AMERICAN BEAUTY

"American Beauty is the best film of this year and just about any year. What's even more remarkable about this superb slice of suburban life is that it comes not from the indie scene but carries the banner of Dreamworks Pictures, the studio founded by Hollywood major players Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. American Beauty dares to explore what beauty is in the eyes of its characters, all of whom are struggling to find the courage simply to carry on. It's an utterly captivating journey in which the achingly funny and deeply moving exist side by side. Sam Mendes, an acclaimed theatre director making his first film, insisted on a long rehearsal period (most films go into production without rehearsal) and the results pay off brilliantly with a collection of characters so well drawn we feel we already know them - at least on the surface. Mendes' background pays off spectacularly in the performances he elicits from a cast turning in uniformly outstanding work. Kevin Spacey's comic timing as he drools over Angela turns Lester into character of Nabokovian dimensions, Annette Bening is a materially fixated suburbanite dealing badly with her crumbling comfort zone and Thora Birch and Wes Bentley are tremendously moving as the alienated results of their parent's lives. Beauty arrives in unexpected places here and the expertly controlled manner in which it's revealed makes us want to laugh and cry at the same time. Many films set out to explore what it takes to find personal freedom; few do it in such funny, beguiling and truthful ways as this unforgettable film."
Richard Kuipers

"Behind every suburban door is a volatile world on the edge of self destruction. Either that or American Beauty has isolated a single case. Unlikely. The film plays like reading a book, mostly (but not only) because of the narration of its central character, taking us into his world - even after he has departed this world. The recognisably and achingly real world that the writer, the director and the cast present on the screen is at once discomforting and comfortable. The former for confronting honesty, the latter for acute but non-judgmental observation. The nuances have the greatest impact, the humour is like palliative care for the dying and the blackness of the subject matter oozes with the complexity of love and hate in a single glance. Kevin Spacey is riveting and haunting as the man in the middle of a vortex that wont let him go, an everyman yet unique, a failure who succeeds in the one thing that matters: he retains a single ounce of decency. If it were not for that, American Beauty would be ugly. Adorned with the irony and pathos of life, American Beauty is a shattering yet enormously entertaining and witty work, destined to be a classic. And for those who have the stomach for it, have a go at back to back viewing of American Pie with this film. You may find that cinema - American cinema at that - is not just a wimpy sausage factory; it can indeed have a caustic, invigorating edge. And lots to think about."
Andrew L. Urban