 |
 |
| Directed by Sam Mendes; Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Scott Bakula, Sam Robards, and Allison Janney |
I’m not the sentimental type, so it is quite the rarity that I am truly touched by a film. When most moviegoers are having epiphany moments at Good Will Hunting and Patch Adams, I’m always singing the praises of some cynical film that is as far from life affirming as films can get (I was an advocate for Happiness when Patch Adams came out!). So for me to find a film to be both beautiful and redeeming in my mind, it must be quite the film. Earlier this year, I spent hours telling of the great films Eyes Wide Shut, The Red Violin, eXistenZ, and The Matrix, none of which have any sentiment or touching moments to speak of. But my wait for the touching film of 1999 has finally come to an end. Joining the annals of The Deer Hunter, Schindler’s List, The Sweet Hereafter, Life is Beautiful, and Fargo is American Beauty. Few films pick up raw emotions from me like this film. I have sit through some of the worst dreck this year, and I’d say that all the She’s All That’s and Wing Commander’s in the world are worth it just to see a film like this one.
1999 has a listing of films from major directors this winter stronger than any previous year I can remember. Names like Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Werner Herzog, and Paul Thomas Anderson have something to throw at me in upcoming months, but it almost looks like they may actually be one-upped by a first time film director, whose only previous work has been on Broadway. The Blue Room and Cabaret revival director Sam Mendes shows more directorial prowess than any name I’ve been present to this year, and this is the year I saw a Kubrick film! He has taken all his knowledge of Broadway direction and brought it to the screen without making the film seem staged or static, achievements only below Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Sidney Lumet’s A Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The beautiful cinematography by recent Academy Award nominee Conrad L. Hall transcends the spectrum of light and shadow making scenes come off with more emotional pull than entire Spielberg films (a scene in which Annette Bening emotionally breaks down in a dark room before walking into a single light for less than a second is film cinematique at its best). Mendes and Hall have made what could be considered the greatest achievement for dramatic filmmakers, bringing the audience into the characters with simple camera work.
Despite my adoration for the two men behind the camera here, proper kudos should be given to the cast. Smaller players like Scott Bakula, Allison Janney, and Peter Gallagher give support to the leads and supporting actors that are immeasurably important. Kevin Spacey’s performance as Lester Burnham, a man going through the ultimate midlife crisis in his hectic suburban experience, is the best performance I have seen all year. Spacey is in top form and continues to grow the admiration I have had for him since his three star making films in 1995 (Se7en, Swimming with Sharks, and The Usual Suspects). His bitingly satirical character is just what I wanted from an actor this year and he delivers, and then some. If he does not get a best actor nomination at this year’s Academy Awards, I will all but disown the ceremony all together. His admirable performance could overshadow any other actors’ performance in most films, but here he is joined by established and new actors and actresses, all making themselves quite a mark on film here. The Annette Bening performance as Spacey’s closeted manic-depressed wife is, to the best of my recollection, the best female performance I have seen in twenty years, even surpassing Mary Tyler Moore’s paralleled job in Ordinary People. Bening does more here than I have ever seen from the actress, and my profound respect for her has grown considerably.
The film is still held up from the back as its younger and less established actors make a mark that is rare from young Hollywood these days (the cast of Dawson’s Creek, take note). I was somewhat acquainted with Thora Birch, having seen her grow up in films for a few years now, doing horrible films like Now and Again, Hocus Pocus, and Monkey Trouble. As Lester’s daughter Jane, she gives a terrific dramatic performance that would leave even the greatest of child actor cynics blown-away. Also of the better known bunch is Mena Suvari, co-star of the similarly titled yet far inferior American Pie, as Jane’s friend whom Lester dreams of sexually and begins his midlife crisis in the thought that he might get her. I was less than enthused by her performance in American Pie, but the one she puts forth in American Beauty is almost of a different actress. Whatever acting lessons she went through between projects has to be the best education money can buy. Despite these two females I had heard of, I was more blown away from the guy I had never heard of. As the neighbor obsessed with Jane and closest friend of Lester, Wes Bentley looks to be the next under appreciated young actor. Like Tobey Maguire, Bentley gives the dramatic performance that Freddie Prinze Jr. could doubtfully even dream of. In his expressions, there is more feeling and character than in Patch Adams as a whole. Bentley gives the type of performances I only see every once in a while. Names like Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture Show, Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People, Tobey Maguire in The Ice Storm, Anna Paquin in The Piano, and Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon, actors and actresses that gave dynamic performances in the realm of Olivier and Rains, without having even reached their twenty-fifth birthday, now have the addition of Wes Bentley in American Beauty.
I’m not the one to put things on the line like I’m about to do, but I’d dare say that I will not see a better film this year than American Beauty.
