Words are not enough to describe the beauty of "American Beauty"

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2000)

As I've already said in many of my comments, the year of 1999 was really great for the movie history. We had the opportunity to see Stanley Kubrick's 'grand finale' ("Eyes Wide Shut"), an intelligent, surprising and twisted supernatural drama ("The Sixth Sense"), one of the most inventive comedies of the '90s ("Dogma"), a hilarious satire about ambitions ("Election"), a fast and exotic comedy about the 'generation X' ("Go"), the most enjoyable romantic comedy of the decade ("Notting Hill") and even a wicked and fun teen flick ("Cruel Intentions"). There were other great films last year, including some that were not released in Brazil yet (as "Being John Malkovich" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley"). But there was a certain movie, with a U$15 million budget, which stayed not only as the best of '99, but also the best of the '90s. Its name is simple and beautiful: "American Beauty".
I started admiring it some months ago, when it was released in the USA and the IMDb users elected it as the second best film of all times. At first, I thought that was quite weird: will a small film be better than true masterpieces as "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "Psycho"? This may be a little difficult to say, but the answer came last night, when I saw the sneak preview at a local movies. And the answer for that question above is:... Well, wait for my conclusion.
First of all, "American Beauty" is a satire. A satire about the society of the '90s, about the family, specially the American. What seems to be a happy family is nothing but facade. What seems to be a happy marriage is nothing but convenience. Everything is kilometres away from a perfect existence. But some facts will change the lives of these 'ordinary people'. The way as director Sam Mendes and writer Allan Ball turn all this into a dark comedy (a dramatic-dark-comedy, in fact) is really amazing. They're both geniuses, specially Mendes, on his direction debut. And pay attention at this: the movie can be resumed in a simple, ordinary phrase- 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. Mendes and Ball care for each character, and each of them has a great importance in the whole film.
Kevin Spacey wonderfully plays Lester Burnham, a middle-aged man who lives his life without being cared for none, including his daughter Jane (Thora Birch) and his annoying wife Carolyn (Annette Bening). But one day he meets Jane's friend, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari), and starts to be obssesed by her. While that happens, Carolyn gets involved with Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) and Jane falls in love for the 'psycho next door', Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), whose parents (Chris Cooper and Allison Janney) are an army coronel and an 'alive statue'. Spacey gives his best performance since "The Usual Suspects", and I see another Oscar on his shelf. Bening is in a wonderful, also Oscar worthy acting. The rest of the cast is worthy of as much recognition as the main couple, specially Bentley, Birch and Suvari, as the nowadays' 'lolita'.
Everything in "American Beauty" is perfect, from the soundtrack to the brilliant film editing. It has many memorable scenes, quotes, and wonderful images. It's difficult to say that it is the best film ever made if we take a look at Kubrick's and Hitchcock's films. But skip for the last line of the comment if you want to.
I could say many other things about such a complex film, but the IMDb wouldn't accept my comment for being so long. So make your Oscar bets, because this is surely best picture. I give you my hands...
My conclusion: "American Beauty" is cynic, wicked, funny, entertaining, disturbing, powerful, warm, brilliant, emotional, superb, wonderful -- The best film of 1999 -- The best film of the '90s -- And, in my mind, at least for some time... The best film ever made (!)