American Beauty (1999)
The Cast
Kevin Spacey .... Lester Burnham
Annette Bening .... Carolyn Burnham
Thora Birch .... Jane Burnham
Wes Bentley .... Ricky Fitts
Mena Suvari .... Angela Hayes
Chris Cooper .... Col. Frank Fitts, USMC
Peter Gallagher .... Buddy Kane
Allison Janney .... Barbara Fitts
Scott Bakula .... Jim Olmeyer
Sam Robards .... Jim Berkley
Barry Del Sherman .... Brad Dupree
Ara Celi .... Sale House Woman #1
John Cho .... Sale House Man #1
While watching American Beauty for probably the fifth time or so, I was reminded of why I haven't lost complete faith in the Oscars. For every over-praised Gladiator, for every undeserving Chicago, for every unfathomably nominated Crash, there's a movie that was actually deserving of every bit of praise that was bestowed upon it. American Beauty was nominated for eight Oscars, capturing five of them in the Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Director and Best Picture categories. All of them completely worth of those honours.
Sadly, Annette Bening's phenomenal performance was passed over for Hilary Swank's gender-bending performance in Boys Don't Cry. I saw that Boys movie, and while Swank is just that in the movie, it was mostly a gimmicky role that rewarded the actress for having the bravery to take the part. Bening was effective on so many varied levels throughout Beauty that the real bravery would have been in awarding her the Best Actress Oscar. She didn't even get the "Awwwwww she's pregnant" vote either! Oscar voters are generally idiots.
Thankfully the Academy saw fit to reward Conrad L. Hall with an Oscar for his absolutely stunning cinematography. He'd win his third Oscar (he was previously awarded one for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) posthumously a couple years later for his gorgeously dark Road to Perdition. Hall captures the thematic element of the beauty of everyday so poignantly that it may, in fact, make you feel like your heart is about to burst. I'm also fairly certain no one captures the look of rain as well as Hall did, both in Beauty and Perdition as well as Searching for Bobby Fischer, another of his Oscar-nominated works.
I believe the Academy should create a Best Ensemble Cast award, and the supporting cast of Beauty are all excellent, from the shell-shocked Allison Janney to the motormouth Mena Suvari, and especially the eyebrows of Peter Gallagher. Thora Birch was a revelation, Wes Bentley shone in his first huge performance, and Chris Cooper seemingly came out of nowhere to deliver a stirring and powerful performance.
The film however, belongs to both director Sam Mendes and star Kevin Spacey. The way Mendes brings the dark humour out of his cast, the absolutely real way it feels, everything feels right. Even the slightly contrived situations involving Lester Burnham's (Spacey) humdrum life and his breaking away from it, you find yourself rooting for the lovable loser. Depending on the film, these feelings can sometimes make you feel manipulated in the end, but that's not the case with Beauty. I'd say this is the role of a lifetime for Spacey, but he's proven in many other movies that he's more than a one-trick pony.
My only quibble with the movie is that occasionally Lester gets a Hero line, one that guarantees the sympathies of the audience as well as a fair amount of heart-swelling. I'm sure it has the desired effect on most audiences - even though this is pretty far from what's normally considered a mainstream movie - but I recognised it for what it was trying to do, and it almost took me out of the movie. However, from the beginning to the end, all accompanied by Thomas Newman's Oscar-nominated Score, American Beauty is to be treasured.
5 / 5
Other Best Picture Winners
2004 - Million Dollar Baby
1992 - Unforgiven
1978 - The Deer Hunter