America's Beauty

Rating: 9/10 (6 October 2009)

It was a Saturday morning with some friends, and I felt enlightening them with the satire American Beauty by Sam Mendes. I feel American Beauty is delivering a different dimension of dysfunction. The characters all have their own tales to tell, and the main character isn't the hero as expected.
This movie puts us in the shoes of an middle-aged office worker Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) who is in a terrible 20 year marriage to Carolyn (Annette Bening), the real estate agent. When Lester and his wife reluctantly attends their daughter Jane's cheer leading performance, Lester develops an infatuation with her beautiful blond friend Angela Hayes. Lester has fantasies about Angela involving bright red rose petals, and reverts to his 'glory days' of 1973 to impress her and boost his self esteem. Their neighbor Ricky, who's father is a strict marine core officer, is interested in Jane and video tapes a variety of strange things, including her. The relationship between Ricky and Jane is the most stable or loving of them all, although Jane's parents are negligent and unstable, while Ricky's dad is abusive and his mom is aging and incapable of helping anybody in her mental state.
A notable aspect was the film's narration. Lester is obviously exhausted from his 42 years of surviving, and says he needs a change. There is a recurring shot of his tree-lined street, as his monotone voice flows from the speakers. Its importance is for Lester's character to describe the apathy he is feeling, but without the drama of his everyday life overwhelming the viewer. The shot recurs seldom in the movie for a slight emphasis on how hectic and pathetic his messed up life is. His wife is cheating on him, a high school student is seducing him and his daughter is dating his drug dealer. It can't get too much worse for Lester Burnham.
Another striking feature of the film is the color scheme. Different colors appear in different emotionally or sexually charging scenes in the film. When Lester dreams about Angela, her blond hair is combined with bright red-for instance- as Lester is gazing into his ceiling, he sees a nude Angela with the reddest roses ever digitally created surrounding her and floating back onto him. Those petals contrast with the blue-gray pajamas and sheets he is wearing. The exotic instrumental music behind it creates a visually and audibly interesting scene.
This definitely is an American Beauty. It is one of my favorite films, although I would admit it's an acquired taste. It has a disordering plot, engaged narration, and vivid colors to establish important themes. "There are so many beautiful things in the world", and this is one of them.