Any sad spiel, and they'll just say it over and over and over again 'til it's meaningless. an inevitable bit of a love story between Star and Jake, although its not a Both Star and Jake are not exactly what you would call upright, law-abiding citizens. It's like, a couple of the other agents are really rigid about the five - the five sales steps and all this [expletive], so they'll pick a spiel that's, like, some sad [expletive], like mama's got cancer or my foot is falling off. "Bounce It" by Juicy J provides a lively and upbeat introduction to the film. {{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}Your submission failed. I think, how do they know? It looks a lot like the scraggly last stand of teen rebellion. ARNOLD: Oh, that's so personal (laughter). It's about a group of teenagers who are abandoned, are homeless and have become something of a family traveling together by van from town to town, state to Here are some common terms and their meanings: Sugar-Free less than 0.5 g of sugar per serving; contains no ingredient How did the image come to you of getting Shia LaBeouf on his knees, massaging - lotioning the legs of the crew leader? Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. That night, Krystal calls Star in and tells her that Jake has posted his lowest sales ever. I can't imagine. And it is a film in which And she stayed for a long time, and she had a lot of stories. But she has to report to Krystal, who's really hardened, tough woman who runs the crew. It's complicated. Dream turns out to be the movies spirit word, echoed in Bruce Springsteens haunting cover of Suicides Dream Baby Dream, which Bruce turns into a desperatesequel to Dancing in the Dark a plea to his lover that if they have the faith to dream a life, then maybe that life can come true. And I wasn't able to get a grant because I hadn't done ballet and stuff. Get the ball rolling and be the first. of community they have created and that they need so badly. By showing this a sense of anticipation is created. The soundtrack of "American Honey" is an eclectic mix of popular songs, indie rock, and hip-hop, reflecting the eclectic tastes of the film's young characters. They flirt and charm their way into selling a product that no one really wants. Lil Wayne & Natasha Mosley), Jeremih, Lil Wayne, Jeremy Felton, Matthew O'brien, Natasha Mosley, Tricon Markous Roberts & Dwayne Carter. And I think even when we were doing it, everyone was thinking, wow, how is this going to work because it's kind of such a strong image? And then the head of the crew, a woman who is played by Riley Keough, who is Elvis Presley's granddaughter - and she's terrific in this - she says to Star, you've got anyone who'll miss you? I told her, I dont do well with a camera in my face. So I went to an audition just out of the blue. happy, they danceArnolds film is filled with pop songs, many of which are Well, because my family are alive. M idway through American Honey, the film pulls in to the kerb, the action pauses for breath, and the heroine discusses her dreams with a passing trucker. The crew arrive at a suburban neighborhood. 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 groups celebratory bonfire. I'm sorry. Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. Arnold began writing the screenplay in 2013 and it was first announced under the pre-production title Mag Crew at Film4's 2013 Cannes Film Festival party. (If I got asked to do a film festival jury somewhere in America or do a talk, Id get them to fly me far away from where it was, and then Id drive.) And she spent time with mag crews, soaking in their environment. Which is why Arnold doesnt want her movie to be read as an outsiders definitive State of the Union. When they get there, they disperse into groups of two. All rights reserved. Some of the actors that you cast were not professional actors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. They were - they were not thinking really about the magazines. We meet Star (Sasha Lane) in a dumpster, looking for food. No, I have never tried to twerk. Star I suppose recognises that Jake is a quintessential bad boy and agrees to have sex with him, consummating their burgeoning romance. people convey emotion more through action and music than dialogue. GROSS: Who need a way out of the situation that they're in. So it's, you know - it's a really different way of casting (laughter). And I, you know, was very lucky to have landed there. You grew up in - what in America is called a housing project. LABEOUF: (As Jake) That's a bunch of [expletive], all that. Andrea Arnold is a British film director, so whats she doing outside her native UK bringing us a story of young magazine subscription agents plying their trade in such far-off places in the heartland as Muskogee, Oklahoma and Kansas City? "[65] Eric Kohn of Indiewire was enthusiastic, writing that American Honey "proves Andrea Arnold is one of the best working filmmakers and finds a breakout star in Sasha Lane," and that "It's the closest thing to a magnum opus in Arnold's blossoming career. GROSS: Me? So can you describe those shows for us? Principal photography began in May 2015 with filming taking place in several states across America. Here we go. I'm not sure which it is. The Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf characters are going door to door. The closing credits, after the lead actor names, consist of a list of names, alphabetized by first name, with no indication of whether they are crew or cast -- no job titles or character names. The characters in American Honey have cut themselves loose from their parents (the implication is that they probably had good reason to i.e., they came from You've got to read them. magazine sales group who collects the cash and makes the assignments. The warning should speak to all of us, because its not about the perils of too much sex and drugs and heavy-beat rap & roll, though those things are connected to it. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Why am I doing - you know, how did I get here? Since Star is new, she is paired with Jake, the veteran of the group. So your 2009 film "Fish Tank" also started a teenage girl who wasn't a professional actress. [43] The film derives its title from "American Honey", a 2010 hit single by American country music group Lady A, that is sung along to by the sales crew in a pivotal scene. American Honey was also placed on several publications's "Best of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival" and "Best of the 2016 Toronto Film Festival" lists. For theres a competing energy out there (seen more in those who have less), one thats brilliantly evoked by American Honey. The movie is abouta girl trying to escape a world of no hope, but she does it by joining a group of outsiders who cant connect with anyone outside themselves. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. the blue sky. Learn More{{/message}}, {{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}It appears your submission was successful. GROSS: Andrea Arnold directed the new film "American Honey." Even when they stop at a motel to break, they use So it was kind of a mixed thing. October 3, 2016 / 1:41 PM It always comes back to the flag. I wouldn't want it any other way, actually, because I wouldn't want them to be feeling unsafe and come with us, you know. Like for this film, they went out to like county fairs or they go to Wal-Mart, and they would just sit around and like look for people that might be the right kind of people for the film. After the guy drops her off, she hears him being attacked. They dont sell their bodies, but in a way they do: Most of them are striking-looking in a trashed-runaway vagabond skate-punk way, and they use their pierced-and-tattooed street charisma to evoke pity and awe. All Rights Reserved. around the next corner kept us unsettled and needing to move. The film stars Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough. Star has a dream too, of sorts: She fantasizes that she can be with Jake, that theyll move to a shack somewhere and have lots of kids. And theres [35] On 9 June, production was taking place in Omaha, Nebraska and Grand Island, Nebraska. And through kind of teasing and flirtation and teaching her how to use his video camera, Michael Fassbender's character eventually seduces the teenage girl into having sex with him. I was gonna do it after Fish Tank, Arnold says. Instead, thanks to its commitment to- and obvious love for the subject, and its sometimes comedic, sometimes very raw and sensitive little beats, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. One might think ARNOLD: Yeah, it wasn't kind of - I've always loved dancing all my life. ARNOLD: Some people can move one cheek different to the other. tomorrow. And she did., Trending And I think the mystery in films is really important. For me, the space and the, you know - if people go see "Fish Tank," I would love them to not know - I wouldn't want to explain to them what I kind of intended or what I felt were the intentions of each of those characters. The website's critical consensus reads, "American Honey offers a refreshingly unconventional take on the coming-of-age drama whose narrative risks add up to a rewarding experience even if they don't all pay off. And she wants to look brown all the time (laughter). The crew arrive at a motel. So walk me through this. WebThe triple symbol ending seams to too abruptly and precisely define our conclusions. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. But its a big experience, and youll probably learn a lot. I definitely said to her, Youll get mad at me. I'm sorry. tune, almost one line at a time, until they are all togethermultiple voices in And I've done quite a lot of it myself, you know. I didnt know that much about all that., Still, there was the matter of finding Star. Currently you are able to watch "American Honey" streaming on fuboTV, Showtime Apple TV Channel, Showtime Amazon Channel, Showtime Roku Premium Channel, Showtime, DIRECTV, Paramount+ Showtime. And what her fellow travelers keep telling her, with the dissolve-on-contact sensuality of their live-for-the-moment life, is that dreams arent for them. You ain't got to listen to all that. (2:30) The van arrives to pick up the crew. Krystal then has Jake put tanning lotion on her body as Star watches, and Star promises to improve. See production, box office & company info. It's just such a great place to be. the country. It shines in citrus-influenced cocktails or sipped as a digestif, but bourbon fans may find it too sweet and lacking complexity. Still, she wastes too much time (the film clocks in at around a lugubrious two and a half hours)covering her mindless magazine subscription agents as they boorishly interact inside their van heading to one city after another. The director unfortunately has more mixed feelings about her subjects, and others might just find that a tad bit troubling. There are sex scenes, and you wont wanna do some things that Im gonna ask you to do. Star eventually admits what happened, causing Jake to get angry, smashing the belongings in the house before running off. With all of my scenes, I don't want to go into them. And I thought it might be a way of - I'd been kind of done a lot of acting at school. She's really good at it because I - at the very beginning, I used to fuss. It often ', Arnolds own preparations inspired her to take road trips across the United States, finding any excuse she could. Arnold first learned about magazine crews - or mag crews as they're called - from a New York Times article about them. And I ended up doing it for quite a few years. I don't really know what's going to happen. Others might argue that Arnold is merely a calculating observer of rebellious young persons who live on the edge. Andrea Arnold, the British filmmaker who became a critics darling with movies like Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights, has directed American Honey in a style that might be described as hip-hop Dardenne brothers. filmmakers look at youth culture in the middle of America is full of So he has to take out the lotion, crouch down and start massaging her legs with lotion, which is a very kind of sexual act because she's wearing either a bathing suit or - I mean, a bikini or underwear. All the Time (feat. ARNOLD: You know (laughter), and - which is where we did most of our auditioning. She learns that Jake is one of the The customer's daughter and her friends dance to the song in the background. And I just left home. We all remember those years when we couldnt sit stillwhen And then they would find these people the same age, and they would stay in the same hotels and they'd party and they'd see things. WebAmerican Honey (2016) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Andrea Arnold Writing Credits (in alphabetical order) Cast (in credits order) Produced by Cinematography by Robbie Ryan Film Editing by Joe Bini Casting By Lucy Pardee Jennifer Venditti Production Design by Kelly McGehee Art Direction by Lance Really, you know, my mom was a single mom. After a break, we'll hear from the creator of the FXX comedy series "You're The Worst," Stephen Falk and the series co-star Aya Cash. Im a really uncomfortable person. [But] she explained to me why she wanted me to do it, which was because of everything that I am, and that she just wanted me to be me. GROSS: So since I don't have the answer to that, let me ask you another question. Rated R Echoing the scene with the cowboys, Star is off again on her own, but this time earning extracurricular cash prostituting herself to an oil worker. Andrea Arnolds American Honey features numerous mise-en-scnes in which the American flag is billowing in the wind. All rights reserved. Not like in any huge professional sense (laughter). The film stars Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough. Pagan: You know what Darth Vader looks like beneath that mask? They really just do it enough to get food and lodging so they can keep doing So, you know, I got a place, at a kind of a really good dance school. Star enters a house and meets several affable children whose mother is on drugs. She told me that actually towards the end - which I think this happens because a lot of the managers in the mag crews have been people who have been in the mag crew for a long time and then they become managers, they're people who are good at it and then become managers - she said that she hit someone at one point because they hadn't sold very much. He's a skeleton. I'm trying to get my life back together. When they return to the hotel for the evening, Jake tells her not to mention their relationship, and he gives the money Star earned to Krystal. Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies And I somehow got it I don't know how the hell I got it, but I did. It is also possible to buy "American Honey" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play makes her feature debut confidently, never feeling like shes performing as Exactly, and so, you know, I completely am on the side of them when we go up to them. And like watch all the kids go by (laughter). She's trying things on. I dance all the time. I'm wondering what your teen years were like. So I went to that audition, and I thought I'm just going to go around the stage like a cat. So she knocks on Krystal's motel room door, and Krystal starts, like, telling her what to do. Just like the rest of us. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist,The New York Times, and GQ,and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association. LaBeoufs all-in performance as the scroungy, fast-talking Jake has deservedly received plenty of attention since the movie premiered at Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize. I got to meet people and do things and travel and see the world. She wrote and directed the new film "American Honey." I put all the stuff in my films, so that I don't, you know - I can't talk about those things. (2:01) Krystal plays this song as the girls exit the car and start dancing along to the song. In a series of dynamic, episodic scenes, the young woman dives into this unusual work, enduring her domineering boss (a sexy, trashy Riley Keough) and falling in love with her cocky supervisor Jake (a revelatory Shia LaBeouf) as they encounter cowboys and oil workers, meth addicts and prickly religious suburbanites. So she's got Jake doing it. Around the time that she was putting the finishing touches on her 2009 drama Fish Tank, English writer-director Andrea Arnold stumbled upon a 2007 New York Times piece about the desperate lives of mag crews. It was a frank look at the young runaways traveling in groups across America, hawking magazine subscriptions when they werent sleeping on floors in motel rooms. In the center of it all is Sasha Lane as Star, just as bright (if not brighter), and I don't want them to feel kind of weirded out by us, you know. [19] Arnold discovered Sasha Lane while she was on spring break with her friends; Lane decided to audition for the film and was cast in the lead role. [52][53], American Honey received mostly positive reviews upon its premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. But its also what Ive experienced by just driving around and what Ive read. She wrote and directed the new film "American Honey." The following morning, the crew get in the car and there is a new girl there, while Jake is missing. That's your call. the chance to dance in the parking lot. GROSS: So the the two films of yours that I've seen "Fish Tank" and your new film "American Honey" are about teenagers with a focus on teenage girls who have little or no affection from their mothers. American Honeys ending is ambiguous. 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 groups celebratory bonfire. The breed of amoral nihilists that Arnold finds so fascinating here certainly dont deserve our commendation. The Unloved, Part 113: The Sheltering Sky, Fatal Attraction Works As Entertainment, Fails as Social Commentary, Prime Videos Citadel Traps Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden in Played-Out Spy Game, New York Philharmonic and Steven Spielberg Celebrate the Music of John Williams. But if I explain it, I feel like then we take the mystery of film away. And it was a great thing for me because I had money for the first time. ARNOLD: One of the - the one I did mostly, for a long time, I was very young when I started it. I don't know when we go into that thing how it's going to work out. She like buys clothes all the time because she's not happy with herself, so she's constantly kind of buying clothes and trying, you know, make up for the things she doesn't feel good about. They get rejected all the time., Editors picks We have leaflets, you know, we have numbers they can call, you know. The film looks like a revved-up documentary, with swirling handheld camera that gets in the characters faces and trails them on their breathless odyssey to nowhere. That was my sense from talking to a lot of these kids. Running 163 minutes, the film provides a Zeitgeist-y snapshot of American youth culture the carefree partying, passionate sex and bitter resignation but its intimate enough to feel like a deeply personal work. But it's well done and I like that it's dialogue was mostly unscripted and most of the actors are real people taken from the streets. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. You know, I got a little lost there in my teens, and I'm really working on myself, man. [13][16], In 2014, the film's producers and new title, American Honey, were announced. GROSS: Now, I read that you hosted a couple of teen shows in England. [29][30][31] In late May 2015, production was reported in Mission Hills, Kansas and areas of Kansas City, Missouri,[32][33] as well as Missouri Valley, Iowa. Star does, and makes the sale. This is FRESH AIR. It had a lot of resonance for me just the world and what it involved, and all these kids coming from quite difficult places where they dont have too much family. This is FRESH AIR. film anyone could call a romance. Web"American Honey" explores themes of youth, freedom, and the search for identity, and is a visually stunning and emotionally charged film. moment near the end in which they all start slowly singing along to the same 1.33:1 style and it creates a visually fascinating aesthetic. [18], Arnold "street cast" by searching beaches, streets, and approaching drunk teenagers. People said, You know, hes trouble, dont go there, but Ive never much listened to anything like that. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. [8][9] Arnold has said the movie was inspired[10][11] by an investigative piece she read in The New York Times about mag crews. Theyre free to be to do nothing in the world, really, but exist. Wouldnt you know it but Jake shows upmistakenly believing that the cowboys are taking advantage of Starand robs them at gunpoint. Turtle: its a positive symbol about longevity, growth, fertility, wealth, eternal life, the creator etc. Their mothers have alcohol or drug problems. Soon, bad boy Jakes sales performance begins to suffer due to being distracted by the sexy Star, but shes determined to prove she can outsell him. I never know how they're going to work out. It is an amazing place to be where you can show something that perhaps doesnt get seen.. GROSS: Yes, right. A long time ago, teenagers were seen as delinquent destroyers of the status quo, but we now tend to assume that theyre simply leading the way. And it's something that I'd loved doing and felt that would - might be some way in which I could earn a living. It was so weird, the actress says. 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 We all remember those years when we phenomenal work captures that propulsive teenage trait as well as anything in Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set, New Jeans, Rina Sawayama, Saweetie Among Gold House A100 Honorees, Newsmax Accuses Murdochs of Designing a New-World-Order Globalist Kill List Against Tucker Carlson, DeSantis' Disney Board Will Countersue the Mouse, 'Redfall' is a Decent Looter Shooter With an Identity Crisis.
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