5 Oscars for 'American Beauty'

LOS ANGELES, MARCH 27. `American Beauty,' a dark comedy about suburban alienation and family dysfunction, won five Academy awards, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Sam Mendes, and Best Actor, Kevin Spacey.

``This is the highlight of my day. I hope it is not all downhill from here,'' Spacey said jokingly, a racy reference to the film's opening. It was his second Oscar after the Best Supporting Actor award in 1995 for `The Usual Suspects.'

Alan Ball picked up the Oscar for original screenplay while Conrad L. Hall won for cinematography.

Hilary Swank, who portrayed a woman passing as a man in `Boys Don't Cry,' won the Best Actress award. ``Everyone put their heart and their soul into this movie,'' she said and thanked the real-life inspiration for her role, Brandon Teena, who was murdered when the deception was discovered.

Michael Caine, the kindly orphanage headmaster in `The Cider House Rules,' won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Angelina Jolie, the disruptive mental patient in `Girl, Interrupted'', won the Best Supporting Actress award - a generation after her father, Jon Voight, took home an Oscar.

``The Matrix'', about a computer hacker who discovers life is a big illusion, bagged four Oscars - for film editing, sound, sound effects editing and visual effects.

``The Cider House Rules'' also won the adapted screenplay Oscar for John Irving, who wrote the novel.

Irving offered thanks for recognition of a film that deals with abortion and concluded by thanking ``everyone at Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Rights League'' - which got thunderous applause.

Michael Caine, who got the award for ``Hannah and her Sisters'' in 1986, seemed overwhelmed by the applause that greeted the announcement by Judi Dench and he saluted his fellow nominees. ``I'm basically up here guys to represent you as what I hope you will all be - a survivor,'' he told the star-studded audience.

- AFP

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