"American Beauty" is an 'American Classic'

Rating: 10/10 (31 July 2003)

I would like to say that I have seen this film several times and it never amazes me more on how I feel that American Beauty is one of the all time great moves in history
As a Debut film, Sam Mendes extraodinary feature debut has been called the greatest since the 1966 landmark film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe" by Mike Nichols and I agree with that statement whole hardily, but I would extend that honor and say that "American Beauty" ranks not only with "Virginia Woolfe" but also with Orson Welles' landmark masterpiece "Citizen Kane",Peter Bogdonovich's "Last Picture Show" and Francois Truffaut's "400 Blows" as a panthion of breakthrough world cinema.
Sam Mendes handles his actors like a movie veteran and knows the boundries of motion pictures is limitless and instead of making "American Beauty" feel like a stage play, he gives this film limitless visual quality and understands what seperates film from the stage is the ability to tell a story through the camera lens.
This quality is with the help of the late (may he rest in peace) Conrad L. Hall who uses extreme lighting and colors to set the mood of the story and gives this film almost unprecidented texture and meaning (the floating trash bag, the funeral precession and the pouring rain out side a sorrowful Carolyn Burnham's car window) are all among the most memorable shots in film history.
Thomas Newman's score is at once heartbreaking,sad, erotic, ironic, lonely and full of fantasy. It is a piece that I cannot get out of my head four years after the film's release. Quite simply, Thomas Newman's Score is the best movie score since the glory days of Bernard Hermman.
yet us not forget the wonderful actors in this film. The best being Kevin Spacey's carrear defining performance and Thora Birch's wonderful portrayal of a bruised teen who cannot stand her father hitting on his friends (Angela in particular) and Annette Bennigs' performance as well.
This is the stuff of movie magic.