Review of American Beauty (1999) by Anna T — 29 Jun 2014

American Beauty is a stunning kind of film that reminds me of American Psycho: When the pieces fall together at the end, you sit back, hit play again. And watch. You really watch. There's a beautiful sense of ambiguity that the director admits to, but you're determined to find meaning in such a film - if only for yourself. Such a movie has hit several top lists; I finally see why. Of my own interest, I see this as a film that has most likely influenced Nip/Tuck. Perhaps most pleasing to me is the soundtrack - such a subtle detail makes or breaks films for me. Here on out is most likely filled with spoilers.

One of favorite things about this film is that it set us up to root for the Father. We know he's got a target, we know his death is going to occur at the very end. There's an endearing scene in which this character is talked down to, that he spills all his work papers. Not soon after, all of our sympathy is challenged when the switch is flipped, and his lust is reawakened by a cheerleader. One who is best friend's with his own daughter. From there on out, he speaks hatefully to those he encounters, he shamefully lusts after his daughter's best friend. And this breaks us. We see the Ice Queen Wife break down into tears - we see her humanity. And we see his daughter's insecurities as if reminders to our own high school hell. But the story is the Father's and we were first led to root for him. The father's later indifference to his wife's affair was perhaps my own turning point of giving up on him, of not rooting for him. But I'm not sure, even then, when he's going full force into an illicit affair of his own that I'm ready to root for his death. I'm only watching on, as the outside observer, wondering how. My next favorite thing about the film is that it manages to redeem the Father at the very end, as he wakes up again, as he dresses the young girl in a blanket and seems to have resolved his inner demons.

What I hope to find in my rewatches is an understanding of how I then interpret the rest of the characters around the father's, now that I've stopped looking for the mystery and I can watch for the "right" clues.