2000 Soundtrack – American Beauty

American Beauty is a 1999 American psychological black comedy-drama film written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in his feature directorial debut. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, an advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter’s best friend, played by Mena Suvari. Annette Bening stars as Lester’s materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane.
Thomas Newman‘s score was recorded in Santa Monica, California. He used mainly percussion instruments to create the mood and rhythm, the inspiration for which was provided by Mendes. Newman “favored pulse, rhythm, and color over melody”, making for a more minimalist score than he had previously created. He built each cue around “small, endlessly repeating phrases”—often, the only variety through a “thinning of the texture for eight bars”. The percussion instruments included tablas, bongos, cymbals, piano, xylophones, and marimbas; also featured were guitars, flute, and world music instruments. Newman also used electronic music and on “quirkier” tracks employed more unorthodox methods, such as tapping metal mixing bowls with a finger and using a detuned mandolin. Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the “moral ambiguity” of the script: “It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that.