American
Girl, directed by Jordan Brady, is presumably an answer
to American Beauty (1999). Whereas American Beauty portrays
the boredom of antiseptic middle class suburban life, American
Girl is about a dysfunctional family among poor whites.
Big John Grubb (played by Chris Mulkey), who killed two
men during a fight, is serving a life sentence at Pendleton
State Prison. His wife Madge (played by Michelle Forbes)
doubtless married him when she was young before she acquired
skills for a job beyond the minimum wage level. She is
frustrated because she must rear two daughters and a son,
and she takes out her frustrations on her children, who
in turn do not get along. The family lives together in
a rented mobile home somewhere on the edge of town. The
film most focuses on the youngest daughter Rena (played
by Jena Malone), who plays the title role. She has been
having sex with a schoolchum, who hides the affair, but
ultimately she becomes pregnant. Carrying a child, Rena
remembers her own childhood, when Big John read children's
stories to her, so she begs Madge to attend the annual
Pendleton picnic so that she can meet her father and tell
him the good news. Madge, however, has not been to the
picnic for years; she has been faking postcards from Big
John to Rena, thus giving her the impression that he misses
her. Nevertheless, Madge agrees to attend the picnic, and
the entire family drives to Pendleton for the day. But
everything possible goes wrong. Brother Jay (played by
Brad Renfro), who earlier masturbates while eyeing a picture
of a male athlete, appears gay to his father as well as
to another prisoner. The prisoner tries to seduce Jay,
but the action goes no farther than a kiss on the lips.
Sister Barbie (played by Alicia Witt) has sex with her
dad during the picnic, a scene spied from the corner of
a window by Jay and the prisoner. The prisoner then blackmails
Barbie into getting on her hands and knees and simulating
a pig, a humiliation observed by many at the picnic. Madge,
upset to learn that her husband has been having sex with
other women during the annual picnics, lashes out at him.
Does Rena get support from her dad, since he will become
a grandfather in due course? At first yes, but later he
recommends an abortion. At one point Big John gets violent,
a prison guard restrains him, and Big John lands on Rena,
who then miscarries and leaves the picnic in a rage. Ultimately,
Jay moves to San Francisco to become a chef, while the
rest of the family moves far enough away so that they will
never again attend the annual Pendleton picnic. American
Girl, in short, is a noir film, but is too full of distrust,
narcissism, profanity, sadness, and violence to get the
apparent points across that poor whites are often trapped
in a culture of poverty and that the middle class problems
of American Beauty are nothing in comparison. MH
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