Is it so American to appreciate beauty?

Rating: 9/10 (11 September 1999)

The trailer of this movie, and I am referring to the original trailer and not the new one currently being circulated(Which I have not seen yet) creates this great enigmatic vortex that sucks you in. "Look closer" it says and pretty soon there is no way you can resist unraveling this enigma. What is so different about all of these characters? We'll see.
Coming of age stories have been recently...maturing. With movies like Rushmore in which it is hard to see what separates adults from the young folk they once were we have a new view into what it takes to really "Come of Age". It is an acceptance for what happens and what will happen, but not with complete compliance. It is about being understanding and open. It is seeing the world not from categorical norms, but from a new heightened level. It is the desire for progress, and not accepting the limitations that we or others have placed on us. It can happen at anytime.

In American Beauty it does...to a number of people. These characters are fascinating. They are a complex web. The more you study it the easier it becomes to notice the individual strands that make up this unit and the ones that form each individual as well. And these strands, these people you can sink your teeth into and say 'I know that taste...It tastes like me'.
After one viewing I have perceived this much and more that still awaits processing. While watching this I was enveloped by these enigmatic characters and circumstances and it will take a number of viewings to peel its outer wrapping and its inner wrapping and its protective shell to finally see all that it has to offer. I like that.
This is a powerful and deep movie, and not just because of what you might not understand just after its first viewing, but also due to what is understood.
Still one question remains that may or may not be so important, but is a big part of the Enigma surrounding this film...Why "AMERICAN Beauty"? Is it because this type of coming of age is only possible in the states? Is it due to the fact that it is an American movie? Is it because the filmmakers were influenced by Mena Suvari who earlier in the summer acted in American Pie? Maybe next time I view this film it will dawn on me. Maybe not. But I know for sure there will be a next time.