Life can be more beautiful after you realize it is not perfect

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2008)

This movie's title, like that of every others, has no luring power and also is misleading. This movie is not about American Beauty, not even remotely.
I saw this movie 8 years ago when it first came out. I was in China. The reason I picked it was because it won the best movie of Oscar 2000. Yet, I didn't understand why it won after I finished it. I felt it was so dark and so depressing. What a weird man, twisted loser and is it the spirit we would like to promote in the US? I was getting ready to the country and I was even doubting about my choice because of this.
8 years later, I happened to see this movie again on HBO. After 8 years of exploring the culture of mixture, I found the strong connection with the author Alan E. Ball (No wonder, he is a gay according to my research) . I admire the bravery of the first time author to go against Hollywood mainstream, which is always about happy ever after, happy, happy.
He went inside an American dream life--a great neighborhood, a typical mid-class family and depicted what the life is really like, if you can call it a real life. I always have doubt about the seemingly ever-happy American lives and my findings make me want to puke--we have just too many pretentious people out there, just too many self-denials...In other word, most of smileys I saw are just too animated. Why can't they be true to themselves? It is okay to lack something and still pursuing your happiness...? Here, Alan told us all. Men burdened with boring jobs, and don't know where to go next, nothing motivate them or excited them, nothing for them to look forward to...women, gush, are overly animated and yet not happy at all...troubled teens, insecure and hate their parents...drug problems...Even more, outspokenly homophobia might turn out to be gay themselves, housewives are wordless and of course joyless..Families that look so happy from outside might be just a show, like Kevin spacer's character Lester Burnham says in the movie. They might just be hell! What I learned from the movie? Hey, we are not alone either enjoying or suffering ,not everyone else is the happiest but you! We should be so proud of ourselves because we are true to ourselves and we are seeking our joy in our lives, our own joys. They are not better than us even they, the pretentious people, pretend they do.
Good luck, pretentious people! When you kill yourself, make sure you pick up after yourself.