American Beauty (The Awards Edition)

Rating:
Summary: American Beauty a Review by A.McBride
Review: American Beauty A Review by Ashley McBride

Throughout the film, the main question of "what is beauty" is prevalent. There are many answers that are offered throughout the course of the film, but what stands out the most is not the typical superficial answer offered by most Hollywood pictures.

Lester, the main character of the film whose life we as viewers follow undergoes a midlife crisis. The monotony of everyday life is unrelenting and causing complete atrophy of his potential as a human being. This is until he meets Angela the Hollywood answer to beautiful women, and a friend of his daughter Jane. To Lester, Angela is all that represents beauty. Ricky, a neighbor boy, develops a different definition of beauty; with his camera he can see the world in a different way. He falls in love with Jane, a less stereotypical beauty but a more genuine person. All the while, Carolyn, Lester's wife, Jane's mother, thinks success is the answer to finding beauty. The substance of the plot is that before Lester dies, he is released from an insipid monotonous life and gets to experience his life's beauty to the fullest in his last year-though it is tragic he dies after he has just found beauty.

Some common stereotypes are broken in this film. For example, the fact that physical beauty comes second to internal beauty. This is shown in the film by the fact that we are unable to really accept Angela as beautiful because of her misleading and overall repulsive personality-though she is physically very pretty. This film challenges the viewer (with a series of disassociative affects i.e. rose pedals, hallucinations, overacting, Ricky's films) to look closer than the surface to find the fundamental truth, and thus beauty, within. The film does not give an exact answer to what is beautiful-that is left for the viewer to do, which invites the viewer to look more closely at life and to think.

Women are objectified in this film because they are examples of separate incidences of beauty. Carolyn always wears a façade (which we see break down at the house she is trying to sell) and will do anything to appear successful to those who are viewing her (this is why she closes the blinds before she breaks down). Jane is objectified through Ricky's camera, he is always filming her and through his film, we see a side of Jane that is genuine and beautiful. Angela is viewed by Lester and acts accordingly, because she likes to be objectified and watched. Throughout the film, women are viewed through the lenses of men-and they, in turn, internalize this panopticon in the way that they act and thus appear.

This film intersects aspects of race, social and economic class-the families we view are Middle American, middle class, middle management (and our main character Lester is middle aged). This encompasses a broad range of people who can therefore identify with the film as "normal," until they disassociate due to cinematic effects and critique the characters repute with the intensification of the film. Through the challenge of the film (tag line: "...look closer") we see that we can find our own beauty, and not simply commodify the beauty forced on us by other Hollywood films.

Rating:
Summary: "beauty"
Review: "American Beauty" is a movie that doesn't completely go along with the normal Hollywood movie, in many ways it mocks it. "American Beauty" exemplifies beauty in a range of different ways. Towards the beginning of the movie Angela, the typical blond, good-looking, nice figured, sexual woman represents the typical view on "beauty." Angela did everything to go with the "norm" of society. She viewed herself as someone who was always being watched; therefore she always had to present herself as a "model" of sorts. This touches bases with 20th century philosopher Foucault's notion of the Panopticon. Pan meaning "all" and opticon meaning "seeing." She feels as though if she isn't always looking as she "should" then she will develop a guilty conscious because she is in some ways letting down all the people who are constantly watching her. Therefore performing to the panopticon notion. This forces Angela to make herself out to be something she is not. Throughout the movie she makes herself seem as though she is a very sexually active "vixen" because this is how she feels she has to be portrayed. As the movie proceeds we find out that maybe all this has been a phasade and perhaps she isn't as she seems.
"American Beauty" also produces existing stereotypes and critiques them. As stated an example of an existing stereotype is Angela, the good-looking blond women. Jane, Angels "friend," represents the part of the movie that critiques these existing stereotypes. Jane, the rebellious teenager, realizes that she is not perfect based upon traditional society "norms." of how she should look. She doesn't have the perfect body, she doesn't have the long blond hair, nor does she dress like Angela but she is happy enough with herself. She doesn't care what her family, friends or society tell her to do to change her apperance. A few times in the movie her mom, Carolyn, tell her that she looks depressed and that basically she doesn't look or act as she should. In my opinion this is the movies way of critique the idea of typical societal "norms." It's showing that you don't have to look a certain way in order to be beautiful.
Ricky, Jane's next door neighbor, helps point out the difference between "real" beauty and "ideal" beauty. Ricky is considered to be the odd outsider. He is constantly filming everything he considers beautiful. His main filming target always seems to be Jane even though she is not considered to represent "ideal" beauty. This flusters Angela because she doesn't understand why Ricky is so interested in Jane and not in herself. In one sequence of the film Ricky is taping from his house into Jane's room and Angela notices. Angela immediately starts to pose in front of the window for Ricky, but Ricky doesn't pay any attention to her "ideal" beauty. Instead Ricky focuses the camera to a target that represents more "inter" and "real" beauty, Jane who is looking into a mirror beyond Angela. This shows us that the general stereotypes for beauty are not always what represent actual beauty.
I really enjoyed this movie. It really kept me thinking and not bored throughout it. It also provides those twists and turns that you may not have seen coming. This movie does a great job to both show and critique many stereotypes about beauty. I highly recommend watching "American Beauty."

Rating:
Summary: Angela's Beauty
Review: In the movie gAmerican Beautyh, Mena Suvari as Angela Hayes is symbolized the American ideal beautiful girl. She has blonde long hair, blue eyes, white skin, skinny figure, and wears bright color clothes. On the contrary, Thora Birch as Jane Burnham roles the opposite side from Angela, which is Jane has black hair, wear dark color clothes, and not smiling face most of the time. This stereotype beauty of Angela seems to be centered of the movie; however, the point of the movie criticizes Angelafs beauty by placing Jane gets more attention, and make Angela being able to see Jane establishing a little unique, but strong relationship with Rich. Angelafs impatience for Jane becoming more adult, and having steady relationship triggers her motivation to decide sleeping with Lester.
Angela also has high self-conscious even thought the fact is that nobody actually pays attention to her (except, Lester picks out her beauty and be captivated by her charms). She has dual thoughts about her self; the one appears when she stays with Lester who she can be totally herself in the end, which is much less confident about her than the other one, which appears when she stays with other people, such as Jane or kids in her high school.
As most of the girls especially the girls at ages like Angela care how they look and how the people look them, Angela, as snobby white upper-middle-class girl has this huge consciousness about herself. Her excessive consciousness about herself is caused by her gender, class, and especially race. As a white upper-middle-class girl, Angela seems to decide on what is the hottest looking for her, and tries to reach it at all the times. Angelafs encounter of seeing Jane becoming happier and happier even though Jane does not fit for her standard beauty irritates her because Angela wants to believe that her looking is the best.

Rating:
Summary: Heavily Praised, But Many Overlooked Flaws
Review: "American Beauty" is one of the more celebrated films of recent years. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and is praised for its "complex" look at American suburban monotony. However, in its supposed subversion of cultural norms, it plays into them fairly strongly. The most notable of these deal with the female characters.

The film's protagonist is Lester Burnham, famously played by Kevin Spacey in the role that made him one of the most popular leading men in hollywood. However, the writing of this character engulfs the female characters in the film and subjugates them. Lester's wife, Carolyn, is the most one-dimensional character in the film. She is materialistic, selfish, and false. We know each of these things as soon as the film begins, and learn little more about her as the film progresses. Of course, her only possible source of salvation is Lester, who in one scene tries to snap her out of her obsession with material goods. Angela is another character who is blatantly framed as the typical concept of "American Beauty", as a young, blonde, sexually forward female who wants to be a model. However, when she undergoes her transformation at the end of the film, she is still at the mercy of Lester, and is reliant on him for comfort and safety. Janie, Lester's daughter, who is supposed to be the free spirit of the group, is "set free" by Ricky, the boy next door who invites her to run away with him, and "teaches her about the world".

In one particularly misogynistic scene, Lester, Carolyn, and Janie are eating dinner in their dining room, until Lester lashes out at both of them, throws dishes against the wall, and forces Janie to sit down. Lester is portrayed as the protagonist in this scene, rebelling against these "tyranical" women who are holding him back.

I see the treatment of the female characters in "American Beauty" to be its biggest flaw.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Film I Have Seen In Over 5 Years!
Review: Writer, Alan Ball's (of Six Feet Under fame) first theatrical script blurs those stereotypical slow death in suburbia lines and keeps the viewer off balance throughout the entirety of the film.

This film, is, above all, a deeply moving drama. The suburbanite, highly dysfunctional, Burnham Family is sad, enchanting, sickening, wonderful, confusing, tragic, abhorrent, and every other adjective listed in Websters. That is precisely what makes this film a true "one-of-a-kind".

Mr. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey)is daily pitted against his icy, cheating, manic, depressed, totally materialistic realtor of a psudo-wife, Carolyn (Annette Beining) and his quite sullen, self-absorbed, ambivolent, teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch).

However, into Lester & Jane's lives come two very achingly beautiful & wonderful human beings. Jane's fellow cheerleader confidant Angela Hayes-note the Nabokov/Lolita reference in the last name-(Mena Suvari) who has a penchant for older men and a huge crush on Jane's daddy, jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that makes Lester's life worth living again. He daily fantasizes about the young, sexy Angela. She makes him feel like a bumbling, pimplefaced teenager on his first date and all of these meetings between the two really blooms into kind of a second adolescence for the harried Lester. An eerily calm, young next door neighbor, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) and his lifelong Marine Corps father, Col. Frank Fitts, USMC (Chris Cooper) add much drama.

The whole cast turns out top-notch performances and the score, cinematography & direction are utterly "dreamlike".

Highly recommended!

Happy Watching!

Rating:
Summary: american beauty
Review: American Beauty objectified women by a panoptical regime by the way Ricky's camera. Panopticism is when a person doesn't know if they are being watched, but always have the feeling like they are being watched. Through Ricky's camera, Ricky is the surveyor, while everyone else is the surveyed, which is how beauty is defined. The movie both reproduces stereotypes and critiques them as well. It reproduces stereotypes because Angela is the attractive blond cheerleader, who thinks she's the best, but in reality is fake. It critiques stereotypes because Carolyn isn't your stereotypical housewife, who cooks and cleans. Carolyn also breaks the stereotype of men cheating on women, when she has a fling with her competition. Overall its a weird but interesting film.

Rating:
Summary: A Well Deserved Oscar...
Review: This film is one of a kind. After seeing this film last week, I was left with a hole in the pit of my stomach. It left many questions in my mind, and most of them cannot be answered. In my view, a film that makes me think after I watch it is second-to-none, and this film certainly delivers in that aspect.

I was amazed with the vivid imagery in this movie, as well as with the symbolism. However, what makes this film the best of 1999 is the acting. Kevin Spacey shines as Lester Burnham, and Annette Bening (Carolyn Burnham) isn't far behind. Supporting cast members such as Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), Mena Suvari (Angela Hayes), and Chris Cooper (Col. Frank Fitts) only add to the drama of this film. I think the most special aspect of this film is how all of the characters intertwine in a way that is believable, yet fantastic at the same time. I congratulate Sam Mendes for his direction of this film, as well as Alan Ball for writing it. I don't think it could have been any better.

Rated R in the U.S. for strong sexuality, language, drug content, and violence, the film obviously deserves its rating. However, none of the causes for the R rating are overbearing, and all of them add to the plot-line of this film. While I don't think that this is a film for children, I would suggest that adults should view it with an open mind. I believe that the traits which many of the characters in this film have are found in many people around the world. Perhaps that is why this film hits close to home for so many viewers.

While billed by some as a "comedy-drama", I don't see anything about this film as funny. Sure, there are some comedic moments, but by the end, those moments were all but forgotten when faced with the grim reality of the conclusion of the events portrayed in this film.

If you want to watch a light-hearted film with some elements of comedy and some elements of drama, don't see American Beauty. But if you enjoy films that make you think, and are entertained by an excellent cast, excellent directing, and an excellent screenplay, this film should be at the top of your list.

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Slick Meets Character Study - A Perfect Blend
Review: The main reason I wanted to add my comments was that I saw no other mention of Allison Janney. If you are a fan of hers, watch for her understated and stunning, albeit small, performance as the timid mother of Ricky (Barbara Fitts). This performance truly demonstrates the range and untapped talent of the great actress. (Yes, I'm a big fan.)

Having said that, this film does start out making you feel your watching an overslick production of Hollywood banality. Oh contraire (sp?). My favorite films delve deep into character study and development (e.g. Dolores Claiborne, Shawshank Redemption, Dangerous Liaisons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sophie's Choice, Fried Green Tomatoes). This film gives it to you in spades.

If you enjoy stories that make you think you've got everyone figured out, then prove you wrong...this is a must see.

Rating:
Summary: Spacey Rules!
Review: Despite what some critics say, this isn't a movie about pedophilia. Its a movie that describes one very average Joe trying to find a greater happiness. There is a counterpoint about a completely misfit and unique young man whose eyes have already been opened - and sometimes he doesn't know if he can bear all the beauty. In my opinion, the meaning of American Beauty is spelled out for the audience in the scene where Lester grabs the sofa cushion and berades Carolyn, "ITS... JUST... A... COUCH!" In the following moments, Lester sheds some light on his spiritual changes, but they're not complete. No, getting the fast-food job wasn't the answer... trading in his car wasn't the answer... and just before seducing the fantasy girl, he realizes that wouldn't be it either. That's key: he realizes it beforehand. When talking to the little blonde after their encounter, he's just an inch from enlightenment, very close, stretching, reaching... now do you see why he's smiling at the end, and why the misfit isn't upset? Far too many people misunderstood this movie because of a knee-jerk reaction to superficials, instead of considering the underlying meaning and the director's intent. In any event, the folks who criticized this movie were taking it way too seriously. Kevin Spacey was hilarious. He nailed the role of a disillusioned and disenchanted surburbian man caught up in a rat race he wanted out of. So he fantasized about his daughter's best friend, he ended up "doing the right thing" in the end. I loved his new car and "career change." Just the scene in the drive-thru window when he sees his wife was worth renting the movie!

Rating:
Summary: I almost walked out of one of my favorite movies of all time
Review: Just a quick note to the few who haven't seen this movie, and the fewer who didn't thoroughly enjoy it.

This movie is perfect in every aesthetic sense, the music (brilliant soundtrack, I own it), the cinematography, the world class talent (giving some of the best performances of thier lives)...still, I almost walked out because I felt Hollywood had crafted a perfect movie devoid of message, indulgent, I almost coulnd't stand it if that was the case.

Thankfully it wasn't, and is the reason for my review. After a while the basic message of the film began to take shape for me and made a colossal difference. So (without giving anything away), I believe this movie is about bravery. Not the kind of "I'll take the hill" bravery we're used to, but everyday bravery, the kind that is too often found in short supply. It's a story about a man who is almost a composite of what allot of men subconsciously strive for (not how he turns out, but the basic attributes of his life). His world slowly and unnoticably degenerated into a life of misery.

And he did something about it.

He bravely decided to change.

He doesn't follow the textbook, and so a good deal of drama ensues, but he does his best. I found it admirable, brave, and, well, no pun intended, but I found it really beautiful.

You're entitled to disagree with my interpretation, but when I shared it with a very intelligent friend of mine who didn't like the film, he instantly changed his opinion on it.

I hope you enjoy half as much as I did.