I really noticed this by accident when I viewed the movie in black and white as a mistake of projection. The color red was the prominent motif for much of the movie--deep red roses in vases in nearly every room in the Burnham household, roses dominating the garden along the white picket fence, the only house in the neighborhood with a bright red door, a 1970 red Pontiac Firebird, and of course blood, which makes an appearance as well. In addition Lester's middle-aged fantasies and dreams about young Angela were dripping with red rose petals, bursting from her unzipped bodice, covering the ceiling as she hovered there, filling the steaming tub that she languished in while "awaiting" him. Secondary to a short shooting schedule several of the scenes had to be shot at night, and Hall had to light them to appear as day shots. He was very successful in this endeavor.
The wonderfully pounding driving musical score was written by veteran composer Thomas Newman. Mendes was interested in unique scoring, percussion and mallet instruments -and this intriguing thwacking moved the plot along, all the while building tension and interest. Later Newman and Conrad Hall teamed up again with Mendes when they made ROAD TO PERDITION (2002).
Kevin Spacey was excellent, pitch perfect, on the mark as Lester Burnham, a kind of 90's Willy Loman. Being faced with depression, discontent, unfulfilled sexual needs, and a mid-life crisis, somehow he found the presence of mind to put his world in order. To our delight he told off his dreary supervisor, told him where to shove their job, and then blackmailed the boss for a tidy sum, citing administrative misuse of funds for libation and prostitutes. He rushed away from the white collar stress, and blissfully got a job flipping burgers at Smiley's, became infatuated with his daughter's friend, Angela, began pumping iron to impress her, became a stoner buying from Ricky, the kid next door, and he purchased his fantasy car--a 1970 red Firebird. In the midst of all this bizarre behavior, he rediscovered himself, saying that he "was tired of being treated that I don't exist."
Annette Bening as the wife, Carolyn, infused the part with a focused, mannered, manic hectic energy, misdirecting her considerable passion toward her garden and career at the expense of her relationship with her family, and her marriage. She was a walking jabbering divorce waiting to happen. Oddly I detected a slight lisp in her dialogue that I had not noticed in her past performances; maybe it was character driven. Thora Birch, a child actress all grown up at 17 years old, played daughter Jane. Her nude scene was daring and unexpected. She underplayed and worked well with her eyes - her timing and transitions were bang on. We all have known this teenager in our lives. Chris Cooper was very intense, real, and dislikable as Col. Frank Fitts, USMC. It was not clear to me whether he was active duty or retired. In one of the earlier drafts of the screenplay, we discovered that Fitts had a gay lover that had died in Viet Nam . I am sad that bit was cut. It could have given even more depth to the Colonel; of course that depended on when it was revealed. The kiss in the rain scene was wonderfully shocking, and it certainly did not need to be deleted. Wes Bentley was mercurial, magnetic, creepy, and very self-assured as the "strange kid" next door, Ricky Fitts. He played him so clever that Ricky was always two jumps ahead of his parents, his teachers, and his school mates. Beyond being the new kid in school, he was extra hard to get to know. Neighbor Jane was at first creeped out by him, than she became fascinated as she learned to appreciate his intellect and sensitivity, as they became an item. Allison Janney played his put-upon wife, Barbara; her almost catatonic stillness was haunting and horrific--a woman who had chosen to shut down rather than live in a battle zone. Mena Suvari, also a child actress, was 19 years old when she shot BEAUTY. She was tantalizing and tragic as Miss Popular, Angela Hayes, who incessantly talked about sex to mantle her lack of experience and her lack of courage. Getting by all her life on her looks, nevertheless she had no real self-confidence. She wanted to be a teen model, but one got the feeling that she lacked the drive to make it happen. She was 19 years old when she filmed BEAUTY.
I loved the film, and have enjoyed repeated viewings. It is a very dark comedy that became a drama as it played out. The tragedy was connected to the humor, and yet I continuously hoped that Lester will be spared; and he never was. It is like I feel each time I watch WEST SIDE STORY (1961), hoping that Tony will not be shot during the next viewing, or that Kirk Douglas will make it out of SPARTACUS without being crucified. Thank God the director edited out the original ending where Jane and Ricky were brought to trial and then jailed for Lester's murder, as the Colonel's wife destroyed the bloody t-shirt.
Summary of American Beauty
From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beauty moves with a mesmerizing confidence and acuity epitomized by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism--like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave.It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy, and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbor (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence.
Credit another big-screen newcomer, English theatrical director Sam Mendes, with expertly juggling these potentially disjunctive elements into a superb ensemble piece that achieves a stylized pace without lapsing into transparent self-indulgence. Mendes has shrewdly insured his success with a solid crew of stage veterans, yet he's also made an inspired discovery in Bentley, whose Ricky Fitts becomes a fulcrum for both plot and theme. Cinematographer Conrad Hall's sumptuous visual design further elevates the film, infusing the beige interiors of the Burnhams' lives with vivid bursts of deep crimson, the color of roses--and of blood. --Sam Sutherland
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