American Honey (2016) Review!!!

Synopsis – A teenage girl with nothing to lose joins a traveling magazine sales crew, and gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying, law bending and young love as she criss-crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits.

My Take – I have been anticipating this film ever since I’ve heard of it as this is a well made coming of age film about hopeless youth who are on the go. Much of director Andrea Arnold‘s film reminds of many other road trip films about struggling adolescent years, but this film is much more nuanced, grounded and realistic as it can get, in that on one hand you have this somewhat social commentary about how America calls itself the richest nation in the world and yet so many of our teens live in poverty especially on the Southern parts and they have to hustle and do certain demeaning things just to get by, just to survive, just to feed themselves. The film is all about making ends meet while having a life that satisfies you. On the other hand, you could see from the perspective of the characters and the impressive ways 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. The film itself is a cross between an American road film of the seventies and the kind of kitchen-sink realism favored by a certain breed of British film directors of which Arnold is one. The eye she brings to the material is that of an outsider and one schooled in a brand of neo-realism. You might say she’s looking for worst in American society and yet she treats her mostly dislikeable band of misfits with considerable tenderness. If you don’t warm to her characters you do end up empathizing with them. The story follows Star (Sasha Lane), a low class citizen born in Texas. When she was younger her mother overdosed from meth and Star was sent to live in Oklahoma. We see her daily life as she goes and scavenge for food through dumpsters with young kids she has been instructed to take care of. 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. The pay is about $300 – $400 a day. 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. 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 film is 163 minutes long, 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. Director Arnold is not focusing on income disparity in the inner cities, nope; the film showcases income disparity out in the plain fields of the American Midwest. The characters in the film are all young, poor people trying to live out their dreams on the road with friends and no responsibility. They essentially live in a frat house on wheels that also happens to sell magazines. The scope of their road trip is limited to the American south, but they meet a wide variety of people along the way, from rich housewives to working class men to incredibly poor communities, yet every actor in the film looks the part, and their performances seem completely realistic. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of their dialogue was improvised. But this isn’t some kind of poverty extravaganza either like “Winter’s Bone,” or “Slumdog Millionaire,” the characters in this film get by, they do fine 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 person who has abandoned his/her 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 here. Her authenticity gives the film a sense of unpredictability, just as in real life. With every new face they encounter, it truly feels like anything could happen, and this is what kept the film from being repetitive. There are many shots of the characters in a car listening to music, Star and Jake have an on and off relationship, but the film remains unpredictable. There are tense moments, disturbing moments, funny moments, and moments of real beauty, despite its trashy characters. You never really know what to expect, even if they often return to familiar territory. 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.

My overall flaws with the film are on its story and characters. It’s a character study, sure. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that but when the main character doesn’t have very many redeeming qualities then you’re kind of just watching a film that angers you when your character doesn’t go through any major arc. She leaves two small children randomly from one moment to the next. She is promiscuous. And there is more. Sure Arnold tried to make up for it with a phone call later on when she asks about the kids or showing the inner struggle of the main character before and while she accepts the immoral offer etc. And I get that’s her character, that’s the way she is. Young people do stupid things. But it’s hard to base your film around that. She is somewhat reborn at the end of the film but not enough to justify it. She just constantly seems to do stupid or mean spirited things. Also, this film is long. 163 minutes. They probably could have shaved an hour off of that. That is mostly due to the long unedited takes of things that don’t need to be shown. Things that slow the pacing tremendously to the point it feels a little boring and meandering at times. Director Arnold shoots the road trip panoramas in her beloved, boxy 1.33 aspect ratio, compressing the view to stress the smallness of these kids’ horizons. But the vistas aren’t the only things that start to feel cramped. After establishing the characters and the premise, the film has nowhere left to go. The characters of Star, Jake and Krystal are developed enough to pull us in, but the rest of the crew are boozing druggie kids continuously bobbing up and down to rap music. We learn little about them, and they do little besides providing a vitality which soon grows tiresome. No one on this crew is ever tired, unhappy or discouraged. Entire scenes are repeated during the third hour, several of them more than once. Lane and LaBeouf break up and make up ad infinitum, the film offering no new angles or development to their dilemma while some promising supporting characters recede into the scenery. Then everybody sings another damn song in the van again. This is without a doubt the best I’ve seen from Shia LaBeouf, whom has really proved that he can be quite the capable actor when working in smaller films, but Sasha Lane is truly the one who runs the show, a superb first-time performance. Riley Keough plays her part well. Since all of the music in the film is a part of its world (everything you hear, the characters hear), much of the music is modern pop and rap songs, yet each song in the film often fits the situation that the characters are in. 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, God’s Whisper and a few flying creatures. On the whole, ‘American Honey’ is a bold, authentic, powerful & ambitious film filled with good performances that hinders a little due to its excessive length & overall stagnant character arc.