American beauty

Author

Sam Mendes

Call Number

• DVD DRAMA (CEN, EAS)

Edition

Awards ed. ; Widescreen version.

Performers

Sami Samir, Motti Katz, Tatjana Blacher, Raeda Adon, Moshe Ivgi.

Publication Information

Universal City, CA : DreamWorks Home Entertainment, c2000.

Physical Description

1 videodisc (122 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

An emotionally and spiritually comatose suburban man decides "to hell with it all" and reverts to living as he did when he was happiest--as a carefree teenager. His desperately uptight wife and sullen daughter can only look on as he quits his corporate job to become a burger flipper, starts getting high with a strange new neighbor (whose parents are even stranger) and lusts after a pouty blonde teenager--his daughter's best friend.

At the edge of modern Israel and the ancient Bedouin way of life, three dramatic encounters between two very different societies are brought forth. The tales are of the human condition - of passion and deceit, carelessness and love, courage and selfishness, in which no one culture has a monopoly on virtue or vice.

Notes

DVD format, 5.1 Dolby surround.

Videodisc release of the 1999 motion picture.

Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

Rated R.

Academy Awards: Best actor (Spacey), Best picture, Best director, Best cinematography, Best original screenplay.

Bonus features include: American Beauty: Look Closer... a behind-the-scenes featurette ; film commentary with director Sam Mendes and writer Alan Ball ; storyboard presentation with commentary by Sam Mendes and director of photography, Conrad L. Hall ; cast and crew biographies ; two theatrical trailers ; production notes ; plus additional DVD-ROM features.

Anamorphic widescreen (aspect ratio 2.35:1) ; audio: English 5.1 surround, English Dolby surround.

DVD format.