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Vanessa Forsythe reviews

American Beauty:
The Awards Edition

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Cert: R
Cat.no: 83852
Running time: 122 minutes
Year: 1999
Pressing: 2000
Region(s): 1, NTSC
Chapters: 28 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Surround
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-Enhanced: No
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: $39.98
Extras : Exclusive Behind the Scenes Featurette; Commentary by Director Sam Mendes & Writer Alan Ball; Exclusive Storyboard Presentation with Commentary by Director and Director of Photography Conrad L. Hall; Cast & Crew Biographies; 2 Theatrical Trailers; Production Notes & Bonus DVD-ROM features including Digital Screenplay with corresponding film footage and storyboards.

Director:

Cast:

Lester Burnham: Kevin Spacey
Carolyn Burnham: Annette Bening
Jane Burnham: Thora Birch
Angela Hayes: Mena Suvari
Ricky Fitts: Wes Bentley
Colonel Fitts: Chris Cooper
Barbara Fitts: Allison Janney
Buddy Kane: Peter Gallagher
Jim Olmeyer: Scott Bakula
Jim Berkley: Sam Robards

"Ah, whose car is that out front?"

"Mine, 1970 Pontiac Firebird, the car I've always wanted and now I have it. I rule"

Lester Burnham is a burnt out, unhappy 42-year old, who feels smothered by the constraints of his marriage, his job - even his whole life. His wife is growing ever more distant and seems to find one of her real estate competitors much more interesting. His daughter Jane thinks her father is a freak because he finds himself attracted to her coquettish best friend. New neighbours have moved in next door and the son of the family seems to have a strange fascination with videotaping everything he sees...

Soon, Lester begins to realize that life does have meaning after all; he'd just forgotten what it was all about and slowly he shapes his life into the way he wants it to be, regardless of society and its constraints, real or perceived.

American Beauty is about the search for meaning and beauty, how it is never too late to rediscover a zest for life. An extremely moving and often very funny film, it is a triumph for first time film director, Sam Mendes, whose background in theatre has obviously served him well.

The film 0f 1999 for me, American Beauty went on to win 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and an extremely deserved Best Actor gong for Kevin Spacey and it appeared on over 200 Top 10 lists for the year. A fantastic script, superb direction and flawless performances, across the board, American Beauty is a triumph of latter-day filmmaking.

Extras:

Commentary: enjoyable and informative, Sam Mendes is quite happy to admit his inexperience in directing for film and points out many scenes where he would change something. Alan Ball takes a back seat and allows Mendes to wax lyrical about the film. The only disappointment here is only indirectly linked to the commentary: Mendes frequently makes reference to scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor and says we will see what he means "in the out-takes", the only problem being that there are no deleted scenes.
Behind the Scenes Featurette: 21 mins, interviews with all the cast and filmmakers including Mr. Spielberg. Fairly standard, but well done.
Storyboard Presentation: 60 mins, a fascinating insight into how the 2 dimensional ideas from a storyboard shape the 3-D image committed to celluloid.
Cast & Crew Biogs: Standard biogs and selected filmographies for all above-mentioned cast and main crew.
Trailers: both fabulous, reminded me of why I was so desperate to see the film in the first place.
Production Notes: Fairly standard, a lot of repetition from the featurette.
DVD-ROM features: well, as I don't have a DVD-ROM, I don't know, if anyone has seen these features, let me know.
...But where are the deleted scenes?

With Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 and the fab option of DTS, the sound on this disc is top notch, dialogue is clear and the excellent soundtrack blasts out. Vibrant and clear, the picture is exceptional, just check out that scene with the plastic bag and the leaves to see how crystal clear the colours are.

A fantastic disc. If you haven't got it already, buy it now, because after all there's no guarantee that these fabulous special features will cross the Atlantic and survive the transfer to Region 2.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Vanessa Forsythe, 2000.

E-mail Vanessa Forsythe

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