Franklin Film Appreciation Class Review

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2011)

Kevin Spacey plays as "Lester Burnham", who is an average suburban husband/father seems to be going through a midlife crisis. He has a wife, "Carolyn Burnham" who seems to have the "white picket fence", yet the couple is extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with their life. This also reflects through their high school daughter "Jane" played by Thora Birch, who in the end runs away with her awkward boyfriend and neighbor. Lester, after many years of sitting and being "invisible and unappreciated" within the family role, goes through a midlife crisis in which throughout the film he reverts back to his young adult life. The movie begins by "Lester" narrating the year leading up to his death. The director uses flashbacks, thawed frames, lighting, and sound effects to lead up to the scenes that are of importance and relevant to the storyline. By the invisible sounds of Lester's narration, we become more involved with his character in the film, as though we are delving deep into his thoughts. The thawed frames bring more dramatic effect to the scenes of more importance that take place, such as his infatuation with his daughter's high school friend, and also with the day of his death. The lighting also helps with these effects and is also used to focus in on the characters, where in many scenes the camera and lighting focus in directly on the character and seem to block out all other people from vision. The uses of these techniques tie all the characters into the main story plot—Lester's death. As the movie progresses, Lester "mans up" if you will to all those who have taken him for granted. This follows the plot at the beginning of the movie, because it is our job as the movie watcher to figure out which person he has upset the most, and who will be responsible for his death. Throughout the film, Lester deeply upsets his wife by standing up to her. He quits his job by blackmailing his boss to provide him with a year's severance pay. He is buying illegal substances form his daughter's boyfriend who has a deeply disturbed father. He also has the infatuation with his daughter's high school friend. All of these scenes are unwrapped individually but leads us to pick which person may be responsible for his death which he depicts in the beginning of the