‘American Honey’ review [LFF 2016]

American Honey review: Andrea Arnold takes to the roads of middle-America for this polarising epic which screens at the 2016 London Film Festival.

American Honey review, LFF 2016.

With the likes of Fishtank and Red Road, filmmaker Andrea Arnold has crafted excellent social commentaries on life in the United Kingdom but now moves Stateside for a proper American road movie with America Honey.

The film starts with lead Star (a debuting Sasha Lane) rummaging through trash cans at the side of a busy road in middle America. It is there where Star finds Shia Labeouf’s rat-tailed Jake and his motley-crew of magazine sales-boys and girls who are gliding through town on their way to their next destination. After a proper meeting in the local Walmart where they seemingly connect with Rihanna’s relevant We Found Love (In A Hopeless Place) playing in the background, Star decides to leave everything to join them on their travels, ditching her abusive partner and the two children she’s been forced to look after. What follows is a near-3-hour epic of the crew’s antics on the road, which includes their door-to-door selling exploits, their wild, constant partying and relationships between one another as they drift from town to town.

From the outset it is apparent that this is a film that will split audiences, which it indeed has done since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival back in May. I never thought it was possible to love and hate a film at the same time, but that’s how I feel with American Honey. Let’s start off with the love. The performances in this film are outstanding. From Sasha Lane’s strong debut as Star, who appears in every scene as we join her intimately on her journey. LaBeouf is also strong as Jake and every single member of the band of misfit sales-people are extremely good with not a flawed performance amongst them – most are also making their acting debuts. Each one delivers a believable, truly natural performance that almost feels 100% improvised (which I believe a lot of it was) – it’s a delight to watch. Riley Keough is a revelation – the absolute stand-out of the film as the villain of the piece – a career-making turn I’m sure.

Also in terms of positives – the film looks fantastic. Presented in a kaleidoscopic 4:3 ratio, the sun-kissed terrains of middle America are wonderfully capture by Robbie Ryan (Slow West, Philomena) – a huge contrast to his other Cannes-entry – the Palme d’Or winning I, Daniel Blake. It’s wonderful, and supremely highlights this talented DP at the top of his game. The soundtrack matches the visuals in terms of its strength comprised of well-known R ‘n’ B hits and banging hip-hop beats – it oozes cool.

Now to the flip-side. The negatives. As much as I loved the performances of pretty much every actor, I hated every single moment that I spent with them (163 minutes in all). They really are not likeable in any way and every one of those 163 minutes was a struggle. The film too is just too long with no single story carrying us through – of course, the story is Star’s journey – but the structure felt like a lot of small, shorter stories stuck together to give us this behemoth of a motion picture which tests your patience from the off. It’s not quite pretentious – just annoying and we’re not quite sure where Arnold and co. are taking us.

All of that said, Andrea Arnold has crafted a great movie. An unrelenting journey with arguably the most abhorrent group of young people captured on film this century – a outfit of misfits that will wind you up tighter than you’ve ever been wound before – though it’s absolutely wonderful in every way. Magnificently realistic, unquestionably hip, truly authentic and full of exceptional performances from its young cast, American Honey is one of the most unique cinema experiences of the year.

American Honey review by Paul Heath, October 2016.

American Honey is released in UK cinemas on 14th October 2016. It also plays as part of the 2016 BFI London Film Festival.