Sam Mendes' searing portrait of suburbia is a study in filmmaking. Every aspect of this film fires on all cylinders and comes together as a brave, heartbreaking saga of the lost connections between human beings. Alan Ball's superbly written screenplay truly gets at the heart of what it is to be a person in a sea of nothingness and to try to swim to shore in an attempt to regain some long lost humanity.
The person at sea in this film is Lester Burnham, played in a career performance by Kevin Spacey. Simply with the look on his face, he can speak volumes where words do not seem apt. He is a despicable character whom the audience can not help but like because, innately, we understand him. For all of his faults and insecurities, he is us, and we are with him on his search for a soul that has long since drifted away.
Matching Spacey point for point and blow for blow is Annette Bening, as Lester's workaholic wife, Carolyn, who tries so hard to keep up appearances that she herself can no longer see what is real and what is a facade. There is a magnificent scene a quarter of the way through the film where she repeats her mantra "I will sell this house today" while prepping the home for showings. She is earnest and strong until the final moments when she realizes that she has failed, and she completely falls apart. The mania and desperation she expresses is both frightening and devastating.
There are strong performances from every actor in the film, a fine supporting cast including Chris Cooper, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, and Thora Birch; however, the show is stolen by cinematographer Conrad Hall's beautiful tableaux. His use of light and shadow, of depth and color make the film a visual masterpiece, comparable with anything in a Peter Jackson sci-fi epic. Meticulously crafted and expertly shot, each image is a painting and each painting is a revelation.
On par with the likes of Schindler's List and Pulp Fiction, American Beauty stands as one of the finest films of the nineties. It is a bold statement on humanity and life, on beauty and truth, and on all of the things that we take for granted. The film's tag line, "look closer", is a summation of theme, but it is most assuredly a profoundly ardent suggestion on how we should live our lives and interact with those around us.
Showing posts with label classics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classics. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Classic Movie of the Week: Viskningar och Rop
Everyone else is doing it, but that does not make it any less valid for me to do so as well. Last week, the film world lost both Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman. Both were master craftsmen. Though I find Bergman to be the better of the two, it is like choosing between a filet mignon and a fine champagne, wildly different things but fantastic in their own right. I choose Bergman for many reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that I happened to share a birthday with the man.
Therefore, the classic movie of the week is Bergman's 1973 masterwork Viskningar och Rop (Cries and Whispers), one of the select few foreign films ever to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Starring Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, and Kari Sylwan, the film is a devastating exploration of the human soul and of Bergman's favorite subject, god's silence.
Sven Nykvist (an Oscar winner for this film) uses his camera masterfully and draws the most out of every frame. However, the real star of the show is Marik Vos-Lundh's wonderful set pieces. The house, in which almost all of the action takes place, is the perfect evocation of the human soul, which Bergman is oft quoted as imagining as "a damp membrane in varying shades of red". It is all at once claustrophobic and suffocating but also cold and distant.
The performances all around are fabulous, but Harreit Andersson is amazing as the matriarch of the family who suffers from cancer while her daughters surround and wait for her to die. Using almost no words at all, she is able to convey every feeling of pain and sadness and regret that she experiences.
As is almost always true with Bergman, the symbolism of the story trumps the literal plot, but this is one of his very few uniquely cinematic films. The style and substance of Visningar och Rop could only be done in the film medium and only by an artist like Bergman.
Therefore, the classic movie of the week is Bergman's 1973 masterwork Viskningar och Rop (Cries and Whispers), one of the select few foreign films ever to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Starring Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, and Kari Sylwan, the film is a devastating exploration of the human soul and of Bergman's favorite subject, god's silence.
Sven Nykvist (an Oscar winner for this film) uses his camera masterfully and draws the most out of every frame. However, the real star of the show is Marik Vos-Lundh's wonderful set pieces. The house, in which almost all of the action takes place, is the perfect evocation of the human soul, which Bergman is oft quoted as imagining as "a damp membrane in varying shades of red". It is all at once claustrophobic and suffocating but also cold and distant.
The performances all around are fabulous, but Harreit Andersson is amazing as the matriarch of the family who suffers from cancer while her daughters surround and wait for her to die. Using almost no words at all, she is able to convey every feeling of pain and sadness and regret that she experiences.
As is almost always true with Bergman, the symbolism of the story trumps the literal plot, but this is one of his very few uniquely cinematic films. The style and substance of Visningar och Rop could only be done in the film medium and only by an artist like Bergman.
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