"American Beauty" is by far one of the best films I've seen in a long, long time. The direction, script, performances, and cinematography are top-notch. The film's claustrophobic tone and focus on voyeurism aren't for everyone, however, and even the often hysterical asides aren't enough to keep watching "American Beauty" from being a disturbing experience.
Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a 42-year-old suburbanite who is transformed by the vision of a sixteen-year-old blond cheerleader. He realizes, watching her bump and grind in a high school gym, just how stagnant his life has become, and how disaffected he is from his wife, Carolyn, and daughter, Jane. Carolyn and Jane have problems of their own, which are exacerbated by Lester's rebellion. Annette Benning, as Carolyn, is a whirling dervish of real estate in an SUV; watching her, I became fascinated by the skin around her neck, which grows tighter and tighter as her life flies out of control.
The film could have easily descended into another caricature of the soulless suburbs, but the adroit performances capture just how disturbing friends' and neighbors' lives can be if you look only a little beneath the surface. This is a film in which one of the most moral characters is the drug dealer next door, and even as we're repulsed by Lester's infatuation with a child, we're coerced into cooperating with the fantasy. It's an affecting, uncomfortable combination.
"American Beauty" is about complacency, surfaces, and our willingness to project our fears and fantasies on to those around us. It's not really about the suburbs, but after seeing it, I won't be moving into one anytime soon.
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