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running video camera, and finds both Jane and her dysfunctional family fascinating.

It is through his character and his perception we begin to see their world for what it really is. He is compelling and as unflinchingly honest as the filmmakers themselves. Nothing escapes his notice, nor ours, as the layers peal back to reveal the dark underbelly of the modern disconnected family.

Ricky should know. The only child of the equally disturbing militant and intolerant Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) and his emotionally vacant mother Barbara (Allison Janney), he's been forced to grow up quick and learn his own methods of survival. He's smart, maybe too smart, and decidedly unflappable.

He becomes the catalyst for all other characters.

In a perfect marriage of vision and story, Sam Mendes and Alan Ball earn their respective Oscars as they skillfully intersects each story, one with the other, showing us in flashes of brilliance the essences of these characters.

Alan himself adopts irony as his voice of choice, making the only normal and honest characters in American Beauty the openly gay couple in the neighborhood.

He also faces head-on the challenge of giving his protagonist Lester a goal the audience can't possibly root for him to achieve.

It is the strength of Kevin Spacey's interpretation of the material that endears Lester to us, even when his behavior is inappropriate. Lester is presented with humor, rather than desperation, and as he makes the changes toward an unpopular goal he ends up becoming the man he needed to be all along.

Instead of ignoring the close parallels to the titillating tale "Lolita", the filmmakers deliberately modernize it and embrace it. They plant subliminal seeds which hint that Lester will ultimately see that the thing he desires most is lecherous and wrong - such as the fact "Lester Burnham" is an anagram for "Humbert learns", a nod to the male lead from the classic novel.

And what does "Humbert" learn?

Lester's final line in the movie says it best. "I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday."

"American Beauty" is a hard pill to swallow, but definitely leaves an indelible mark on modern film as it both pushes the envelope with and challenges the perceptions of its audience with absolutely no apology.

A+

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