Waking up from the American Dream...

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 1999)

What has been hyped as "the best film of the decade..." is, in fact, just that. Plot summaries are available everywhere, so I will cut to my humble opinion. This film paints a beautiful, touching and screemingly funny yet wicked, dead black, warning of the horrors behind closed door suburbia, that not only leaves you with a sense of loss but a sense of hope... at this point I am making no sense. And I can't. Because this film is about so much more than teenagers who think their parents are insane or adults that are on the verge of insanity and are so focused on what they want to see that they don't see the beauty in the truth until it is too late... so much more. The cinematography, script, direction and acting are nothing short of incredible. Both Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening give the performances of their careers and I expect to see them with golden men in hand on a certain March night. I should also say the same about Thora Birch. I rarely enjoy watching actors of my own age but her performance was so brave and so touching... Wes Bentley, whom I have never seen before this film has made a lasting impression. Anyway- See this film... You may rush there to meet the 7:30 starting time but you will want to walk home and take in a deep drink of air while watching the clouds cross the night sky or even a paper bag dance in the wind and revel in its beauty.