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American Beauty (1999)
What is it? Theatre director Sam Mendes turned to cinema and scored a home run straight out of the gate with this tale of suburban ennui, starring Kevin Spacey as disaffected husband and father Lester Burnham, and a plastic bag that actually induced tears.
Why did it win? Well, there wasn't much competition among the main nominees: The Cider House Rules (meh), The Green Mile (has aged well, but felt a bit Shawshank-Lite at the time), The Insider (too serious) and The Sixth Sense (too scary). This is one of those years where Oscar ignored most of the more enduring or innovative films of the year.
Did it deserve to win? While there's been a bit of a backlash against it since its win, it probably was the best among the nominees. Beauty combines glorious cinematography, great performances and a pin-sharp script to great effect - but in a year that also saw the release of Magnolia, Fight Club, The Matrix and Toy Story 2, the nominees were not the best films of the year. So on the other hand, no.
Worth a look? Yes, and remembering why you liked it in the first place. But watch Magnolia, Fight Club and The Matrix first.
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