This Time Next Year I'll Be Dead (American Beauty (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	American Beauty (DVD)
Date:	06/01/02 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A modern classic

Disadvantages: None

Have you ever been sitting there watching the closing credits and thought…wow! Well that’s how I felt after watching American Beauty. This film seemed to take Blue Velvet (not as controversial, though), add Sex Lies and Videotape and proceed to rip across middle-class American suburbia. Incredibly, it weaves together a rites of passage story with a reprisal of a mid-life crisis with stunning effect.

The principal people responsible for the movie are:

Annette Bening (Caroline Burnham)
Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham)
Thora Birch (Jane Burnham)
Scott Bakula (Jim)
Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts)
Chris Cooper (Colonel Fitts)
Peter Gallagher (Buddy Kane)
Allison Janney (Barbra Fitts)
Sam Robards (Jim)
Amber Smith (Christy Kane)
Mena Süväri (Angela)
Alan Mendes (Director)
Alan Ball (Screenwriter)
Bruce Cohen (Producer)
Dan Jinks (Producer)

From the opening scene of Lester Burnham in the shower, this movie packs a punch. It’s written in the first person from the point of view of Lester. His thoughts are brought out by his own narration, which gives the viewer an insight into the workings of his mind.

Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects) gives the performance of his life in the lead role as a bored, middle-aged advertising executive. His life is in meltdown. He rarely has sex with his career obsessed wife anymore; he’s in a rut at work and he struggles to communicate with his 14 year old daughter. The opening narration will go down in movie legend.

Alan Ball paints an evocative picture of suburbia. The Burnhams live next door to 2 gay men (they seem almost incidental to the story excepting the point that they are gay and living together) on one side and a retired US marines Colonel on the other. Chris Cooper is fantastic as the bigoted, repressed army man who hides behind a macho exterior. He’s ashamed of his son Ricky (Wes Bentley) who provides curiosit
y value as a drug dealing, oppressed teenager who becomes obsessed with Jane Burnham, the girl next door. This is highlighted by his constant videotaping of Jane both at home and at school.

***The story***
This is an enthralling ride across a landscape filled with teen angst and a marriage in freefall. Lester Burnham reluctantly goes to a basketball game where his daughter is cheerleading. BANG! He spies Angela and falls hook, line and sinker in lust. Angela is Jane’s best friend. Almost immediately, Lester starts to fantasise about Angela, which takes the form of daydreaming about her covered in roses. He constantly ponders what Angela would look like naked without the cover of the red roses.

Lester’s desire is fuelled by the fact that his marriage has stalled and is going nowhere. His wife, Caroline is completely consumed by her career in real estate. She falls for the charming Buddy Kane. A perfect match as Buddy is also consumed by his mantle as the King of real estate to the point that his wife has left him pending divorce. At a party they get together and end up in a seedy motel where they swap mutual admiration (OK, they bonk each other silly).

Meanwhile, Jane Burnham is the self-conscious teenage girl who is low on self-esteem. She is dominated by the beautiful Angela (the American Beauty of the title) who thinks that every man in the US, to quote Angela “..wants to f$&k me.” Here in lies the love story sub-plot where Jane falls for the dysfunctional Ricky, much to Angela’s chagrin.

Lester’s awakening to the fact that his life is going no-where drives the film. Ricky provides the catalyst and it’s not long before he’s buying high-grade dope from Ricky in an attempt to re-discover his youth. In an act of spontaneity, Lester quits his job but not before blackmailing his oily boss for a year’s salary in severance (it seems Lester knows about a rather sordid credit car
d transaction carried out by the CEO). He takes a job in the local burger bar; again, re-creating his youth through a job he did over 20 years earlier.

Needless to say, Lester discovers his wife’s affair (in a superb scene at the drive-in burger joint) and decides that things are gonna change from here on in. The story brings the sub-plots together beautifully resulting in a poignant ending that makes you stop and pause to wonder what life’s all about.

A flowing undercurrent is the relationship between Ricky and his father. Chris Cooper as Colonel Fitts pulls off a stinging portrayal of a man at odds with his son. Ricky has, supposedly, been off drugs for 6 years but has a substantial supply in his bedroom. As a reaction to his father’s heavy handedness, Ricky pretends to take various jobs, which supply the income to fill his bedroom with all the latest gadgets. In reality, he is a dealer and this is how his character crosses the lead, Lester. They meet at the same fateful party that Caroline and Buddy get together in a scene where they are smoking dope at the back of the building. Ricky is meant to be waiting on guests but, when challenged by his boss, he quits in a dismissive manner. This has a profound affect on Lester and gives him the impetuous to put in motion those things that he’s wanted to do for some time.

***Why is this film so good?***
#Spacey is simply stunning in the lead role. He rides a whole gamut of emotions to deliver an empathetic, believable man. Scenes are played out sensitively and passionately when called for. Spacey does have the advantage of an outstanding script that will be oft repeated in the future. In the earlier parts of the film, Spacey adds a comic feel to the dialogue, which moves the story on very nicely. Spacey manages the transition from stoic to care free soul with a controlled desire that rides the final sets when things turn distinctly darker. Spacey’s portrayal of
a man that has found peace in the closing scene is simply magnificent.

#The musical backing along with sound is perfect. It harmonises the script and adds to the staccato narration that sets the film apart from many others.

#Benning (The Grifters) is on form as the self-obsessed wife who’s having just as much of a mid-life crisis but in a different, more subtle way than Spacey. The role of Caroline Burnham is delivered as intended – a neurotic woman who’s lost her priorities between marriage and mid-forties. Having forgotten the impetuosity of youth, Benning is convincing as a lady hung up on social status and material gain. The coupling of the characters, Caroline with Buddy Kane makes sense as, in a way, they too are re-visiting earlier days. The scenes around the family dinner table give an opportunity for the screenwriters to demonstrate just how far the nuclear family have drifted apart, brought to life when Lester loses control. Along with some aggressive exchanges with Caroline, Lester ultimately hurls a plate at the wall venting his anger at the futility of his circumstances.

#Chris Cooper as Colonel Fitts must have been unlucky not to get more recognition for his role. He plays the brooding bigot to perfection and it’s easy to hate him for the brutality he metes out to his son. The scene in the garage with Spacey against a torrential rain backdrop is just stunning and provides the rationale for the conclusion of the movie. Cooper provides something of a surprise (at least to me) with a twist towards the end but I won’t expand on that for fear of spoiling the plot.

#There are so many valuable messages to be gleaned from the screenplay. Beauty is only skin deep is drawn out by the increasing realisation that, despite her beauty, Angela is a shallow, insecure individual who envies her plainer friend. Live life to the full becomes the obvious clarion call through Spacey’s barnstorming lea
d role. Different stages of our life cycle are understood through Ricky’s oppressed existence and subsequent rebellion and Jane Burnham’s gradual realisation that being Queen of the Prom is immaterial after all.

***Recommendation***
This is just a breathtaking piece of cinematography. Outstanding script, wonderful acting and a stonking screenplay combine to make one of the all-time great movies. You probably think I’m getting carried away but just watch it and see for your self. It’s on cable at the moment and the vid and DVD are available through the usual sources (Amazon.com etc)

American Beauty won 5 oscars:

Best Picture
Best Director: Sam Mendes
Best Actor: Kevin Spacey
Best Screenplay: Alan Ball
Best Cinematography: Conrad Hall

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