An exquisite work of film

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 2002)

"American Beauty" has got to be one of the most poignant, incredible films of our time. Not only was it wonderfully directed, acted, and produced-it made sound points about the way we live-and what's wrong with it. Some complain that it has no plot. That's because our lives have no plots. How many people do you know whose entire world gravitates around one conflict or event? That's what I thought.
The homophobic dad was a classic example of gay hate being rooted in a personal insecurity that one is, in fact, gay. Jane's dad conveyed that many of us are just wasting away our lives behind desks and computers when we'd rather be "jerking off in the shower." Jane's mom shows how so many wives these days are totally repudiated by their husbands and that infidelity is not always the eighth deadly sin. Jane herself was the typical morbid teenager full of angst, but quite believable. Ricky was proof that sometimes the most sagacoius people you'll meet with be on drugs or voyeauristic and you'd never guess they were so beautiful if you didn't form a connection with them. Angela proves the same thing, with her ditsy manneurisms and brazen attitude about her sex life. I can't divulge the ending, but I will say this: This movie revitalized my zeal for life. Few movies make me cry, and this was one of them.