1999 was one of my favorite years. I had a lot going on that year and it was a great year for me, music, and movies. Yet a lot has been said about the nominees for Best Picture of that year. Many people disagreed with the 5 nominees and American Beauty the ultimate winner is considered by some as one of the worst movies to win Best Picture. I on the other hand disagree while American Beauty was not my favorite movie of that year it was in my top 5.
American Beauty is a complex dark family drama. Finally getting away from the romantic movies that won the past three years this one shows the decline of a relationship. It starts with what could be the typical American family but as the tag line says "look closer". The Burnham family consists of the father Lester (Kevin Spacey), mother Carolyn (Annette Benning) and Daughter Jayne (Thora Birch) who live in a quiet suburban neighborhood. But as we learn none of them are happy. Lester tells us in the opening voice over that he will die soon but as a viewer we are left wondering how. What we do learn is that Lester is unhappy with his life. Nothing gives him joy anymore. We watch as he goes through a midlife crisis and tries to recapture the joy of his youth by quiting his nice job to work in a burger joint, smoking weed, buying a fancy car, and working out to impress one of his daughters friends. Meanwhile Carolyn is putting on a show that everything is perfect and that nothing is wrong. Trying to project confidence to sell houses the whole time beating herself up on the inside. She starts having an affair and going to a shooting range to release tension. Jayne on the other hand is struggling with self image issues and fitting in at school. She falls in love with the new neighbor boy who has his own family issues but is able to look past the exterior to her inner beauty. In the end everyone has their own meltdown but can they find the joy they are all looking for.
I remember having a big discussion with my dad why this movie is so good and deserved to win Best Picture. He claimed it was boring but I claimed it felt realistic. I still feel that way. I only found out recently what the title is referring too. American Beauty is a type of rose who looks beautiful on the outside buy whose roots are rotten. I think that is a fitting symbol for this movie. The movie works for me on many levels. There visuals are great, there is the great nuanced performances, and the great script from Alan Ball which touches on a lot of issues in today's society. To start the performances by every one is amazing. Kevin Spacey was the only one that won an Oscar for his performance (Annette Benning was nominated but lost to Hilary Swank for her amazing performance in Boys Don't Cry) but all around it was great. Without saying much all the actors are able to communicate what they are feeling and thinking with how they look and act. Benning performance might have be the most nuanced because even as she is pretending everything is perfect you can see underneath how low she really feels. The script covers a whole lot of ground and yet still has the down to earth feeling. Ball manages to deal with depression, self image, the strive to be perfect, and homophobia in a way that just flows and neither one feels overly preachy. While I can see why some people can be a little creeped out by the Lolita like subplot I still think it works. I think the overall message in the movie is just to be comfortable with who you are.
Like I said that year there were a number of great movies that came out and the Oscars were spread over numerous movies. While American Beauty got 5 win (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Cinematography) and just missed sweeping the top five by one Best Actress. Out of the other four movies nominated for Best Picture (The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Sixth Sense, and The Insider) only The Cider House Rules won any awards winning for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. The other three went winless the rest of the night. Besides American Beauty the other big winner of the night was The Matrix which swept the four technical awards it was nominated for (editing, sound effects, sound, and visual effects). Also notable was the Angelina Jolie winning Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted.
The other big movies of that year that many people thought should have received more nominations include Magnolia, Being John Malkovich, Three Kings, Election, and Man on the Moon. As far as I am concerned the biggest snub of that year was no nominations for Fight Club. But I am still not sure why the critics all hated on this movie. Every year when Enterainment Weekly comes out with their list of worst movies to win American Beauty always makes the list. I think it is a great movie and should be the winner.
According to IMDB Top 250 here are where some of the movies from 1999 stand
Fight Club - 14
The Matrix - 21
American Beauty - 40
The Green Mile - 74
The Sixth Sense - 136
Magnolia - 225
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