American Beauty
Director : Sam Mendes
Actors:
Kevin Spacey
Thora Birch
Wes Bentley
Mena Suvari
Annette Bening
Chris Cooper

Some films make 2 dents in our thoughts,

My next point is sweet teenage girls talking in very vulgar terms about their escapades , is that
b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. A father calling "B" his own daughter, is that b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l, a girl
frustrated with her mother flashing to her neighbor’s camera, is that b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l ? or a
42 years old man fantasying about his daughter’s friend is that b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l ? Answer my
questions very carefully, as the character of LESTER got an OSCAR award !!!.

A Ex-US Marine does not even know his son is straight ! nor does his vast military training makes
him understand that his neighbor is only buying drugs from his son ! Most ironic moment in this
film was father blooding the nose of his only son, because he dared touch his swastika
memorabilia.

What is the use of military training, if it does not prepare you to understand your own son, he
is just a little artistic, creative and insecure, this son has learned to hoodwink the tough
father and fool him by saying his costly gadgets are purchased from his odd jobs money. The son
is so smart, he knows his father wants a structured living for him, he uses blunt and very
dirty language and tells him that he respects the laws of his father ! is this beautiful ?

My moments are many in this film, but I just loved Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham) calls Ricky
Fitts (Wes Bentley) my hero, I choose to believe that is the real moment of self intervention
for Lester Burnham, not the moment when he saw cheerleaders performance! It is difficult for
any man to turn around the rust in him, pump iron, jog everyday and have the guts to say his
mind, that turn around is purely enjoyable and very funny at times, it made me laugh.

I loved Mena Suvari (Angela Hayes) this girl is beautiful, she has talking eyes, her role is
the anchor holding the whole film together, her presence is very well spaced all along the
film, like seasoning and spices, she is there in the beginning and she is there in the end. By
the way this film is a flashback narration of a man, he is sitting over the stars, hence the
repeat camera floating over the neighborhood tree line and roof tops. I just loved the play of
eyes of Mena Suvari, it is very difficult for a young actress to match wits with a talented
actor like Kevin Spacey, she did it all with aplomb, we are so much involved with Lester, we
overlook the good play of role by Angela (Mena) I just wish she got a few awards and few more
roles in the films that followed. Without Mena this film is just hysterical over acting by
Annette Bening (Carolyn Burnham) How could we humans become so insensitive and cold to the
people living around us. I fail to understand bad treatment of husbands of wives and vice versa.

The day I feel resentment for people living close to me, I would have failed as a human being
I cannot go about in becoming best real estate agent in the town, No matter how costly my
couch is or how much money I contribute to daughters education, I cannot slap her for selfish
reasons, I agree to punishing children for their own correction. But I consider it a sin to
slap my child to prove my superiority, it could be failure of motherhood/fatherhood.

We are loosing our human-ness, we are using drugs to feel good, we are bad and my proof for
this statement is the success of this film, it won 5 Oscars, the decadent slide of family life
and the termite like rot eating our society, youngsters and oldsters in this film are true
as true as you are reading this line in my review.

Go buy this film/DVD, see it, you will enjoy it and will feel sad for your enjoyment !!! The
treatment is very artistic, I must mention 2 features of Kevin Spacey, the dormant Lester and
the dominant Lester, almost these 2 people looked like 2 different person, that is how good he
acted in our film. 3 more actors need mention, the US Marine, Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris
Cooper) is perfect and a scene stealer, you can almost dread him on the screen. Ricky Fitts
(Wes Bentley) gave a sterling intense performance, he looked sensitive and different. There
are some very useful dialogues to support him. There is also Thora Brich (Jenny) she did not
move her eyes nor her facial muscles all thru the film to perfection. This frozen face was most
suitable for her role here. I must mention here as a after thought.

Kevin Spacey tried very hard to overshadow Mena Suvari, he tried to push her to sidelines, but
this young actress stood her ground and a gave a memorable performance, A role she may find
hard to overgrow all her life, maybe high school musical 3 will be a fitting place for her
next memorable film.

Yo! don’t get misled, drugs are bad keep away as far as possible !!!!