Election & American Beauty
Y2K looms large as Overlapping Dialogue concludes our series on the cinema of the 1990s with two satires situated deep in the Clinton years: Election and American Beauty. But before we celebrate the end of an era, we dive into a Blue Plate Special discussion involving our thoughts on some recent theatrical re-releases (American Graffiti and They Live) in the midst of the ongoing Hollywood strikes, puzzle over the impact of the "critical metric" site Rotten Tomatoes, and generally wrestle with the larger legacies left by the films of 1999 while also debating how it stacks up to other heralded movie years. Upon dispensing with the pleasantries, we dive into the muck generated by both of our spotlighted films: listen as we appreciate Alexander Payne and Tom Perrotta's vision of Middle American angst while objecting to the smug aperture through which Sam Mendes and Alan Ball forcefully demand we "look closer."
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