Movie Review: American Beauty
I watched the movie American Beauty today. I started to watch movies occasionally on weekend to improve my English skill and also for fun too. I am trying to watch movie without subtitles and I can understand about 70~90 percent of conversations in the movie depending on what kind of English accents are spoken. I am having some hard time understanding British English, because I am not used to their accents, but I guess I will get better day by day.
Plot
THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILER OF THE MOVIE.
Lester Burnham is a middle aged man who is living in suburb. He is a husband to real estate agent Carolyn Burnham and father to high school student Jane Burnham. Three of them do not have good relationship to each other, Lester’s company started downsizing, and Carolyn gets frustrated because her house didn’t sell. But when Lester met Angela and Ricky who are friends of Jane, everything starts to change.
Lester fell in love with his daughter’s friend, Jane. His infatuation with her make him passionate about his life. Ricky, who sells marijuanas also give him courage of rejection. And it instigated him to quit his job and get huge severence package by blackmailing his boss.
Jane started a relationship with Ricky, which Angela scoffs at. Feud between two girls started to grow. Meanwhile, Lester’s wife, Carolyn begins an affair with business rival which is caught red-handed in a fast food restaurant by Lester. Later, Carolyn is shown sitting in her car distraught with a handgun.
Ricky’s dad, Frank Fitts is a homophobic disciplinarian marine corps colonel. He rules his family with violence. He misunderstood Ricky selling marijuana to Lester as a gay prostitution. And he expelled Ricky from his home.
Frank seemingly confront Lester, but breaks down, tearfully embracing and kissing him. Lester tells him that he misunderstood the situation. Frank gets humiliated. Lester finds distraught Angela sitting in his house. While undressing her, Angela admits her virginity causing Lester to have a crisis of conscience. Now unable to fulfill his fantasy, he instead comforts her sharing their frustration in life.
While Angela is in a bathroom, an unseen figure shoots Lester in the back of the head. Ricky and Jane find Lester’s body, while Carolyn is seen in her closet, discarding her handgun and crying hysterically. Bloodied Frank, returns home and a gun is missing from his collection.
Lester’s narration ends the movie. “Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday.”
My thoughts
I really liked the plot and scenes of the movie. In the beginning, Lester looks like he is imprisoned in the monitor of his office. His fantasy is depicted with roses and I really liked the illustration. Sound and light was well coordinated as if someone is having crush.
I think this movie is well-made one. There are so many things to think about in this movie.
Newly learned words
- infatuated: short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something
- sedated: calm
- mid-life crisis: confusion of identity in mid aged people
- jump (one’s) bones: to have sex with one
- pecs: chest muscle
- duplex: a building that two houses are connected to each other
- roll a joint: make a cigarette of marijuana
- put someone out of his/her misery: kill someone so that he/she can get out of suffering