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Sam Mendes, Auteur?

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And the final formal similarity between the two films is the use of water to herald death. In fact, the Internet Movie Database has already listed this as a "director's trademark" in the trivia section under Road to Perdition. It may be a little early to grant Mendes director's trademarks, but it has so far held true. The only time it rains in American Beauty is the last night of Lester Burnham's life. Both of the major shootouts in Road to Perdition (the one that Michael witnesses, and the one in which Sullivan kills Rooney) occur in the rain. Connor is shot in a bathtub full of water. Sullivan dies in a house by a lake. There are several deaths in Perdition that are not accompanied by water, but none of them are major, important deaths. All the deaths of central characters, or that greatly affect central characters, are marked by the presence of water. In the Sullivan/Rooney shooting, in fact, the water takes over, becoming all that is heard on the soundtrack. We see the blazing tommy gun, and the goons falling to the ground, but we hear no gunshot sounds until Sullivan turns the gun on Rooney (and on us, for the camera takes Rooney's place) and the screen and soundtrack fill with flame and shot.

Perhaps these visual devices can be credited to Conrad Hall. Perhaps these themes are inherent in the source material, and are, in fact, fairly common themes in film and literature. But Mendes chose to work with these sources (and Road to Perdition has changed significantly from the novel, whether by Mendes or not), and has chosen to work with Hall twice. Certainly we cannot yet make an airtight case for Mendes as an auteur. But these similarities cannot be ignored, and we must at least acknowledge the possibility that Mendes may be considered, by film studies in the future, an auteur.

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WORKS CONSULTED

Ball, Alan. American Beauty: The Shooting Script. Newmarket Press: New York, 1999.
Collins, Max. Road to Perdition.
Ebert, Roger. review, American Beauty. Chicago Sun-Times. www.sun-times.com
Ebert, Roger. review, Road to Perdition. Chicago Sun-Times. www.sun-times.com
Landesman, Cosmo. review, Road to Perdition. London Times Culture. Sep. 22, 2002.
Mendes, Sam. Introduction to American Beauty: The Shooting Script. 
        Newmarket Press: New York, 1999.
Peter, John. review, "Uncle Vanya". London Times Culture. Sep. 22, 2002.
Rosenfield, Bill. liner notes, Cabaret: The New Broadway Cast Recording. 
        BMG Classics, 1999.
Schwartzbaum, Lisa. review, Road to Perdition. Entertainment Weekly. www.ew.com
Sunshine, Linda, ed. Cabaret: The Illustrated Book and Lyrics. 
        Newmarket Press: New York, 1999
www.playbill.com
www.imdb.com

This paper originated as a term paper for Introduction to Film Theory and Criticism, Webster University, Fall 2002.
©Copyright 2002 by Jandy Stone

Page last updated 8/1/04.
@Copyright 2002 by Jandy Stone