American Beauty

American Beauty At first glance when I watching this movie I thought to myself this must be the weirdest movie ever made, but after the first thirty minutes of it I kind of fell in love with the characters. I began to fell them and understand them like I was apart of the family. I especially like the next door neighbor Ricky that sold weed. He was cool. I would have been like him if I lived in the neighborhood. The movie gave off a real good message and that was; do not be mad because there is too much beauty in the world.

It is our normal family with a working husband, Lester, and wife, Carolyn. They have a beautiful teenager by the name of Jane, who is friends with your typical high school stuck up girl, Angela. There are many other characters to the movie like the new family that just moved next door, or the top real estate agent who calls himself ?The King?.

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There were so many different conflicts and alterations between the characters that made this movie so interesting to me. American Beauty was a movie that shows us how our American society portrays the all American family to have the perfect relationships with one another. Little do the outsiders know about what really goes on inside the walls of the perfect household, and how they act towards each other. Each character seems to wear their own masks during the movie for their own reasons. Whether they are dealing with their work, family, or just life in general. The father of the supposedly seems to be hiding under the infamous ?mask? throughout the movie. He lives a life where he is Lonadier 2 constantly overpowered by his wife and co-workers day by day. Lester wakes up everyday only to show the community that he cares about his wife Carolyn, but when he really knows his relationship has gone bad. He makes the community think that he is this funny, caring, and a cool husband when he sees no reason to be.

His daughter Jane thinks of him as a man who is boring and has no personality. Maybe it?s because Lester doesn?t know how to show his emotions he has hidden away. Lester doesn?t exactly know why or even what his role is in his family, but he still lives his everyday life to please his wife and provide money for his daughter. During a real-estate party Lester meets the boy living in the house next door. It?s then where Ricky takes a break from his work, and Lester takes a break from his act to go out back in the alley. They quietly smoked some weed and shared what they had in common. After observing Rick?s ways of dealing with his boss Lester than started to look at things a bit more differently. He started having a desire to do things the way he wanted them to be done. After that night Lester started to take things more seriously and started to live a less stressful life.

His wife Carolyn also seems to be putting up an act for the community?s attention. In the beginning of the movie I saw an outside portrait of the house. She has all of the bushes and flowers trimmed to perfection and loves being extremely friendly towards all the neighbors. Her neighbors are led to get the impression that she is living the most perfect life while obtaining loving and caring relationships. Little do they know what really goes on inside her house. It almost seems as if Carolyn has a different identity waiting for her at the doorstep of the house. Inside while being with the family she is very demanding Lonadier 3 and has to have things her way. She feels that if she is the one preparing the food for the family than the dinner settings must be the way she wants it and no other way. When first meeting Buddy Kane ,The King, they talk about many things in common with each other and they both realized they needed some work on their sex lives. After having one night with ?The King? it seemed as if Carolyn had some stress off her shoulders. She was one step further to finding her true identity. Carolyn has a more realistic relationship with Jane than Lester. Even though Carolyn tries to keep her messed up relationship with Lester out of Jane?s life. She wants Jane to think everything is just perfect between the three of them, when in reality it isn?t close to perfection.

I was pissed off after the climax when Rick?s father murdered Lester during the last scene of the movie. I think Lester found his true identity and released his mask during the second half of the movie. He was a good guy that just lost his mind during his mid-life crisis.

This movie really taught me a lesson in life and that is sometimes when I look at things for a split second I can see God smiling at me. All I do is smile back and then I see lots of beauty. Sometimes there is so much beauty in the world that I cannot take it and I feel that my heart is going to cave in. Remember there is a life behind everything.

American Beauty (film)

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English: American cricketer John A Lester in front...