American Beauty (1999) poster
1999 · drama

American Beauty

Directed by Sam Mendes2h 2m1999
ElsewhereIMDb8.31.3MRT87%Metacritic84TMDB8.013k
  • sombre
Movie DNA

Sombre, steady, measured drama, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold.

How every film is hand-scored →

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Our read · American Beauty (1999) reads as a sombre, steady, inventive drama entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.

Where the cast leads
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The shape of American Beauty

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a sharp look at suburban repression, beauty, and one man's desperate reinvention.

ends bittersweetit stays with youbuilds to a gut-punch finalegrips by minute 5attention 4/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upexplicit sexnuditydrug usecringe humiliationgraphic violence

Skip it tonightSkip if adultery, teen nudity, pot smoking, and sudden violence will put you off.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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