(September 1999, U.S.)
About thirty years ago, there were two films, KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979) and ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980) that challenged viewers to take a closer look at the typical American family. Subjects like divorce, legal custody, maternal disconnection and teenage suicide made us laugh, made us cry and made us think. These films, by the way, also won the Oscar for best picture of each year.
Watching AMERICAN BEAUTY, we're asked (again) to take a closer look at the typical American family. This time, however, we're hit in the face and gut with a sledgehammer and told, "This is what it's like. Fuck you if you can't handle it!" Seriously, you think YOU'RE family is dysfunctional? Experience this story of social conformity, family imprisonment, sexual repression, illegal drug use, homosexuality, child abuse - oh, and throw in Kevin Spacey, one of the greatest actors of the last two decades, as a would-be pedophile, and you'll definitely be stamping your own family with the name BRADY!
This kind of family disfunction is not without irresistible humor, though. Watching Spacey's and Bening's marriage deteriorate into an almost farcical situation seems so beyond what one might consider suburban family "reality", one can't help but laugh with joy. Spacey's character, Lester Burnham, is so utterly trapped and miserable in his joyless marriage, you feel compelled to cheer for the guy (I dare you not to crack up when you watch him driving his car and rocking out to the words of the Guess Who's "American Woman"!), even if he is going all out to try and fuck his high school daughter's best friend. I said, "try", though. In the end, he happily redeems himself of that temptation - this just before getting shot in the head in his own kitchen.
AMERICAN BEAUTY won the Oscar for best picture of 1999. It's also one of my top ten favorite films of the 1990's.
Favorite line or dialogue:
Carolyn Burnham: "Uh, whose car is that out front?"
Lester Burnham: "Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I've always wanted and now I have it. I RULE!"
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
AMERICAN BEAUTY
(September 1999, U.S.)
About thirty years ago, there were two films, KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979) and ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980) that challenged viewers to take a closer look at the typical American family. Subjects like divorce, legal custody, maternal disconnection and teenage suicide made us laugh, made us cry and made us think. These films, by the way, also won the Oscar for best picture of each year.
Watching AMERICAN BEAUTY, we're asked (again) to take a closer look at the typical American family. This time, however, we're hit in the face and gut with a sledgehammer and told, "This is what it's like. Fuck you if you can't handle it!" Seriously, you think YOU'RE family is dysfunctional? Experience this story of social conformity, family imprisonment, sexual repression, illegal drug use, homosexuality, child abuse - oh, and throw in Kevin Spacey, one of the greatest actors of the last two decades, as a would-be pedophile, and you'll definitely be stamping your own family with the name BRADY!
This kind of family disfunction is not without irresistible humor, though. Watching Spacey's and Bening's marriage deteriorate into an almost farcical situation seems so beyond what one might consider suburban family "reality", one can't help but laugh with joy. Spacey's character, Lester Burnham, is so utterly trapped and miserable in his joyless marriage, you feel compelled to cheer for the guy (I dare you not to crack up when you watch him driving his car and rocking out to the words of the Guess Who's "American Woman"!), even if he is going all out to try and fuck his high school daughter's best friend. I said, "try", though. In the end, he happily redeems himself of that temptation - this just before getting shot in the head in his own kitchen.
AMERICAN BEAUTY won the Oscar for best picture of 1999. It's also one of my top ten favorite films of the 1990's.
Favorite line or dialogue:
Carolyn Burnham: "Uh, whose car is that out front?"
Lester Burnham: "Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I've always wanted and now I have it. I RULE!"
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