Oscars all around -- in a perfect world.

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 1999)

Whaddya know, a fine film which assumes I can think and know how to feel! Phenomenal acting, editing, script and very effective cinematography, plus a story worth telling and credible characters to care about.
Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening are brilliant yet only slightly outshine Wes Bentley and Mena Suvari. There is a tenderness to this film which makes its black satire intensely involving -- not the cheap bleakness and cynicism of Tarantino and his equally sophomoric imitators. The characters in this film, even at their worst (and they do behave badly), are fully human and demand compassion even while making us sick with contempt or when they're just plain pathetic.
The cinematography was effective and innovative, especially the scenes-within-scenes (on Bentley's TV/digital video monitor), to give us both detail, gentle irony and multiple perspectives.
In a plot with several plausible endings, it was gratifying to be unsure of the precise outcome because, as in real life, so many possibilities existed and were developed. Spacey can act -- he doesn't have to give us a ham-fisted monologue for us to know his thoughts and feelings. What a moment of grace for his character Lester when he hears "It's my first time", and how convincing and understated is his awakening from the tunnel vision of his obsession to the humble truths, his and hers.
I would predict Oscars (certainly there will be nominations) for this film for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Supporting Actor, as well as, perhaps, best screenplay and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, except I know the voters for the Academy Awards are mostly village idiots who collect Star Wars trinkets for intellectual stimulation and rarely see half the films they vote on anyway, but that's another matter, eh?
Recommended without reservation -- "10 out of 10", first film over an "8" this year for me.