Mark,
You'll just have to come by and correct John. And while you're in the area could you give a talk?
Signed,
John's friend Dave
Actually, I saw American Beauty as something of a cautionary tale; Kevin Spacey's character was not glorified, and did not come to a good end. (Although after his departure there was a moment of beauty and hope that was quite distinct in tone from the rest of the movie.)
American Beauty is actually a movie that I can still think about 4 years later. It lingers with you, unlike something like "Castaway" or "Spy Games" or "The Majestic", which you forget about 5 minutes after you leave the Cineplex.
"Lost in Translation" kind of explores the same territory as did "American Beauty". And does so very well.
The tragedy of American Beauty, for me, was that all of it could have been avoided. I was the narcissism of the Spacey character that led him down the path he trod which eventually killed him. In the end, he does the right thing by turning the teenage girl away & realizing his family was important to him after all - but it's too late & the consequences of his choices come home to roost. In that respect, yes, it's a cautionary tale. But, sadly, that's not the moral H'wood wants us to come away with. The only functional *family* in the film is the gay couple. The film's soul, if you will, the teenage, dope-peddling, filmer of what he deems *beauty* (which includes the voyeurism of filming a teenage girl through her window while she's disrobing), seems to think that beauty & the traditional image of family are incompatable. The film seems to be saying, "See, your so-called normal lives have created this dysfunction" & urges us to think on a higher level about what we accept as *no
Oops, got chopped. The limit's at 1000 characters now.
No offense Larry, but (IMHO) I found American Beauty's themes revolting.
Hope in the end? I don't remember anything edifying in that film.
I wish I never saw that movie.
Sorry Larry, I didn't mean to give the impression you liked the WHOLE movie.
JCL, "AB" was a disturbing, troubling movie in many ways, and hardly one to brag about. It's not one of my "favorites". I'm not an enthusiast for it. But I also recognize its interesting and thought-provoking aspects. It wasn't trash.
Worth seeing? On balance, yes.
That's bascially what I'm trying to say.
Mark, I think you missed the point of AB. The Spacey character acted out what American culture tells him he should do: go for the gusto, indulge himself, and act like a selfish teenager. He ultimately realized what a dead end that was. His wife had given herself over to a ruthless pursuit of worldly success, and had killed their marriage. There's a great scene in which grace is offered to them, and it looks like they're going to be reconciled ... but she cuts him off cold because she's afraid they might spill wine on the couch.
The movie had problems, don't get me wrong. It's solution -- esteeming the creepy next-door neighbor kid -- is also a dead end, though the filmmaker doesn't say so. But as a diagnostic film -- that is, a film that assesses reasons why so many people living the "perfect" American dream life are so lost and confused and filled with spite -- it's pretty spot on.
The brief image of the gay couple as being ordinary was a joke, nothing more.
I see one corvette and three hummers. Where is the Dodge Viper?
An old friend of ours, an intensely respectable husband and father in his fifties and a professor at an outstanding Catholic college, came to meet me once, and drove up in - a red convertible. I asked, "So, how's the mid-life crisis going?" and he looked rather affronted and replied, "I don't know why people keep asking me that!"
Careful, there. A mid-life crisis of a red Corvette is better than the midlife crisis of a red-head.
Larry,
I understand the thought provoking aspects, and it was a well crafted film -- I also probably didn't understand or "get" all of the themes; but I didn't really want to in the end.
(I remember reading that Rod thought the movie was brilliant, as noted above)
It just left me with a feeling like I drank expired milk.
LOL, JCL!
Hollywood is capable of better, even. In X-men, Rogue, a teenaged girl, has quite a crush on Wolverine, an adult man. He behaves in a mature and responsible manner toward her.
Rod:
I might agree with you about AMERICAN BEAUTY (which I despise as much as any Best-Film-Oscar winner ever) having diagnostic virtue if it weren't for:
1) Chris Cooper's Marine character -- a walking caricature representing everything Hollywood believes about the red states;
2) The fact that the gay couple, however brief and jokey their appearance (Partner? With what law firm? [cue laughtrack] ), represent the *only* stable happiness we see;
3) That Spacey's tuning in, turning on and dropping out is not merely not shown as empty, but shown as satisfying (existentially, from moment to moment), enables him to see the cheerleader's innocence (rather than prevents him), and is merely frustrated by an external force (not ID'd by me right now for spoiler reasons).
And one other thing Rod.
4) BEAUTY understands wrong or sin only in terms of inauthenticity, living one set of values while claiming another, putting up false fronts, etc. This is, in this climate, a thoroughly poisonous and completely irredeemable idea, and the essential cause of liberal decadence.
"Domestic happiness is so bourgeois. Doesn't he realize the point of life"
Well...maybe, only maybe the point of the movie was that the bourgois family is a farse and its supposed "Domestic Happiness" is an ilusion that has no grounds on the real world, and hides all sort of ugly sentiments? Just an alternative sugestion...but maybe you like the rest of the right still believes they live in some 50īs propaganda movie world :D
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