A Review of American Beauty (1999)

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2007)

As far as debuts go, they can impress cinema goers to see more from that director, such as Tarintino's Reservoir Dogs, and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane- although that one took some time thou! Now we have another one to add to our favourite directorial debut lists, as Sam Mendes directs one of the most memorable modern dramas, in an era filled with effects laden blockbuster epics.
American Beauty, for those who have yet seen this yet, is, if you boil it down to the basics, about a middle aged father going through a mid-life crisis- and what a crisis it is too, as he has fallen in love with a high school cheer leader. But haven't we all seen films involving a mid-life crisis narrative before? Yes, but not like this!
Beautiful shot scene by scene, Mendes is a director who knows how to make the most of the camera for cinematic impact; whether it comes to either directing video camera footage of a plastic bag, to that renowned dream sequence- yes, this is the one with partially naked girl on the ceiling of rose petals! Mendes also knows how to get the most of his cast, in particular Kevin Spacey in the main role- when you though he outdone himself in the Usual Suspects, then you should see him in more dramatic action in this film.
One of the things that this film does is to have an original message- and it is not something along the lines of not getting sidetracked in your marriage! The universal message of seeing "beauty" in everything around you with definitely bedazzled film goers alike- either that or they start starring with burning passion at plastic bags blowing in the wind!
Having seen all of Mendes' current outings at the silver screen, the intriguing comic book adaptation Road to Perdition and the excellent war biopic Jarhead, American Beauty will definitely be the one he will be most remember for with great reasons: Kevin Spacey's finest performance since the Usual Suspects, the picture perfect cinematography, the fascinating message of "beauty", and reinventing the mid-life crisis movie forever. Also, this film, like most classics, has memorable usage of music, and definitely one of the best, and memorable, directorial debuts in this recent chapter of movie history.