My favorite Annette Bening film would have to be either The Grifters or American Beauty.  American Beauty teaches one so much about life.  Take for instance the scene where Kevin Spacey's character is wailing on his pecs with a very heavy weight and smoking the pot.  Bening says -- in a classic line -- "I think that using illegal psychotropic substances is a good example to set for our daughter."  She means that sarcastically and with a thinly veiled touch of irony.

     The autumn leaves are voluptuous to look at in the crane tilt shot while Kevin Spacey simultaneously narrates about how some day soon each one of us will have our lives flash before our very eyes.  This is irrefutable evidence that it is definitely time to put up the pot and let all substances fall by the wayside.

     The Grifters is Stephen Frears's brilliant tour-de-force that was produced by Martin Scorsese.  The film juggles many elements and employs split-screen tactics.  It is brilliantly written -- with exquisite pacing throughout the picture -- by Jim Thompson (who wrote the pulp novel) and Donald E. Westlake. 

     The Annette Bening character gets shot in one scene, though it turns out the whole act was faked.  This is ingenious storytelling that doesn't toy with the audience.  The narrative is just playful.

     The film left an indelible impression on me simply due to the scene where Anjelica Huston's character accidentally kills her own son over a briefcase full of cash.  The briefcase is much like the MacGuffin, you know, Alfred Hitchcock's symbol for something inanimate that everyone in the plot is much concerned about -- but that nobody knows why.

      When the Huston character accidentally knocks the MacGuffin briefcase into her son's chin thus lacerating his neck -- it is an accident of infinitesmally tragic and graphic proportions.  This can leave quite a strong impression and that is why I think The Grifters will stand the test of time. 

Tags: Film Review

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