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Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue
1 (March 1999)
Issue
2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue
7 (May 2000)
Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)
Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)
Categories
Sport: 1
2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2
3
Commentary: 1 2
3
Review: 1 2
3
Writing: 1 2
3
Event: 1 2
3
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Colm McGlinchey
St. David's, Artane
Troubled families may be the theme of midday soaps, but
in Sam Mendes' film "American Beauty" he has turned it into
a cinematic masterpiece. The story's main concern is with Lester Burnham
(Kevin Spacey) who is hitting forty and doesn't like his life. His wife
Carole (Annette Benning) and daughter Jane (Thora Birch) both despise
him. He is sexually reawakened by his daughter's best and only friend
Angela (Mena Suvari) who reminds him of his youth. He attempts to recreate
his younger self by quitting his job to work at 'Happy Burger', taking
drugs and working out. Meanwhile his wife is embarking on an affair and
his daughter falls for her new next door neighbour Ricky (Wes Bentley)
whose mother has Alzheimer's and his father, an ex-military man, can't
stop bragging about how much he hates gays.
All this could be an innocent piece of entertainment but
is so well made and unpredictable that it is a lot more. No character
is straight-forward and each struggles to define beauty. While Carole
appears successful (she wears pruning gloves that match her shoes), underneath
she is an emotional disaster. Every character wants something different.
Ricky provides the conscience for the film. He searches for beauty on
his video camera. He finds it everywhere. In people, and even plastic
bags. American Beauty takes the American dream and shatters it but it
is more than a satire on everyday life. It is disturbing, funny, bittersweet
and achingly moving.
The director, Sam Mendes, has made an excellent debut extracting
excellent performances from all characters and Alan Ball's script deserves
an Oscar. While some will see this film as just a piece of entertainment
others will be moved. At the heart of the film is a video of a plastic
bag caught in the wind. It represents beauty. This is cinema how it should
be. Go and see for yourself.
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