"Sometimes this world has too much beauty, I can't seem to bear it, my heart... almost collapses."-"American Beauty"
"American Beauty" is the first personally directed work by director Sam Mendes, who won the best film award at the 72nd Academy Awards. Sam Mendes has directed many classic movies, such as "Lehman Brothers Trilogy", "007 series" "007: The Sky Breaking Murder" and "007: Ghost Party", "1917" in the end. Wait.
"American Beauty" was released in 1999. Although it is a literary drama, the setting, music, and plot are all very attractive. The film is very delicate and every frame is beautiful. It seems that after 20 years, the film still has fresh vitality and is a classic of film aesthetics.
The film revolves around an ordinary middle-class American family, showing erotic desire, eroticism and perverted personality through an unconventional perspective, telling the bottomless loneliness of life in a calm tone, exposing the estrangement and alienation between people .
Lester, who has reached middle age, is a dispensable screw in the company, and is even rejected by his wife and daughter at home. He was labelled a "loser", he could not lift his head anywhere, depressed all day long, had no passion for life, and became a soulless zombie.
A man’s frustration probably started from being unrecognized.
His wife Caroline is a strong woman who works as a real estate agency. In order to earn more money and give her daughter a better life, she suffered all the grievances. Even if her heart was about to collapse, she smiled again after slapped herself in the face. Face life.
Caroline despised Leicester, and Leicester knew it well. Since then, their marriage has existed in name only.
Leo Tolstoy famously said in "Anna Karenina", "Happy families are similar, but unfortunate families are different."
In fact, unfortunate marriages are mostly similar. They lost their passion and desire for each other, lying on the same bed, without physical contact with each other; going out, curbing the nausea in their hearts, pretending to be affectionate; a family of three eating, always playing the same music, no one can say anything. Being in a "mask marriage" makes everyone breathless.
It wasn't until Slater met Angela that their peaceful married life appeared to be rippling.
Lester and Caroline have an underage daughter named Jane, and Angela is Jane's best friend.
In a school event, Jane and Angela co-starred in a dance show. Lester, who was sitting in the stands, was shocked by the beautiful and sexy Angela on the stage. At that moment, only Angela was in his eyes, and the fantasy of Angela began to appear in his mind.
Lester was hopelessly lost in his lust for Angela. Human eyes cannot hide hatred, nor love fire, everything can be seen clearly by Jane.
Jane was extremely disappointed with her inferior father Lester, and bluntly "disgusting" about her father's infatuation with her girlfriends. In her heart, she actually hopes to get more attention and recognition from her father.
The most bloody thing is always life.
But Angela, who claims to read countless people and often talks about men and women, is a little moved by Leicester, saying in front of Jane that Leicester are cute and sexy. Unexpectedly, two people of very different generations and ages are attracted to each other.
Knowing that Angela likes muscular men, Lester began to work out and deliberately approached Angela. One night, he thought about Angela masturbating. After being discovered by his wife Caroline, the two had a big fight.
The despair of women is the accumulation of little things.
Money, love, and sex can't count on him for anything. Caroline is ashamed of Lester, and her marriage is crumbling. Caroline no longer pinned her hopes on Leicester.
At the same time, Caroline fell into a crazy fascination and admiration for the real estate agent Buddy, and then she plunged into Buddy's arms, looking as bright as her second youth.
Lester and Caroline each fell into their own twilight love, their daughter Jane ignored Angela's obstruction, and fell in love with the perverted boy Ricky who was secretly photographed by the neighbor. The boy was involved in drugs and was sent to a lunatic asylum for two years. He has a machismo soldier father and a forgetful mother.
Angela: "Jane, he is a freak." Jane: "Me too! We are all freaks and can never be like you. You are perfect and will never be a freak."
Ricky likes all beautiful things, the plastic bags flying in the air, and the tramp who froze to death by the roadside. He sees the powerful beauty of life from the back of ordinary life, and everything has life.
Jane has not been loved since she was a child, and she has not received the attention of her parents. Only in the eyes of Ricky, who is holding the camera, she is extremely beautiful.
But the perverted boy who let others stay away made Jane let go of his defenses and was willing to follow him to the end of the sea.
Love is love, not about identity, not about gossip, not about everything outside.
However, the days of peace did not last long. Lester accidentally broke the affair between Caroline and Buddy. Buddy decided to leave Caroline for his own reputation. Lester stopped following Caroline's wishes and began to do whatever he wanted in his own way. Life.
Fed up with a mess of life, and fed up with a useless husband, Caroline has a murderous heart towards Leicester.
Jane and Angela quarreled because of Leicester, and Jane also said to Ricky that he hoped someone would end his father's sad life.
Lester has become a thorn in the eyes of his family, his failure alone is enough to make his family faceless, even his wife and daughter have murderous intentions against him.
Fortunately, he still has Angela, the last light in his life, his life has been ignored, rejected, and left out. Only Angela would ask him "Are you happy?"
The lust between the middle-aged uncle and the little loli begins with attraction and ends with the soul.
Slater was the big boy full of life in front of Angela, and the perverted sexy girl only exposed her inferiority, timidity and fear in front of Slater .
Love is to walk into each other's heart and embrace each other's soul.
But when Lester took off Angela's pants and Angela shivered, he knew that this beautiful creature who was willing to dedicate her life to him was actually a virgin.
People never know what kind of bloody storms are in other people's lives, and it is even more difficult for a person to suppress his own inner storm.
Ricky’s father is Colonel Fitz, and his world collapsed when he discovered that Ricky was deadly contaminated with drugs and possibly engaged in homosexual sex. Colonel Fitz has used force throughout his life to defend his absolute authority at home. His biggest secret is to conceal his homosexuality and to train his son into a proper and true man.
When the "comrade" misunderstood, he furiously beat Ricky again, and then drove him out of the house.
The beloved only son is away from him, and Colonel Fitz is so lonely and helpless. He put aside his arrogance and decency, went to Leicester in a panic, thinking that Leicester was just as gay as himself, but was denied and rejected by Leicester.
That was the biggest mistake in his life. It exposed his weakness. After being repeatedly provoked, he made the final impulsive decision.
Before the gunshots sounded, Lester was still looking at the old photos. The photos showed him, Caroline and Jane a long time ago. At that time, the family of three laughed so happily. But the old days are no longer, and there will never be a chance to come back again.
Lester, who fell in a pool of blood, was still smiling, showing relief, peace, and seeing through.
People often think that ordinary life has no fun, a stagnant pool, but they don't know that the true meaning of life lies in the ordinary.
After Lester's death, his daughter Jane was as frustrated as she was, and his wife Caroline cried bitterly while holding his clothes.
Sometimes the closest person is the strangest. It's not that they don't love, but they don't know how to love, how to express, or how to break the deadlock. So the cold war, so alienation, so quarrel, in an attempt to make the other side care more about themselves.
"I guess I should be angry when I die, but the world is so beautiful, I shouldn’t be angry all the time. Sometimes I can’t bear it after watching it once. My heart is like a full balloon that bursts at any time. Then I remembered to relax and don’t keep going. Want to hold on tightly, all the beauty washes me like rain, making me grateful for my humble and stupid life every moment, you must not know what I’m talking about, but I’m sure , Don’t worry, one day you will understand..."
The superb thing about "American Beauty" lies in calmly telling life and death, calmly portraying people's loneliness, and singing the magnificence of life sadly and without sorrow.
The protagonist of the film is not just a middle-aged man, Leicester, the film is incomplete without any one. But just a few characters that are so simple have linked the movie together and unfolded, becoming the epitome of different types of people.
In just two hours, "American Beauty" fully interprets the survival crisis of middle-aged people, youth rebellion, repression in marriage, repression of personal will, and sexual orientation.
The film does not preach from a moral high point, nor does it make a painful accusation. Under the heart-pounding music, it is hopeless than death, and it is an infinite space for people to think.
"American Beauty" has only a few pens and few dialogues, but it writes all aspects of life. Few movies are as comprehensive and natural as "American Beauty". Although this is the screen Virgo of Sam Mendes, his talent and talent are still amazing.
Whether in terms of film production or thinking about the theme of life, "American Beauty" is a well-deserved and truly good movie.
Depression, loneliness, pain, sadness... But there is beauty. Behind the seemingly perverted souls is the fragility that cannot be found in seeking approval.
Everyone wants to live the best in the heart of the person he cares about, but things go against their wishes and fail to get the desired response. In the end, they close their hearts and become completely unrecognizable.
Love is acceptance, appreciation, listening, and believing, but the most important thing is to be yourself first. Only this time in my life, living in the eyes of others is too exhausting. Perhaps only by truly breaking away from the shackles of the world and being the truest self, can one obtain the final liberation.
Life is so difficult, but so beautiful, so beautiful that it makes people suffocate, even if they are burdened, they must use all their energy to move forward...
*Author's profile: Traveling in the sky, a woman who combines love and loneliness, talks to herself between dream and reality.
View more about American Beauty reviews
