Fourth and Final Film

For my fourth film I watched American Beauty by Sam Mendes. Although the film was somewhat disturbing the plot was very unpredictable, original, and the cinematic techniques Mendes uses are incredible. The shots, lighting, and music all help create the perfect mood to drive the story forward. One example of great artistry is when Carolyn is walking nervously into her house while crying, tightly gripping her purse, and taking slow, laborious breaths. It is implied that she is planning on killing her husband at this point. This scene is very dark and takes place during a thunderstorm. Carolyn’s figure is a rather dark silhouette against the soft gray light in the background. The music is also very sad and helps create the mood of this scene, which is depressing and angry. Also, the dream and fantasy scenes with Lester obsessing about Angela fit in very nicely with the theme of the entire movie. Being very attractive, Angela is a symbol of beauty in general. The deep red roses do a great job of abstractly communicating these scenes. The viewer sees these roses coming from Angela’s body, her mouth, and her bath water. Which symbolizes her beauty. The movie also uses a lot of foreshadowing, for example, when Buddy gets out of Carolyn’s car after they realize what a mistake the affair was. Carolyn screams at the top of her lungs, the camera rises in the air above her car while spinning quickly. This is a foreshadowing of things to come..since everything goes wrong after this point. Another example is when Carolyn is walking nervously into her house while crying, tightly gripping her purse, and taking slow breaths. It is implied that she is planning on killing someone at this point. This scene is very dark and takes place during a thunderstorm. The music is also very sad and helps create the mood of this scene, which is depressing and angry.