By Leo Milmet, The Bird on Fire Resident Film Critic

When I was ten, I began to take a serious interest in film. I saw a poster for the Cinemark Classic Series at the theater at The River. The tickets were $5 per film, so I went to see each of the listed films (Forrest Gump, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, American Beauty, Casablanca, and The Godfather).

I fell in love with film that year. I was introduced to an entirely new world: the world of the greatest films of all time, not just something like Star Wars or Gone With The Wind. I became invested in the wonderfully written and beautifully realized characters of American Beauty and Casablanca like I never had been before. I was introduced to the sheer power of brilliant cinematography through Lawrence of Arabia’s beautiful, epic shots. The themes of West Side Story, despite my having already seen the film and enjoyed it, challenged me in a new way. The Godfather showed me a truly tragic fall from grace.

However, of all these classic Oscar winners, American Beauty (1999) was the film that made me want to become a filmmaker. I remember the night I saw that film. The film was a cheeky satire, but also a melodrama. I didn’t get behind Lester, the film’s anti-hero, and his disquieting desires, but I felt terrible for him nonetheless. As much as I loved every one of these films, and I did (I REALLY LOVED THEM ALL), I had become absolutely enamored with the quiet power of American Beauty, the character-based work of genius that I will forever remember seeing for the first time. I was drawn in by writer Alan Ball’s realistic characters. The film’s powerful themes of nostalgia, uncertainty about one’s place in the world, lust, and breaking the system are accessible to anyone. Even when I was not old enough to actually understand them, I still felt them. Somehow, someway, Sam Mendes directed the film so that each character, each scene, each theme spoke to me.

American Beauty changed my life. It made me want to make films just because I want another person to experience what I experienced that night. I owe this film so much because it truly was the film that made me love film.

Editor: Shelby Armor