Winner '99:
First Saw It:		 American Beauty
October 20, 1999, at the Hoyts Pyramid Mall in Ithaca, NY, back-to-back with Fight Club
Bridesmaids: The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense
My Vote: The Insider, though I was a Beauty man at the time
Overlooked: At the absolute minimum, Eyes Wide Shut, Boys Don't Cry, and Topsy-Turvy


American Beauty
First screened in October 1999 / Most recently screened in November 2017
Director: Sam Mendes. Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Scott Bakula, Sam Robards, Barry Del Sherman, Marissa Jaret Winokur. Screenplay: Alan Ball.

 Twitter Capsule: Very patchy structure, wobbly politics, uneven sense—but crafty enough that some of its provocations land anyway.

VOR: ⑤  Hollywood rarely approaches this genre with such heightened, adventurous style, or makes such an unconcealed pageant out of self-loathing and contradiction.


Photo © 1999 DreamWorks SKG
Not yet reviewed in full. B

(in October 1999: A–)

Academy Award Nominations and Winners:
★Best Picture
★Best Director: Sam Mendes
Best Actress: Annette Bening
★Best Actor: Kevin Spacey
★Best Original Screenplay: Alan Ball
★Best Cinematography: Conrad L. Hall
Best Film Editing: Tariq Anwar & Christopher Greenbury
Best Original Score: Thomas Newman

Golden Globe Nominations and Winners:
★Best Picture
★Best Director: Sam Mendes
Best Actress (Drama): Annette Bening
Best Actor (Drama): Kevin Spacey
★Best Screenplay: Alan Ball
Best Original Score: Thomas Newman

Other Awards:
Producers Guild of America: Best Picture
Directors Guild of America: Best Director
Writers Guild of America: Best Original Screenplay
Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Actress (Bening); Best Actor (Spacey); Best Ensemble
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics: Best Cinematography
National Board of Review: Best Picture; Breakthrough Performance, Male (Bentley)
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