Your favorite movie of 1999

[Mike]

I have to tell you, I remember sitting down to watch American Beauty after it was nominated for Best Picture and I didn't really get what all the hype was about. I thought it was an OK movie but certainly not the best film of the year.

I didn't see it until a couple years later. The major plot point of everyone being unhappy in their life, and feeling pressured to conform to what they thought society wanted them to be, really resonated with me. And how easy it is to act like a certain type of person long enough, that person becomes who you are and you don't know how to break free, don't know who you really are anymore.

The daughter sees her best friend and all the kids at school stuck in that trap, sees her mom stuck in it, her dad going through a mid life crisis trying to break free from it. So she runs with the first guy she meets that seems different, that is also going through that struggle. And then everything with the guys father, that super strict macho military persona to cover up that he's gay and just incredibly lonely. The best friend playing the slut character, even though she's a virgin and is just an insecure girl looking for attention and validation.

It's the suburbs with this thin veneer that everyone's happy, toiling away like good worker bees. Why shouldn't you be happy? You have a nice car and a nice house and nice furniture, but life isn't about accumulating material things and having surface level relationships with people. We've warped the American Dream into being that person, having that life, but it makes people sick and weary and depressed. This is right in the middle of the big boom of people taking antidepressants and being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, personality disorders.

This was the first movie I'd seen that proposed "what if the things we're taught we're supposed to want, don't make us happy? What if the direction modern society is heading is cancerous to the soul?" Looking at it through that lens, and thinking of the conversation we had about modern life in the spelling/language thread, maybe you can see where I'm coming from?

 

[Monkadelic]

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

I have to tell you, I remember sitting down to watch American Beauty after it was nominated for Best Picture and I didn't really get what all the hype was about. I thought it was an OK movie but certainly not the best film of the year.

Really? Have you rewatched it since then? I thought it was brilliant. It captured something I've never seen on film before, how suburb people that would be considered "boring" on the outside, are all twisted freaks dealing with their own crazy issues. The characters are realistic and super complicated. Not to mention the music score was outstanding. Those light, playful piano chords. That specific sound started showing up in all kinds of movies and tv shows, even commercials, after that movie came out.

Anyway, maybe you should give it another watch sometime, SP.

 

[Guestx]

I didn't see it until a couple years later. The major plot point of everyone being unhappy in their life, and feeling pressured to conform to what they thought society wanted them to be, really resonated with me. And how easy it is to act like a certain type of person long enough, that person becomes who you are and you don't know how to break free, don't know who you really are anymore.

The daughter sees her best friend and all the kids at school stuck in that trap, sees her mom stuck in it, her dad going through a mid life crisis trying to break free from it. So she runs with the first guy she meets that seems different, that is also going through that struggle. And then everything with the guys father, that super strict macho military persona to cover up that he's gay and just incredibly lonely. The best friend playing the slut character, even though she's a virgin and is just an insecure girl looking for attention and validation.

It's the suburbs with this thin veneer that everyone's happy, toiling away like good worker bees. Why shouldn't you be happy? You have a nice car and a nice house and nice furniture, but life isn't about accumulating material things and having surface level relationships with people. We've warped the American Dream into being that person, having that life, but it makes people sick and weary and depressed. This is right in the middle of the big boom of people taking antidepressants and being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, personality disorders.

This was the first movie I'd seen that proposed "what if the things we're taught we're supposed to want, don't make us happy? What if the direction modern society is heading is cancerous to the soul?" Looking at it through that lens, and thinking of he conversation we had about modern life in the spelling/language thread, maybe you can see where I'm coming from?

Interesting write-up. I haven't seen the film in almost 20 years now so it's hard to remember specifics, but I can understand your sentiments.

Maybe I'll re-watch it soon to see if my perspective has changed at all. One thing I remember though is that I felt like there were no likable characters--no one to root for--and that was a problem for me.

 

[Guestx]

Really? Have you rewatched it since then? I thought it was brilliant. It captured something I've never seen on film before, how suburb people that would be considered "boring" on the outside, are all twisted freaks dealing with their own crazy issues. The characters are realistic and super complicated. Not to mention the music score was outstanding. Those light, playful piano chords. That specific sound started showing up in all kinds of movies and tv shows, even commercials, after that movie came out.

Anyway, maybe you should give it another watch sometime, SP.

Like I was just telling Mike, I haven't seen it since then, no. Maybe I'll give it another look sometime soon.

 

[Steve-French]

What a power house year for movies. I would probably have to go with the Matrix, but I've re-watched Office Space, Fight Club, and American Beauty a lot more than I have the Matrix.

 

[Mike]

Really? Have you rewatched it since then? I thought it was brilliant. It captured something I've never seen on film before, how suburb people that would be considered "boring" on the outside, are all twisted freaks dealing with their own crazy issues. The characters are realistic and super complicated. Not to mention the music score was outstanding. Those light, playful piano chords. That specific sound started showing up in all kinds of movies and tv shows, even commercials, after that movie came out.

Anyway, maybe you should give it another watch sometime, SP.

Yes! It was the movie I was looking for without even realizing it. The characters seemed like real people, which I didn't find very often in movies back then. And I'd never seen a movie tackle all the social and mental problems lurking within quiet suburban lives. Just a brilliant character study, most people can find something to relate to in at least one of the characters and they really make you feel something.


At the time I saw it, I'd sort of forgotten movies can be more than spectacle, they can really make you think and feel real emotion for the characters.

 

[HARRISON_3]

Was Dark City '98 or '99?

 

[Guestx]

Was Dark City '98 or '99?

'98

 

[Mike]

Like I was just telling Mike, I haven't seen it since then, no. Maybe I'll give it another look sometime soon.

Maybe you could make it one of your movie club movies? I think you'll like it more on a rewatch. Some of the themes resonate a LOT more with a 30 something year old than a teenager.

 

[Guestx]

Maybe you could make it one of your movie club movies?

That's a complicated process. A different member proposes four movies each week and then the rest of us vote to narrow it down to one.

I don't pick the movie every time.

I think you'll like it more on a rewatch. Some of the themes resonate a LOT more with a 30 something year old than a teenager.

A screenwriting book I have uses it as an example in one of its chapters so maybe I'll watch it once I hit that chapter.

 

[Mike]

Was Dark City '98 or '99?

'98

Ooh dark city is brilliant. We need a best of 1998 thread too now:

Dark City, Armageddon, Saving Private Ryan, Blade, Mulan, There's Something about Mary, American History X, The Faculty, Ronin, Enemy of the State, Rush Hour, Fallen, Wild Things, Fear and Loathing, etc.

 

[HARRISON_3]

This is a tough one too, @shadow_priest_x

Matrix and Fight Club are the obvious choices. And I love both of those. But I went with American Beauty. That and Titanic are pretty much the most perfect movies ever made, imo.

And I love The Thirteenth Floor. Iirc it came out around the same time as The Matrix. They have such similar plots that The Matrix completely overshadowed it. These days I prefer Thirteenth Floor over the Matrix.

Thirteenth Floor is the shit.

One of my favorite sci fi movies.

 

[HARRISON_3]

Ooh dark city is brilliant. We need a best of 1998 thread too now:

Dark City, Armageddon, Saving Private Ryan, Blade, Mulan, There's Something about Mary, American History X, The Faculty, Ronin, Enemy of the State, Rush Hour, Fallen, Wild Things, Fear and Loathing, etc.

Damn good year for movies. Good list.

 

[sub_thug]

Voted Fight Club. The Matrix was another great one. Unfortunately, both movies inspired a great deal of assholes in the world, so that part sucks. But I can't blame the movies for shitty people.

 

[Guestx]

Ooh dark city is brilliant.

We just watched that one in the Movie Club a few months ago. First time I had ever seen it.

It was definitely an interesting film.

We need a best of 1998 thread too now:

Dark City, Armageddon, Saving Private Ryan, Blade, Mulan, There's Something about Mary, American History X, The Faculty, Ronin, Enemy of the State, Rush Hour, Fallen, Wild Things, Fear and Loathing, etc.

LOL

Out of that list I'm going with Saving Private Ryan, but Blade is a close second.

 

[Guestx]

Voted Fight Club. The Matrix was another great one. Unfortunately, both movies inspired a great deal of assholes in the world, so that part sucks. But I can't blame the movies for shitty people.

LOL how did they inspire assholes? Especially The Matrix. . .

 

[minute bull]

 

[TrippleOG]

Easily the matrix but then the columbine shootings happened and they blamed the trench coats ...

 

[HARRISON_3]

Went with Eyes Wide Shut because War Nick Nightingale and the Sonata Cafe