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Re: "American Beauty": Initial Impression and Final Verdict.

130.245.14.21

Thanks Dmitry.

This movie reminds me of Pulp Fiction. It seems a bit farfetched and surreal. Is it stereotypical? oh, yes. But not in the sense of polical correctness, it's rather like: "this is you or the average person you know, so deal with it".

In some sense, it's like watching an opera with highly textured and colorful characters. But I think it's slightly more than that. Are the colorful characters an artistic element imposed upon us by the film maker, or is it an internal product within the characters themselves?

Why do they all have to be too colorful? Look at the real estate guy with fancy licence plate ("R.E. King", if I remember correctly), who releases his stress by shooting a few rounds of 45. Look at the high school kid who acts like a weirdo and lights candles on someone else's backyard. Look at Lester throwing dishes at dinner. Is that really necessary? Look at the high school girl who flirts with her best friend's father. Look at the cool one-liners. Are they a product of the screen writers or are they a product of the characters? There are more. I think the recurring theme of the movie lies in the Colonel's wife expression, or the swirling plastic bag: emptiness. I mean whatelse could you make an empty box more interesting other than making its cover a bit more textured and colorful?

The movie is not totally dark and without a sense of positiveness, though. As it turns out, the people who are healthiest, happiest, most successful, and have most sex seem to be the openly gay guys who live down the street.

So is it too far-fetched? Where is the line that separates the artistic elements and the realistic elements of the characters themselves? This is what makes it intersting.


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