American Honey [DVD] [2016]

A little slow going movie with very dark portrait of America and American people. Some weird way enjoyable movie especially outstanding acting from Sasha Lane.

Great film and good service thanks!

Star - braids, tatts, tight camo shorts - is 19.She has little going for her; just a spiky attitude, a decent heart, and an off-kilter beauty. She scavenges skips for food. Home is cramped and dirty. Her boyfriend is smug and callous. She is part of America’s forgotten, the 15% of the population who live in poverty, the losers.So when she sees a bunch of kids, roughly her age, get out of a van and start goofing around in a supermarket, she is intrigued; particularly by an older member of the crew, a man in braces and sensible trousers, who dances on the counter until security throws him out.Star (Texan newcomer Sasha Lane) discovers later that these kids are travelling around the country hawking magazine subscriptions door to door. The hustle is run by Krystal (Riley Keough, so good previously in The Girlfriend Experience), a dead-eyed CEO-wannabe in a stars and stripes bikini. Jake, the older guy (a watchable Shia LeBeouf), is Crystal’s factotum, chauffeur and beautician (in one scene he servilely rubs fake tan onto her body).Star lights out with the mag crew. The kids are culled from the same class as herself (and, revealingly or not, are all white). They sport a more camera-friendly version of the ‘outsider’ look trademarked by Harmony Korine via Larry Clarke; coloured, hand-chopped hair, bad teeth, skinny butts in baggy pants, ink. They sing along to the $-orientated rap that plays endlessly in the van (the soundtrack is ahem, dope, by the way, also offering up Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade into You’ and the titular Lady Antebellum track) and, geed up by Crystal’s cod-motivational chants, sucker housewives into buying their subscriptions. They are 21st century Willy Lomans, travelling salesmen with no particular place to go except the road, possessed by that very American spirit, restlessness.Star, inevitably, develops a relationship with the silver-tongued, shifty Jake, despite him being chock-full of BS and very obvious Bad Boyfriend material. Disappointingly, and generically, the film concentrates on this pairing, rather than the mechanics of how these unlikely looking grifters make their deals. It’s yet another coming-of-age story, but with no story. What’s more, there’s no real confrontation; Star gets out of the mild scrapes she gets into with little difficulty. Director Arnold loves her central character too much and lets her off painlessly; even Star’s dressing downs by Krystal for underperformance don’t amount to much (Krystal is in fact the film’s most interesting character but Arnold mostly sidelines her).The film does the easy, visual stuff well: the close-ups of faces and insects; light filtering through trees; shots of Big America from the inside of the van (nothing here we haven’t seen in many other films); the crew as they ‘go crazy’ at night, jumping over bonfires, having nude mock fights etc. But this kind of material can and does veer dangerously close to mobile-phone/jeans/fragrance ad territory, and it becomes difficult to care. The refusal to incorporate a subject that anchors other road movies (narcotics in ‘Drugstore Cowboy’, class conflict in ‘Five Easy Pieces’, or even the male disillusion documented in ‘Magic Mike XXL’) results in a piece that feels flimsy, lacking the singular vision that makes a film truly memorable.

I knew this was a top film before the first half was over, my only complaint, at that point, would have been the lack of musical diversity. But the second half killed that. I don't need to write an in depth review, plenty of people did that already. This movie made me question why I gave other movies 5 stars, and made me wish there were more stars so I could give it 7or 8. I was so reluctant to pay £5.99 to buy this flick, because I was looking for a cheap rental. Now that I have seen it, I would easily pay double. Well worth the money and now I can share it with my friends who I know will love it. Honest, beautiful, and I related to the main character more than I wanted to. Kudos to everyone who took part in making this movie. I highly recommend.

A meditative road movie on American life today. There is little here in the way of plot, rather this is character driven focusing principally on the two leads, Star played by Sasha Lane and Jake played by Shia LaBeouf, both of whom give great performances supported by a cast of largely first time actors, whose collective lack of celebrity give the film it's credibility. There are no stunning revelations nor feel good resolutions. The vivid cinematography of the American landscape and colourful cast provide the grit and contrasting beauty that makes this film rather wonderful. I enjoyed it very much and will certainly watch it again, but i concede that this is not for everyone.

should have bought dvd as you gain very little extra in bluray

I read lots of reviews about this film before watching. Seems to split opinion quite dramatically. It was oddly watchable but unfortunately I couldn't see the point of this film. It could have been a really great story to tell but instead it was nearly 3 hours of kids singing to hip-hop, drinking, messing about, driving in a van and (not really) selling magazines. I saw a review that said to see it as a character study. I felt that this was good advice and it's a shame that the characters are not very well developed. Star, the main character, is annoying and naive and it's hard to root for her. She keeps getting herself into situations with some people, which in reality would not be as nice and danger-free as they are in the film. I got where this film could have gone, but didn't get where it did go. Too long, not enough story, not enough characterisation. Good performances from the actors though.

"loser's night" portrays the America that has lost hope and self-esteem so completely. The cast is wonderful and the claustrophobia and monotony are interspersed with magnificent vistas.Land of the brave for sure... but the free? i watched this back to back with American Pastoral. Very interesting as they both have stayed with me in different ways. Maybe the American Dream was always just a bad dream...The Yup/Nope chant is particularly striking in aping old military chants. So many clever observations-I may watch it again.