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The Netflix gem I chose to watch this week was American Beauty starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, and Thora Birch. This film debuted in October of 1999 and is the winner of 5 Academy Awards including “Best Picture.”
Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey is a depressed father of a dysfunctional family, who has a distant relationship with his wife and daughter even though they are living under the same roof. He is also going through a midlife crisis where nothing matters to him anymore. His wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) is too controlling of Lester and feels like she is on top of the world when really she feels lonely and distressed. Their daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is disillusioned and lacks self-esteem and she’s convinced she is unattractive. Jane’s best friend Angela, makes Jane feel worse when she goes around saying everyone is an ‘awe’ when they see her, and she’s beautiful and perfect. To make matters worse, another person in Jane’s life finds Angela attractive, her dad. He ends up lusting for her, which in turn makes him change his lifestyle. He eventually jogs and works out to make her attractive towards him. The next door neighbor Ricky, a drug-dealer and film enthusiast, who is obsessed with beauty has a difficult life especially with a retired Marine Corps father. He doesn’t tolerate any other form of life other than that of the Marine Corps life.
This film was kind of a dark satirical movie. The movie was very provocative but smart. I believe the characters were defined through their sexuality. Lester was trying to reminisce his youth years when he was attracted to Angela. He and his wife’s relationship were characterized by the lack of sexual contact a normal marriage would entail. The movie’s budget was 15 million dollars, but there were not any special effects that really contributed, hence still a low budget. I enjoyed this movie a lot better than the last featured movie, but you have to be into these kinds of dramas to really enjoy it. My rating is 6 out of 10. It was widely considered the “best film of 1999” by the American Press. Maybe it’s just my opinion, but it wasn’t the greatest of films to be the “favorite” of a year.
Derrick
This week’s theme was an Oscar winning movie! So with that we stumbled upon American Beauty the 1999 best picture winner. Here is a link to the IMDB site for it. I had heard of this movie and seen the cover before but never really had the opportunity to watch it. Honestly I had no idea what it was about but the cover is a little risqué so I knew it would be different. 
In a way, I love going into a movie blindly having no idea what to expect. But then again I had no clue what I was getting myself into with this one. If I had to pick one word to describe American Beauty I would say twisted. It started out a little different but it was easy to follow. The story is about a middle aged man Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) and his mid-life crisis. Lester, his family and the new neighbors are all suffering from a battle within themselves. This movie is not about the typical suburban family there are some deeper meanings behind what these characters do and say. I found the movie interesting and bizarre but was creeped out at times. There was a good amount of nudity in it as well which added to the story but honestly I am not one for seeing everyone’s parts.
One thing I did really enjoy about this movie was all the cast in it. I have seen the majority of them before in some other movies. They all did an amazing job of portraying these sick characters. One in particular that I recognized right away was Jane Burnham (Thora Birch). To me she will always be the Dani from Hocus Pocus.
That is one of my favorite Halloween movies and I will never forget her. It was a breath of fresh air to see that she could play such an intense character.
Overall this movie was well made and well played. I enjoyed the true perverseness of the movie. I haven’t ever seen anything like it before. I would not recommend to anyone who is looking for a pleasant movie to watch or a family movie. I do have to say I love the soundtrack. There is something about the music that just gets me. I give this movie 6.5 out of 10.
Kelsy
With the Oscars coming up in the next few weeks, we decided to watch a movie that had already won one! “American Beauty” was the winner of the 1999 Best Picture award and it was nothing short of a twisted surprise. If you want to watch some of the other winners there is a list here.
There were really no weak performances and I was just completely surprised at what the characters turned out to be. I had never seen Wes Bentley in anything but “Hunger Games” and he played a great misunderstood hero that, in a way, rescues Thora Birch’s character Jane. The dynamic between Carolyn and Lester (played by Annette Benning and Kevin Spacey respectively) is almost unbelievable and yet I can’t help but think that there are many relationships like that. Kevin Spacey can play such a great creep, too (see also Se7en). While the situations were outrageous, all the characters seemed like they could really exist and I found myself emotionally invested in all of them.
The best word I could use to describe this movie is disturbing. While I did enjoy it, most of the movie just made me uncomfortable. The amount of nudity seemed almost unnecessary but maybe that was because I was not expecting it. The relationships between the characters all seemed so strange and they talked about things I would never approach with my friends or family. It is an extremely exaggerated depiction of the idea that no matter how perfect something may look on the outside, it is rarely the case.
I started watching this movie with a specific idea in my mind of what it would be like. I was expecting some inappropriate relationship between a high school girl and her friend’s dad. It wasn’t just that, but it was a web of relationships and personalities like nothing I ever expected. I thought the movie would really feature Lester, and it did, but there was just as much focus on the rest of the family and how they interact with each other.
Overall, I thought that this was such a twisted yet interesting take on life in “suburbia” and I would recommend it to an audience that is mature enough to handle the intense subject-matter. Overall I give it a 7 out of 10 because it really grew on me and I did not feel like there was ever a lull because I kept wanting to know what was coming next. That being said, I think there should be a sequel or something because I want to know what happens!
Allison
KAD Movie Reviews 