A breath of fresh air

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2000)

AMERICAN BEAUTY is a treat and such a breath of fresh air that it is bound to be overpraised. It's rather like a modern SAVE THE TIGER, with less sentimentality and none of the cheap melodrama. Sam Mendes's film also reminded me of THE ICE STORM in it's willingness to present complex characters and run the risk of alienating the popular audience.

The story of the suburban man breaking free is hardly original, but it is given tweaks by the screenwriter, Alan Ball, that make it seem more daring than it is. I loved the dinner table conversations that slowly turn into pitched battles, and the device of the teenager who tapes everything is treated with sensitivity. The dialogue is constantly surprising and has a barbed wit.
Kevin Spacey gives a great performance, but what else is new ? He's been giving great performances for the past ten years, even in slop like DAD, and he gave Pacino a run for his money in GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. However, this is a brave performance because he lets us see inside the character and understand why he is doing the things he does. He risks being embarrassing, which is the risk all good actors need to take if they are to produce memorable work. Annette Bening is also astonishingly good, giving a witty and unsentimental performance as the mother from hell. All the supporting cast work wonders with the material, but Chris Cooper deserves special recognition for his heroically unforthcoming performance.

Sam Mendes does superb work as director, capturing the mise-en-scene of suburban life with a promising eye for absurd detail. His best stuff is actually the beautiful dream scenes, and the achingly poignant shot of the bag being blown about in the wind. He also has a flair for comedy, keeping the camera moving for the gag. The heartbreaking scenes at the end, shot in black and white, are nicely done as well, stopping just short of saccharine sentiment. Conrad Hall's cinematography is as good as one would expect from such a wizard.
This is a film which kept making me laugh nervously, as I recognised bits of myself in the character of Lester, rather more than I would have wished. The final ten minutes are the most moving moments in a film since the devastating conclusion of WINGS OF THE DOVE. It's a brave, uncompromising film which treads familiar ground with enough originality to make it more than welcome. If it doesn't quite have the sharp edge of an independent film like, say, HAPPINESS, well ... you can't have everything.