American Beauty

[the spy]

American Beauty features a great performance by Kevin Spacey as a man fed up with his lot in life. This poignant look at reality shows a driven wife in crisis, a mid-life man who has finally awaken to find that he has been disconnected and unhappy for far too long, and a teenager disgusted with the behavior of her parents. These relationships cannot be farther apart but intimately connected at the same time.

The next door neighbor (played by....) is truly art in the film. He is a "sense of consciousness" in the movie and a great addition to the already complex set of relationships among family and friends. While on the dark side of life, the reality of the movie is striking and worth full price. I give it 3 1/2 stars.

On a discussion note for anyone who sees it, I would like to know how you interpret the blood red roses and petals?

Score: 7/10

[Favetti]

Concur -- excellent job by Spacey. I gave it 7.49 out of 8.56.

The rose petals....hmmmm. How about, "Love fades as the bud of the rose sheds its petals." ???

[JBMoney]

American Beauty rocks!

Score: 9/10

[JBMoney]

From Buffy:

Score: 10/10

From RB:

American Beauty is a film about the harmony of beauty. The movie attempts to explain the necessity of the balancing of two forces in order to see that beauty, and ultimately achieve happiness. The two forces in question are superficial and apocryphal beauty. Superficial beauty is the type of beauty that is readily apparent and is instant gratification. Not only is it aesthetic to our eyes, but also pleasing to our short term senses. This superficial beauty is embodied in the women in young men’s posters and it is the sip of iced tea in the summer; they are quick and indulgent with no deeper qualities. Apocryphal (meaning “hidden”) beauty is actively sought after. This type of beauty is found in the reflection of the moment and is concerned with “the way things are.” While this force is always around, it must be seen, much like our noses which fill half of our peripheral at all times, yet to actually see it requires active attention. The movie attempts to illuminate the importance of using both of these forces together in order to see true beauty, which is the source of happiness. The way that American Beauty illustrates this concept is through the use of color. Red represents superficial beauty. This color is shown in many ways, and in a certain respect, this color is almost a character in the movie. The first time it is shown, it is in the hands of Carolyn as a rose. Lester’s wife, it is shown in the movie, is just a superficial beauty to exhibit a normal marriage, and the color red is there to show this. The first dinner scene involves a bouquet of roses in the middle of the table, signifying the fact that while they are together as a family, they are actually far apart. Another use of the color red is in the “sold” sign for the Real Estate King. Carolyn later has an affair with this man (on a bed flanked by two red lamps) because he was a symbol of power to her, which is what she craved. Later in the movie, Lester got a job at the fast food restaurant in order to fill his need for what can be seen as a sense of purpose; he just wanted something to do. It is important to note that the uniforms at this job were red. Probably the most blatant use of the color to represent superficiality is Lester’s Thunderbird. The roses that constantly appeared in Lester’s fantasies about Angela, Jane’s friend, were also signals of superficial beauty. The other type of beauty, which I have called apocryphal beauty, is represented with the color white. The most frequent use of this color is by Ricky in his films. He sees the apocryphal beauty in the floating white trash bag, and the dead dove. These things are not quite aesthetically pleasing, but they are beautiful to Ricky after introspection and seeking the beauty of the moment in which they were captured. Ricky’s room, which contains these tapes of apocryphal beauty is white itself. Jane herself is a very fair skinned person and Ricky’s attachment to her represents his affection for the hidden beauty around him. The point of the movie is that to be happy, one must be able to see both beauties at the same time, and not just one. Lester and Carolyn, like the majority of society, see only “red.” They concern themselves with the superficial and “don’t stop to consider the roses.” They live unexciting and deceitful lives devoid of happiness. As Lester said in the beginning of the movie, “in a way, I am already dead.” In situations where the larger and stronger group holds an ideal and there are nonconformists, rejection is likely (Schachter, 1951), so the minority of people who see the apocryphal beauty are considered outcasts because the majority does not hold the same view. These white only people are rejected, and they choose not to see the superficial beauty, they miss the pleasing things of life; they cannot appreciate the sip of tea or pretty woman or man. They don’t stop to smell the roses. Not until the end of the movie do the characters get to see true happiness. When the minority’s views are considered creative critical thinking occurs (Nemeth, 1986). In this case, when both sides of the issue, superficial and apocryphal, are considered there is true beauty. This double vision, which some might call self-actualization, is where happiness can be found. Lester finally sees this when he dies at the end of the movie and says that when he saw his life before his eyes, he loved every second of it. Angela, after rejecting her idea of acting superficially and finding the power of the beauty of the moment, sees this beauty and finds happiness as well. This combination of superficial and apocryphal is represented by color in the movie as well. For instance, the house in which the union of these two beauties occurs is white with a red door. When Lester is shot, the white kitchen wall is splashed with Lester’s red blood. This signifies that he finally sees true beauty and is happy. His flashback on his life, which was once viewed superficially, is viewed in white showing that there was a whole other beauty to his life that he had never seen before. This is why he loved every second of it. Through the use of color, American Beauty makes a statement about how we should live our lives. Instead of always looking at life superficially or even meaningfully, we should look at it both ways. If we do this, then we can see true beauty and find ultimate happiness so that, hopefully, when we see our life before our eyes in the end we will have a smile on our faces, like Lester.

[Joel]

I have to agree with JB$ here, This movie ROCKS!

Score: 9/10