American Honey

Featuring a cast riddled with amateur actors (aside from Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough (granddaughter of Elvis Presley) "American Honey" is more than just another Cannes Film Festival calling card for writer/director Andrea Arnold, it is a gritty, startling master-class example of "slice of life" direction, the likes of 2016's "Manchester by the Sea" or "King Jack".

Synopsis: A teenage girl, living in extreme poverty, is recruited into a traveling sales crew filled with other teens in her same situation. The group travels cross-country, scamming people into buying magazine subscriptions by day and partying incredibly hard by night.

Arnold's hand-held camera work only helped immerse me into this lesser known subculture, watching these economically disadvantaged teens make sketchy life choices as they come of age inside a van sized commune of their peers. But it's the stellar performance from newcomer Sasha Lane which gives major credibility to this film and justifies some of its more minor flaws as well as the run-time. Much of the satisfaction I received from "American Honey" came from watching Lane's character evolve throughout.

Final Thought: There are a few misplaced lines of dialogue, which seem to force-feed a bit more than I would have liked, and at a nearly three hour run-time, this Indie will be perceived as an intimidating venture for some, but boy is it worth your time. The genuine atmosphere of "American Honey" speaks to this generation like not many movies do, and will stay with you for days after viewing.

If you are a fan of Larry Clarks Kids then this is the film for you. It portrays a harsh reality that most people would rather not see. It's got that train wreck quality that won't let you turn away and at the same time has you horrified.

Sasha Lane as the protagonist Star gave a great performance. Her anger and sadness come to the surface even when she's silent. I've always liked Shia LaBeouf but I've usually felt like the films he's done don't interest me so I don't get to see his performances that much.

I realize that the film is long, but I think it's part of what makes this film special. It takes time to develop and meanders a bit in the process but again it's part of what makes the film seem so genuine. Though the premise of the story is a bit ridiculous in itself it's really just a vehicle to let us in on the behavior of these young people. What makes them tick. What kind of music they like. How they relate to each other.

Clearly this film isn't for everyone. You should have an idea what it is about before you partake in the investment of watching it. But if you are like me and enjoy the sociological aspect of feeling like you are eavesdropping on the life of these young people then it's a great film.

I'm not familiar with this director but now I'd like to see her other films. Hopefully her hand is on the pulse of a lot of different subsets of culture.

Greetings again from the darkness. Movies are often classified according to genre: comedy, thriller, romance, drama, etc. Writer/director Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights, 2011) pays little attention to such labels, and seems to take immense pleasure in spotlighting a segment of society that rarely gets the silver screen treatment. Rather than bring us yet another lawyer, cop, teacher or writer, Ms. Arnold demands we pay attention to a group of misfits.

Our introduction to Star (Sasha Lane) comes from inside a dumpster as she and her young siblings are diving for food behind a grocery store, and afterwards hitchhiking for a ride back home. A chance parking lot meeting with an energetic young man named Jake (Shia LeBeouf) leads Star to take some drastic actions … including joining Jake and his traveling troupe of free-spirited cohorts as they drive around the country selling magazine subscriptions and staying in cheap hotels. In between fabricated sales pitches, there is much alcohol, drugs, hip hop, and sex.

Jake is the top salesperson, but it's Krystal (Riley Keough) who supervises the group with threats, punishment and insults. She understands this is a captive audience with few options … even asking Star "Will anyone miss you?" That question is at the core of what keeps this group together. The van gang is the only community to which they belong – the closest thing to family they have. The handbook's stated purpose may be to "make money", but fundamentally, these folks just want to fit in somewhere.

Director Arnold takes a quasi-documentary approach (similar to last year's Tangerine) that delivers a realistic feel to a world most of us have little knowledge of. Seeing these scam artists bounce through suburbs and rural areas, willing to take advantage of most anyone along the way, generates both empathy and disgust. By design, it's Star with whom we most relate. She clearly has a conscience, but is as naïve to the world as she is sensitive to her own desires. A simple question (used twice) is a kick in the gut to viewers, and the dreams and hopes of these misfits are most puzzling of all.

The use of music is exceptionally well done, leaning heavily on hip-hop and Rihanna (twice). The titular Lady Antebellum song has its moment, as does Darth Vader philosophy and a few flying creatures. Though the run time is entirely too long for an indie that really doesn't follow a traditional narrative, we don't mind too much since we are watching the birth of a new star. Sasha Lane makes an incredible debut, and though the director "discovered" her on spring break in Florida, the natural talent here runs deep. I'm not sure of the market for this film, but it seems obvious Ms. Lane has a much brighter future than her character – or any of the others riding along in the van.

But it's well done and I like that it's dialogue was mostly unscripted and most of the actors are real people taken from the streets. It felt like a real dysfunctional road trip with some interesting characters. Pretty raw at times.

Much of Andrea Arnold's American HONEY reminds me of Larry Clark's 1995 film, "Kids," struggling adolescent years, but American HONEY is much more nuanced in that on one hand you have this somewhat social commentary about how we are the richest nation in the world and yet so many of our teens live in poverty and they have to hustle and do certain demeaning things just to get by, just to survive, just to feed themselves. On the other hand, you could see American HONEY from the perspective of the characters and the impressive way in which they organize, you can see their selling and marketing skills, despite it being a scam and rough around the edges. They're doing what wall street does basically but on a smaller, smaller, way smaller scale.

Sasha Lane plays free spirited teenage named star who leaves her troubled trashy home to go on a road trip with traveling laborers her age, they go from town to town, door to door, to sell magazines. Riley Keough plays Krystal, the leader of the crew, and Shia LaBeouf plays Jake, who recruits new members. There's freedom and hard partying that come with this life, Star doesn't essentially agree with some of the group's methods, although young love and jealousy ultimately motivate Star to bend her own morality rule just to prove herself.

Firstly, just a heads up, this movie is 163 minutes long, probably not quite as long as those "Hobbit" movies but definitely one that you'd have to be willing to set aside a big chunk of your evening for, should you want to check out this film. I have to give credit to writer/director Andrea Arnold, not only for this raw depiction of American youth living on the margins, but also the casting decisions, the actors in this film are so convincing, in terms of their looks, their attitude and the way they carry themselves, you start to wonder if they really do live on the margins. Many of the moments in the film are spent on the characters bonding, so it seems that, and I'm assuming, cinematographer Robbie Ryan had to sit inside that van and operate the camera around as one character has their dialogue with another, and it's already crowded as it is, it'd be interesting to see behind-the-scenes video on how they pulled that off.

Arnold is not focusing on income disparity in the inner cities, nope, American HONEY showcases income disparity out in the plain fields of the American midwest. But this isn't some kind of poverty extravaganza either like "Winter's Bone," or "Slumdog Millionaire," the characters in American HONEY get by, they do OK one day at a time, but they undergo unforgiving journeys through suburban sprawl through small towns clearly affected by economic downturn, and you see the resilience in their hearts. You may disagree with their methods, some might even see it as dangerous but what can a fractured, abandoned life can do but to fill the cracks however way they can. They're still teenagers going through crushes and heartbreaks, your usual teenage ordeals, but they're also in a situation where they're forced to be independent adults faster, and Andrea Arnold beautifully captures all of that in American HONEY.

-- Rama's Screen --