The Pretenders

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2008)

Lester (Kevin Spacey) is a disillusioned 40 years old man. He doesn't have a good relation with his wife (Annette Bening) and his daughter (Thora Birch) hates him. After meeting Angela (Mena Suvari) his life suddenly change and he is going to feel the freedom again.
"American Beauty" is definitely the most famous film of 1999, a year with many films that now are true modern classics. I really enjoyed this film and i think it has a great impact because it has common people as characters. A family of pretenders: Lester is a good man but is really unhappy because he can't be free in his family. I think he is a good man because he feel worry about his daughter but he can't communicate that to her. His daughter his unhappy too because she can't accept herself and she is always insecure. And the mother, who has to pretend that she is happy to obtain success in her work. Finally when the three meet new persons, they feel the happiness again but those persons (Angela, Ricky and Buddy King) are three pretenders too that are having a confusing time. The scene when we confirm that Lester was a true good person in when he finally can have Angela, the girl of his dreams, but suddenly he wakes up from that dream and realize that Angela is just a child, the best friend of his daughter, and he doesn't abuse of her innocence, the innocence that Angela was afraid to show. And Lester did that because of the times when he was finally happy, the happiness that ends because of the most unhappy character in the story, Col. Frank Fits,USMC.
About the cast: a great performance of Spacey steals the film but the rest of the cast are good too. The performance of Mena Suvari is just memorable and Thora Birch is just good, in a minor but important character. It's a fact that Thora appears more than Mena but the scenes with Mena's character and just the most famous scenes of the film.
Conclusion: for me the debut film of Sam Mendes is a very well written and entertaining film with a memorable Spacey and great rock music. To call it "the best thing to happen in 20 years" is just overrate but definitely is a worth watching film that by now every film lover of the world have already check. 8 out of 10