Review of American Beauty (1999) by Thearchetypes — 08 Sep 2016

Is this the best film of the 90s? Quite possibly, as no other confuses and delights more than American Beauty. The subtle complexity of its original and brilliant screenplay, coupled with its sensitively fabricated representation makes for an outlook-altering experience.

It doesn't matter how many times I watch American Beauty, I sense a new meaning each time and am never confident that I know what the film means or what it is trying to say. Of course, the enigmatic and darkly beautiful nature of the film is helped along by subtle, honest and terrific performances from Spacey and Bening, a mesmerising score and stunning direction, but underpinning this all is a witty, dark, optimistic, pessimistic, original and overwhelming screenplay that gives this film too many dimensions to wave matching gardening clogs at.