AriKoinuma.com

Director: Sam Mendes

Composer: Thomas Newman

Well, this is only the 2nd time I watch this film.  And it is going to be on my all-time favorite list, and pretty close to the top at that.

First and foremost, the script.  Wow.  How do you assemble such an ensemble of believably, realisticaly quirky characters?  They all seem like people who live next door to you, but yet they are all interesting enough to make you pay attention.  People with hidden agendas and secret desires aren’t exactly rare, but when there are this many of them, the revelations that line up one after another in the 3rd act sure pack a punch.

Secondly, the casting.  Wow.  So spot on, all of them.  Chris Cooper as a rigid Marine father, Mena Suvari as a slutty cheerleader model wannabe.  Annette Benning as an overachieving real estate agent, and a 16-year-old Thora Birch really embodying a character her age.  And everybody’s having a blast — not the least of all, Kevin Spacey.

Cinematography.  Wow.  Is it possible to make generic suburbia look so fresh, so vivid, so deep? Movie studios spend millions creating sets of exotic locations.  Yet, the most beautiful thing in thie movie is a plastic garbage bag.  Flying around in wind.

I just appreciate this film, because it is so understated.  It could have turned into a totally cornball or sleaze fest.  It’s painfully poetic one moment and hilarious the next, without being schizophrenic.  Touching but unpretentious.  No gaping holes in the story that requires audience to be imaginative — yet there’s plenty here that engages your imagination.

Thomas Newman’s score is a pretty sparse affair, which doesn’t mean it’s easy or lazy. I can speak from experience that the process of boiling down music to just the most essential notes and no more is often a very laborious process.  What’s interesting about his score is how liberally ethenic percussions and instruments are used — when the film’s placed squarely in generic white America.  But he uses these instruments out of context — outside of the traditional cultural/stylistical confines — so none of the score sounds ethnic or “world music.”  Just quirky.  I have no idea what instruments were used in the dream bathroom sequence, but it borders on being over the top, just a tad — but it never actually crosses over.  Weird things are being done through music, but there’s plenty of space between notes and music.  Very well done.

I simply can’t believe this is a work of a first-time filmmaker.  Even if he is an experienced stage director, it is just so brilliant that I just can’t believe it can be done.  Sam Mendes — ironically, I understand he’s not American at all — but he certainly made something beautiful.