What would your life be like if your inner demons, the things that you hide from the people around you suddenly got out? It would be a disaster wouldn't it? American Beauty is a film based on this. It's characters start as "normal" people. Just everyday people that are materialistic, commercialized but, you can notice that just under the surface there is something brewing. Sooner or later a man who is neglected and called stupid as well as a "loser" will snap and the results can be earth shattering. Lucky for us this man is Lester Burnham (played by the master Kevin Spacey). Burnham is one of those people that is called a "loser" and stupid and follows the societal constraints for normal. So do his wife and daughter. Living next to the Burnhams is a boy named Ricky. He's odd and sells weed and films a lot of stuff. Ricky is an interesting character because at the very beginning of the film he is the one that gives you a clue for what might happen. See Ricky is an odd character. In this place that symbolizes the stereotypical suburbs of America there is only one outlier. One day in the midst of his already failing marriage Lester at a basketball game that his teenage daughter is a cheerleader in spots one of her friends. He is immediately attracted and suddenly the constraints of society lift from him. So what he married? He's a good guy why shouldn't he get exactly what he wants. So what if he has a good job? He hates it and just wants to leave and, enjoy not having responsibilities. So over the next few weeks Lester Burnham turns into a new person. He starts smoking weed, he quits his job and goes to work at a fast food restaurant, he starts lifting weights. He becomes the person he wants to be. This makes for some incredible drama coming from Spacy's incredible performance and gleeful manner, and the fact that the family is having a hard time adjusting to the new Lester. Annette Benning plays his wife. She as Lester tries to burn the image of their small suburban family tries to keep it all together though eventually herself falls under it. Her performance is just great. The reactions that you watch of her's are very animated and actually are quite funny. This is a heavy movie with a lot of uncomfortable stuff but, it works because it is so funny. The script could have fallen into a dark place with this subject matter and near the great ending it does, but to keep us from getting to uncomfortable before that happens. At it's core this movie is about humans and the society we live in and it's damn entertaining in that way. It's talking about who we really are. It's slogan actually was "look closer" and the way that this works is "Look at this family they appear normal don't they now look closer". They are not quite what they seem to be. The film is asking you to look deeper into the characters and figure them out. See Lester as many could find him is not insane he simply wants the freedom to break the molds of his everyday life and have the fun he has always wanted. The slogan also kind of works for the way you have to take the movie. On the surface of the entire thing you find a story that is incredibly odd, but look closer and you can find something of real beauty. I give American Beauty a 10 out of 10. P.S. I recommend looking into analysis's of this film you can find some very interesting things in that category.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |