American Honey (2016)

Ambitious and Frustrating. Lyrical and wrongheaded. Exciting and exasperating. All of those contradictory phrases apply to Director Andrea Arnold's (the terrific FISH TANK) coming of age story which plays out largely plotlessly for 2 hours and 40 minutes in the American heartland as we follow an 18 year old drifter. One cannot fault Arnold for her vision and desire to show something so intimate over such a large scale, even if it never fully forms. The instinct is to fault the 163 minute length. But, this is the rare case where simply cutting it wouldn't likely have helped. Rather, the movies many astonishing moments (some only a few seconds long) wouldn't have worked without the largeness of the project. After seeing it, it's quite clear why the movie has been so divisive when it has played at places like Cannes and now with critics. It's a work that demands to be seen, even if virtually everybody's take on it will likely be different. And, is that such a bad thing with so many rote movies being made?

For me a similar type vibe and viewpoint as with say The Florida Project or Tangerine. American Honey is an observation of love and loss for a travelling band of sales teens. A displaced and disenfranchised portion of American youth. Gorgeously shot. Beautiful and free. Watch it, simple.

How did this movie get such a high score? Honestly, I cannot even comprehend how it was rated higher than a 2...thats being generous. We rented this movie, as DH thought it would be good- sales, marketing, hopefully wolf of wall street type wheeling and dealing, but showing young adults. Heck- I would of even settled for a decent plot. But was I was left with was some big school art student filming, directing and writing this junk. Girl runs off with a group of people who party in cheap hotels, drink and get busy.Horrible acting and fighting like their 8th graders. I couldn't finish it- I looked at my watch every 10 minutes, DH said give it some time, it may turn out better. It didn't, it only progressively got worse- with no plot being followed, and me asking, "So, when is something cool going to happen?". Just think of what an unsupervised kid would do on a trip- there's your movie. No laughing, no- "oh my this is thrilling", no suspense, drama, etc.I rather do hard labor, or cut my lawns grass with scissors- than attempt to finish this movie, or watch it again.

I gots to give this a '10' regardless of the accusations of being repetitive. Today's stuff lacks 'drama' because computer aided flicks seem to catch the interest. I love a great drama like Rachel's Wedding, Juno or Little Miss Sunshine etc. The hand held camera and the way it's used shooting from behind the kids and to the side. The realism is spectacular. I felt as though i was taking the road trip in the car with them and reminds me a bit of the days when i tried selling encyclopedias and art and writing courses to people who could ill afford them. Also, reminds me of the times those guys came to my door trying to sell me magazines lying to me to try to make a living when it's so much easier to 'get a real job' but, perhaps, not for the folks portrayed in the flick. The 'characters' and the actions of everyone couldn't have been done better. The length of time i had to take this journey was perfect for me. I watched 1/2 one night and the other half the following night so i was spared any feeling of samo samo. The flick brings you right into the feelings and happenings of being there. Very good show.