American Beauty (1999)
Country: US
Technical: col/Super 35 122m
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper
Synopsis:
Forty-something suburban male, Lester Burnham, looks back over his life, in particular his rejuvenation upon conceiving a crush on his daughter's schoolmate.
Review:
Familiar territory (The Ice Storm, Happiness, Shortcuts) but the film is well aware of its lack of originality in content, even evoking Sunset Boulevard in its moribund narrator. What it does ever so effectively is to put a fresh spin on the material, none of which quite develops as one might expect. Theatre director Mendes's first film, it displays unusual discretion in its use of the medium: sets are bare of superfluous decoration, cuts are used sparingly in favour of wide shots, tracks and pans. Thus audience attention is focused on the first-class acting and intriguing text.
Country: US
Technical: col/Super 35 122m
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper
Synopsis:
Forty-something suburban male, Lester Burnham, looks back over his life, in particular his rejuvenation upon conceiving a crush on his daughter's schoolmate.
Review:
Familiar territory (The Ice Storm, Happiness, Shortcuts) but the film is well aware of its lack of originality in content, even evoking Sunset Boulevard in its moribund narrator. What it does ever so effectively is to put a fresh spin on the material, none of which quite develops as one might expect. Theatre director Mendes's first film, it displays unusual discretion in its use of the medium: sets are bare of superfluous decoration, cuts are used sparingly in favour of wide shots, tracks and pans. Thus audience attention is focused on the first-class acting and intriguing text.
Country: US
Technical: col/Super 35 122m
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper
Synopsis:
Forty-something suburban male, Lester Burnham, looks back over his life, in particular his rejuvenation upon conceiving a crush on his daughter's schoolmate.
Review:
Familiar territory (The Ice Storm, Happiness, Shortcuts) but the film is well aware of its lack of originality in content, even evoking Sunset Boulevard in its moribund narrator. What it does ever so effectively is to put a fresh spin on the material, none of which quite develops as one might expect. Theatre director Mendes's first film, it displays unusual discretion in its use of the medium: sets are bare of superfluous decoration, cuts are used sparingly in favour of wide shots, tracks and pans. Thus audience attention is focused on the first-class acting and intriguing text.