Obsessions and secrets in Suburbia

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2014)

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is enduring a cold marriage. His wife (Annette Bening) is obsessed with her real estate career. He is obsessed with his daughter's sexy friend Angela (Mena Suvari). His daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is the object of obsession by the next door neighbor boy Ricky (Wes Bentley). Ricky has a domineering angry military father (Chris Cooper), and he sells weed.
Director Sam Mendes and writer Alan Ball have captured the mood of obsessions and secrets in suburbia. This plays like a voyeuristic peep show as the characters peel back the layers of secrets. It's not creepy but it is enchanting. This movie lures you in, and traps you in something forbidden. Kevin Spacey is absolutely wonderful as a torn man. And Thora Birch is great as the angry daughter. It's the perverse mundaneness of suburbia and its many secrets.