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American Beauty by Chris Phillips When American Beauty was released last year to rapturous reviews, I expected a modern masterpiece. Instead I found it to be the single most frustrating film I'd ever squirmed through. What a difference a year makes. American Beauty is such an intimate film, I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is the only Best Picture winner in history that works three hundred percent better on the small screen. And here it is on DVD, in a long-awaited "Awards Edition" (featuring unbelievably self-indulgent behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and filmmakers patting each other on the back). There are a few things that still irritate me, namely the outrageous overacting of Kevin Spacey. Okay, go ahead and protest, but I ask you, is there a single emotion or line he delivers that doesn't seem well planned in advance? Luckily, there are several great performances that make up for Spacey's steamroller act. What I originally saw as a one-note characterization by Mena Suvari as Spacey's jailbait lust object is actually a muti-faceted portrayal of a girl trying to grow up too fast. (Her hip-jutting, faux-Lolita poses are in hilarious contrast to Spacey's graceful fantasies.) PAGE 1 | 2 |
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Wes Bentley and Thora Birch, as the damaged teen lovers, possess all the subtle shadings Spacey lacks. Annette Bening makes not a single false move as the dissatisfied suburbanite overdosing on gardening tips and motivational tapes. (Poor Bening had the misfortune of doing career-best work the same year Hilary Swank gave the performance of the decade.) Cinematographer Conrad L. Hall uses shadows and the color red to startling effect, and director Sam Mendes moves around his characters so assuredly, I realized you don't even need dialogue to follow the plot. Which brings me, however, to another point of contention: Alan Ball's talk-heavy script. I could have done without the useless voice-overs, which don't state anything Mendes isn't giving us with his direction, and some of the lengthier speeches that tend to stampede all over the drama. (Turn the sound off during Bentley's "There's so much beauty in the world" monologue--everything that needs to be said is written more powerfully across his and Birch's expressive faces.) There are other problems, of course: Chris Cooper's yawner of a role as the closeted military man (never saw that coming) and the irksome question of why Spacey gets a bullet in the head for becoming a more enlightened man. But, instead of nitpicking as I did before, I was able, oddly enough, to take in the whole picture at home. I could tell you what I think it all means, but somehow I suspect that American Beauty speaks a different message to everyone. Spacey told me with his last line that someday I'd understand what the movie was talking about. I guess he was right. PAGE 1 | 2 |
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