American Beauty (1999) - IMDb
www.imdb.com/title/tt0169547/
Rating: 8.5/10 - 558,426 votes
Directed
by Sam Mendes. With Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes
Bentley. Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life
crisis, ...
Though "American Beauty" and "Pulp Fiction" were both made in the 1990s, they typify the angst, frustration and death of that era and in some ways it is still this way today to some degree. "American Beauty" typifies typical problems of success. "Pulp Fiction" typifies problems in people's lives who live outside the law. But what comes through both movies is sort of the self destructive aspects of both. But, a lot can be learned about life through watching both these movies (at least if you have the stomach for it).
Later: My wife just said this is a movie about a man having a severe Mid Life Crisis and I have to agree with her even though this isn't what I was thinking about when I first watched the movie in 1999. In 1999 I had just survived the year before a heart virus that I had almost died from for 7 months. So, the mid life crisis I had starting with my father's death when I was 37 ended suddenly with my near death experience with a heart virus at age 50. Strangely enough, almost dying gave me a peace of a kind I had never known before. I was just grateful for every day I was still alive after that. No longer was I worried I was losing my youth which is what a mid life crisis really is. In one's late 30s and early 40s the ground (death) is coming up pretty fast by then. You can see death smiling at you waiting patiently for you to die by 40. Also, historically most people died by 40 until 1900 and the average was only 60 for all people then. So, I think we sense this that most of our ancient relatives died by 40 or so and only a few rare few made it to 70 and beyond.
My 24 year old daughter said, "This is a movie only old men like because they can relate to it." This I thought was an interesting comment as well. It definitely is a male perspective of starting to die in one's 40s through a mid life crisis. And then the mid life Crisis kills him which is strangely poetic like some Romeo and Juliet kind of Fantasy in some ways. So Yes, this is a man's fantasy movie in some ways whether or not he is successful in real life.
An easy way to rent it if you are interested is through "Amazon Prime" I tried to rent it through Netflix first but they didn't have it and got it through Amazon Prime" for I think $4.99 for an HD version of it that I could throw up on my 60 inch flatscreen in the living room through Roku.
Yes. If you haven't seen "American Beauty" or "Pulp Fiction" (if you have the stomach for these two movies) they say a lot about America and American Film making. Though both are "over the top" movies a lot can be learned by watching them about living in the U.S. for many kinds of people, both the people who follow the rules "American Beauty" and those who don't "Pulp Fiction". The first movie I saw with my present wife before we married and had a daughter was "Pulp Fiction". She is a very emotional movie goer and spent half the movie hiding her eyes with her head against my shoulder and arm. (Which was okay by me). I had just quite a job (rather than be killed) by juvenile offenders in San Jose counseling teenage versions of the the people in "Pulp Fiction". I think my job taught me more about "the criminal mind" than any other single experience in my life. And "Pulp Fiction" helped me understand what I had been through as a counselor and happy I didn't die like two other counselors in San Jose did by the juvenile offenders they cared for within 6 months after I quit.
Later: My wife just said this is a movie about a man having a severe Mid Life Crisis and I have to agree with her even though this isn't what I was thinking about when I first watched the movie in 1999. In 1999 I had just survived the year before a heart virus that I had almost died from for 7 months. So, the mid life crisis I had starting with my father's death when I was 37 ended suddenly with my near death experience with a heart virus at age 50. Strangely enough, almost dying gave me a peace of a kind I had never known before. I was just grateful for every day I was still alive after that. No longer was I worried I was losing my youth which is what a mid life crisis really is. In one's late 30s and early 40s the ground (death) is coming up pretty fast by then. You can see death smiling at you waiting patiently for you to die by 40. Also, historically most people died by 40 until 1900 and the average was only 60 for all people then. So, I think we sense this that most of our ancient relatives died by 40 or so and only a few rare few made it to 70 and beyond.
My 24 year old daughter said, "This is a movie only old men like because they can relate to it." This I thought was an interesting comment as well. It definitely is a male perspective of starting to die in one's 40s through a mid life crisis. And then the mid life Crisis kills him which is strangely poetic like some Romeo and Juliet kind of Fantasy in some ways. So Yes, this is a man's fantasy movie in some ways whether or not he is successful in real life.
An easy way to rent it if you are interested is through "Amazon Prime" I tried to rent it through Netflix first but they didn't have it and got it through Amazon Prime" for I think $4.99 for an HD version of it that I could throw up on my 60 inch flatscreen in the living room through Roku.
Yes. If you haven't seen "American Beauty" or "Pulp Fiction" (if you have the stomach for these two movies) they say a lot about America and American Film making. Though both are "over the top" movies a lot can be learned by watching them about living in the U.S. for many kinds of people, both the people who follow the rules "American Beauty" and those who don't "Pulp Fiction". The first movie I saw with my present wife before we married and had a daughter was "Pulp Fiction". She is a very emotional movie goer and spent half the movie hiding her eyes with her head against my shoulder and arm. (Which was okay by me). I had just quite a job (rather than be killed) by juvenile offenders in San Jose counseling teenage versions of the the people in "Pulp Fiction". I think my job taught me more about "the criminal mind" than any other single experience in my life. And "Pulp Fiction" helped me understand what I had been through as a counselor and happy I didn't die like two other counselors in San Jose did by the juvenile offenders they cared for within 6 months after I quit.
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