Life is Beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2016)

A focused look into the nature of life, American Beauty takes the suburban caricatures and weaves a tale of metaphorical and symbolical greatness. It stares into the depths of hidden nature and gleams the beauty in life.
The screenplay, criticized by many for its banality, is truly an original blend that utilizes those "cliche" characters to tell a gallant story. They are merely plot devices to get across the beautiful themes and messages. And the metaphors and symbols combine in testament to the depth of the film that parallels the depth of life. The acting, which seems at first to only be average, is actually stellar, as each actor takes their caricature, embodies it, and makes their character real. Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, who spectacularly catalyzes the film, portrays his character's sporadic nature as simply believable, and Wes Bentley's oration as Ricky Fits binds the entire film together. The cinematography is brilliant, in that it isolates the events of unique importance, paints life in separated light by using jagged scenes, and uses unique lighting similar to the uniqueness of life. The directing drives the entire film to a complete believability, which in the spirit of a message about the nature of life is necessary, yet is almost impossible in fiction.
The plot comes to a beautiful parallelism through the metaphor and the character development. As the true nature of each character comes to light, the nature of life doesn't resist the flow. Passion and coldness; nature and guise; and life and death come to a collision in this film. Yet it also discusses whether the nature of life or the guise that hides it is truly beautiful.
American Beauty is beautiful on all its levels and is executed to a chilling perfection causing the viewer to be driven to a true collision of parallel ideas.
10/10