Released just months before I was born, I first watched this film when I started college, and I've revisited it a few times since.

There's something about American Beauty that feels like a sign of its times. It did its best to portray a set of morally-ambiguous characters, and I believe it was interpreted that way when it was released. Now though, I feel like my ideas of identity, sexuality, and what it means to be American are far removed from those popular at the time. It's simultaneously timeless and aged, if that makes any sense.