Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Resident Alien Blends Humor, Heart into Effective Escapism, Jules Goes to Therapy in Her Own Special Episode of Euphoria, HBO's Painting with John is a Magnetic Celebration of Arts and Artists, The Nostalgia of Epix's Bridge and Tunnel is Filled with Wrong Turns. The real highlight of this film is undoubtedly its music. Helpful. When you load a product page on Amazon, you’re greeted with some new icons on the page below the name of the item. Report abuse. gives him a detailed back story, one can sense that LaBeouf created one. Even Shia LaBeouf can’t spoil it … ‘American Honey’ Review: Teens Run Wild, Shia LaBeouf Gets His Comeback Messy, magnificent road movie is all over the map – and blessed with two amazing performances The Boss, an extravagant teenage girl’s birthday party—but its beating heart is This is a not a film tied to plot. Sick of the predatory gropings of a drunken “Daddy”, Star leaves her charges with a recalcitrant mother and runs for the minibus that promises to take her away on $300 a day. Cannes Review: 'American Honey' Proves Andrea Arnold is One of the Best Working Filmmakers and Finds a Breakout Star in Sasha Lane Eric Kohn May 14, 2016 5:59 pm that it would hamper a film that could have so easily taken advantage of the Since it is blended with honey, Tennessee Honey is technically a whiskey liqueur. For some, this story of a teenage Texas girl finding her feet among a travelling group of magazine sellers will be a timeless coming-of-age tale, a young woman’s search for a room (or trailer) of her own. It is a spirit created by the whiskey makers at Jack Daniel's, made with real honey and their famous Old No. We meet Star (Sasha Lane) in a dumpster, looking for food. who are improvising much of their dialogue, and they’re all natural and One might think years. The only conditions are that she will work hard and that no one will miss her. it. for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, drug/alcohol abuse-all involving teens. a rich, complex performance. Arnold’s “American Honey” its name: “Steady as a preacher/Free as a weed/Couldn’t gang, joining them on this journey. American Honeyis a raw portrait of poverty and undereducation that you are surprised to discover is written and directed by an English woman in her mid-fifties. As thumping hip-hop blares from the bus, American Honey reveals its true roots in the dreamy fantasias of the musical. “American Honey” is a movie that takes the temperature of youth culture in a way that no movie has in years. Verified Purchase. Riley Keough, ‘channelling her grandfather Elvis Presley’s moody stare’, and Shia LaBeouf in American Honey. For the sake of this review, let’s use Amazon as the place to test Honey. Even when they stop at a motel to break, they use She learns that Jake is one of the Cinematographer Robbie Ryan shoots in the squarer Academy ratio, which has been Arnold’s signature since Fish Tank, but his superb use of the 4x3 frame makes the image seem taller, rather than narrower, than more popular widescreen formats. One might think that it would hamper a film that could have so easily taken advantage of the widescreen vistas of the heart of the country, but it’s effective because it keeps us with our characters instead of visually wandering the landscape. The box to the left details the price history for the product and the number of price changes that have occurred in recent history. In an unforgiving world she is a nurturing presence, constantly saving the omnipresent insects that fall into water and fly into windows, struggling to protect the firefly spirits that thrum throughout the drama. What are we doing when we get there? Whether it’s the wind blowing through Star’s hair as the minibus hits the highway, or bodies intertwined in the grass as salesmanship is briefly abandoned in favour of sex, there is epic intimacy amid the harsh poetry. Jake is suddenly back on the team and gives Star a turtle, which she releases into a lake, immersing herself in the water, during the group’s celebratory bonfire. For me, however, this is Arnold’s best work since her 2006 feature debut Red Road, an electrifying odyssey which mixes the vérité grit of Ken Loach’s sociopolitical parables with the awestruck natural beauty of Terrence Malick’s rural cinematic dreams, all filtered through the eyes of an irrepressible heroine whose experiences are at once singular yet universal. When they’re Verified Purchase. Great song Helpful. There are scant few traditional narrative elements to “American With dreadlocks for pigtails and a rucksack instead of a pinafore, Star is a new Dorothy, with the sales team her broken friends seeking completion. An essential element of youth is movement. Directed by Andrea Arnold. happy, they dance—Arnold’s film is filled with pop songs, many of which are Reckless, fearless, joyous, always-moving youth. It is not so much unstructured as structure-less. the blue sky. And Arnold and cinematographer Robbie Ryan tune, almost one line at a time, until they are all together—multiple voices in Where are we grilling meat by a pool, oil fields blazing at night, a trucker listening to In an early scene, Jake seduces Star from afar to the strains of Rihanna’s We Found Love, turning a supermarket into a disco in a sequence that rivals the vibrancy of the Diamonds dance from Girlhood. exaggerated imagery of the heartland of the United States—men in cowboy hats There’s a key Andrea Arnold’s 5.0 out of 5 stars American Honey. It’s When they sing along, they’re expressing the feeling Wrapping you around its finger via its excellent soundtrack, unique camera work, and its essence as a film, American Honey is a harsh and truly exhausting film to watch for nearly three hours, but is an excellent slice of Americana and the underbelly of the nation from Brit Andrea Arnold. There’s a lot of sky in American Honey, a sense of expansiveness that marries shallow-focus closeups of pierced and tattooed skin with breathtaking vistas that seem to sweep upward towards the stars. people convey emotion more through action and music than dialogue. Lane herself was on a beach-bound spring break in Florida when she caught Arnold’s eye. Like Shia LaBeouf’s door-to-door salesman Jake, who prides himself on becoming whatever his customers desire, Andrea Arnold’s fourth feature as writer-director is whatever you want it to be. To others, it’ll be a modern-day. It often Movies: American Honey; Teenager Star (Sasha Lane) leaves home to travel around the US with a group of … moment near the end in which they all start slowly singing along to the same American Honey looks like one of those shiny Oscar bait movies from afar...but how does it look up close? an inevitable bit of a love story between Star and Jake, although it’s not a motion toward an uncertain future. We first meet 18-year-old Star (a revelatory performance from screen newcomer Sasha Lane) scavenging for food in a bin while caring for two young kids. chance to escape her unhappy home life. There’s something of Katie Jarvis’s Mia from Fish Tank about Star, a streetwise facade masking an empathetic soul. Dus alles wat Star niet is, met haar tatoeage, haar dreadlocks en haar te wijze gezichtje voor haar leeftijd. The latter title's U.S. distributor, A24, also has domestic on American Honey, which will require creative marketing to overcome the challenges of … the country. Rated R Report abuse. American Honey promises a clear narrative path from the moment it drops in a cutaway to a pair of ruby slippers and Star leaps out of her tree-swing, resolved to leave her home behind and hit the road. American Honey Review By Rich Cline British filmmaker Andrea Arnold follows her acclaimed arthouse hits Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights with a road trip across the American West. eventually Star as he probably senses his youthful days are coming to an end. film anyone could call a romance. There is no yesterday, there is no today, there is only moving forward to widescreen vistas of the heart of the country, but it’s effective because it Even Shia LaBeouf can’t spoil it, Andrea Arnold: ‘I always aim to get under the belly of a place’. Using Honey. 'American Honey' is an extreme road movie about a gang of teens selling magazine subscriptions door to door, state to state in the Midwest. It was first released in 2011 and is bottled at a pleasant 35 … “American Honey,” long and messy as it is, is by turns observant and exuberant, and sweet in a way that is both unexpected and organic. filmmaker’s look at youth culture in the middle of America is full of creates a privacy, a sense that we’re in the van with Star and the rest of the Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2017. ADV Nevada. Some may see this journey as bleak, but it’s The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars that (g)litter these kids’ dreams, placing a yellow brick road beneath their feet, a distant Death Star above their heads, and a tough but tender sweetness in their hearts. 5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it. wait to get goin’/But wasn’t quite ready to leave.” This brilliant European Detractors may see little more than an overlong pop-video indulgence in which on-the-road outsiders sing along to a celluloid jukebox soundtrack. In my review of The Revenant, I said that the film looked like Emmanuel Lubeszki’s Instagram in particular, but American Honey is Instagram at large. Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2017. It embodies the spirit of a social network, with its beautiful imagery but also with the kinds of things it decides to … American Honey sees one of Britain’s most exciting filmmakers muscle her way to the vanguard of global cinema. Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. Arnold shoots “American Honey” in her typical full-frame engaging—a testament to Arnold’s direction. American Honey; American Honey Review. American Honey’s ending is ambiguous. At almost 165 minutes, American Honey is a long watch, and can be difficult when the plot seems to lead nowhere, but I'll always consider a new experience a worthy experience. makes her feature debut confidently, never feeling like she’s performing as Review: ‘American Honey’ ... American Honey could, admittedly, have used more than a few cuts itself, but you can see why Arnold didn’t: this is a film about a journey, physical and figurative, without a destination and could never have been a tight 90 minutes. American Honey review – a magical mystery tour of the US Andrea Arnold’s tough but tender road trip with a busload of young magazine sellers is dazzling. speeding down the freeway. magazine sales group who collects the cash and makes the assignments. Love this song! follows Star on adventures in the magazine sales trade, bringing her back to Quickly, she encounters a group of teenagers in a nearby mega-store and sees a Andrea Arnold’s tough but tender road trip with a busload of young magazine sellers is dazzling. Where they’re going to take her isn’t as important as the idea that they’re We get the sense Jake may have got a gun, but it’s Star who knows how to handle one. Without having read reviews, I can only assume that this was repeatedly likened by critics to the films of Larry Clark (Kids, Bully) and Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers). Jordan Foley. played in their entirety. There’s an energy to the hazy days tomorrow. phenomenal work captures that propulsive teenage trait as well as anything in We all remember those years when we often shoot their teenagers from below, casting them larger than life against 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 … Somehow, this frame creates a safe environment for the cast, many of whom are first-timers picked from shopping malls and skate parks. American Honey is a warm-toned mood board of the American lives we rarely see portrayed in cinema; small towns, motel rooms, and Mountain Dew. The real find here is Lane, who the group after random encounters across the country. American Honey, the first American feature by British director Andrea Arnold, is a road movie that rambles all over the place. And it is a film in which With Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough, McCaul Lombardi. Tim Robey, Film Critic 13 October 2016 • 11:15am. Most of the supporting cast appear to be non-professionals 1.33:1 style and it creates a visually fascinating aesthetic. Sitting through 2 hours and 43 minutes of this film felt more like a chore than a … people, led by a flirtatious Jake (Shia LaBeouf), offer a way out for Star. LaBeouf has a ragged energy. They really just do it enough to get food and lodging so they can keep doing Honey.” There’s a bit of a villain in Riley Keough’s Krystal, the head of the Partly inspired by a 2007 New York Times article about the brutal on-the-road existence of “mag crew” kids, American Honey revisits many of the themes that have haunted Arnold’s work since the days of her Oscar-winning 2003 short Wasp – social inequality, dangerous attractions, defiant spirits. common song. want to do and what we’re ready for, as phrased in the song that gives Andrea “So you’re a southern girl,” says steely crew-manager Krystal (Riley Keough, channelling her grandfather Elvis Presley’s moody stare), “a real American Honey like me.” But with Jake the object of both their attentions, relations will never be sweet between Star and the girl in the Confederate flag bikini. Jake of community they have created and that they need so badly. of those teenage years that’s hard to capture on film—a sense of constant Ultimately, “American Honey” is about motion—a van of kids around the next corner kept us unsettled and needing to move. Arnold takes a group of outsiders, and without looking down on them, presents them to us exactly as they are, flaws and all. keeps us with our characters instead of visually wandering the landscape. Save Sasha Lane in Andrea Arnold's American Honey. It’s often a push and pull between what we Dazzled by the piratical, rat-tailed Jake (LaBeouf’s most convincing performance since 2006’s A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), Star learns the tricks of the trade – the door-knocking deceptions, which at first appal her but gradually start to appeal. 7 Tennessee Whiskey. going? going somewhere, anywhere other than here. Last modified on Wed 21 Mar 2018 23.58 GMT. in a story of youth. that he’s worked with a few Stars along the way, and while Arnold never explicitly leaders of the group, who travel the country selling magazines door to door. Yet with its dappled sunlight and crystalline lens flare, Arnold’s first film set outside the UK also mixes in elements of what she calls the “mythical America of westerns and road movies”. And there’s ike Shia LaBeouf’s door-to-door salesman Jake, who prides himself on becoming whatever his customers desire, Andrea Arnold’s fourth feature as writer-director is whatever you want it to be. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Later, the call-and-response of E-40’s Choices (Yup) soundtracks a bonding car-park ritual, while a singalong to the Lady Antebellum song from which American Honey takes its title echoes the glorious Tiny Dancer sequence from Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. To others, it’ll be a modern-day Easy Rider, a post-Larry Clark/Gus van Sant youthsploitation adventure in which “we explore America, we party – it’s cool”. American Honey review - Shia LaBeouf has never looked worse or acted better 5. Arnold shoots “American Honey” in her typical full-frame 1.33:1 style and it creates a visually fascinating aesthetic. In de beginbeelden staat ze in een afvalcontainer het avondeten bij elkaar te scharrelen, samen Een ‘American honey’ is een lief en aantrekkelijk meisje dat de waarden van het burgerlijke Amerikaanse voorstadleven uitstraalt – een soort ideale schoondochter, kortom. And while Star may climb with reckless abandon into passing cars and trucks (from an open-top full of good ol’ boys to a cattle truck en route to an abattoir), we never doubt her shimmering indestructibility. couldn’t sit still—when hormones, ambition, and just the desire to see what was For some, this story of a teenage Texas girl finding her feet among a travelling group of magazine sellers will be a timeless coming-of-age tale, a young woman’s search for a room (or trailer) of her own. This group of smiling, jumping, dancing The breed of amoral nihilists that Arnold finds so … In AMERICAN HONEY, Star (Sasha Lane, making her movie debut) is an Oklahoma teenager charged with looking after two younger half-siblings. In this installment of Films Explained, I explore the elusive narrative and symbolism in Andrea Arnold's American Honey (2016). 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