American Beauty

Year: 1999

Grade: A-

Country: USA

Director: Mendes

Review

this is a film that was great at the time, but has been maligned in recent years. critics have recently revised their interpretation of the film as just another film about vapid upper middle class american culture. i, however, haven’t jumped the bandwagon on this one yet. i still find the story to be important, life-affirming, and relevant. i still find spacey’s performance to be solid and the late conrad hall’s (cool hand luke, butch cassidy and the sundance kid) cinematography to be a standout. a solid picture and one of the best of the year.