American Honey

MilesMorales1

American Honey was fantastic, and everyone should go see it. I was a little concerned at the long running time at first, given its 164 minutes but it flew by.


Has fantastic acting from the whole cast, including Shia Lebouf, amazing soundtrack, looks incredible from start to finish, gripping and grim narrative, and the whole show don't tell, significant lack of annoying exposition.

It's made by Andrea Arnold who made Fishtank and Wuthering Heights! Which are also great.


So yeah. Go see it. Support good movies, whatever. Here's a trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1SpWZm1PLc

bkrangle

Saw this last night. Not entirely sure what to make of it but my overall opinion is certainly very positive.

It meanders about a bit and doesn't really have a tight plot. However, it's beautifully shot and the characters have a rare authenticity. There's lots of juxtaposition of grim/wonderful scenarios and rich/poor backgrounds which sounds a bit on the nose but works very well in the context.

Outlaw Pete

Loved it.

Lots of aspects of the story never really go anywhere are left hanging but I suspect that was deliberate as it's just a short snapshot of period of someone's life and no reason why in such a short space of time a person would resolve all, or even any, of the issues in their life nor overcome too many obstacles.

Some may hate it for that reason but it's one of the reasons I loved it.

Have only seen Fish Tank of her other stuff but man of these two films are anything to go by, then can't wait for what she gives us next. Breath of fresh air to see a film like this right now as this year not that many films have interested me all that much.

Score is fcuking amazing too have to say. Quite a few songs there I have in my head which I hadn't heard but will be looking up for sure.

darkdubh

The trailer seems to give the impression that the sequence with the sleazy cowboys is part of a major plotline. I take it that's not the case?

MilesMorales1

Not... really. I don't wanna say in case I gave anything way. It's more of a detour, shall we say.

Telecaster58

The young lead in this film was very assured and it's hard to believe it was her first film. Plaudits must also go to Shia Labeouf. He was outstanding. There was never a hint in any previous performance that he was up to a job like this. I also echo other observations about the soundtrack. Excellent. Considering this film was just under 3 hours it was an achievement that it never dragged or felt like 3 hours.

diograis

It's absolutely gorgeous and the music was great. Nothing really happened but that's okay. Loved it.

Chain Smoker

Saw this today, really disappointed tbh. The girl in the lead role was woefully miscast imo, the character needed someone rougher, someone believably impulsive. Might be a case that the running time exposed her, I think Shia done about as good of a job as he could with the character he had.

Felt like it was absolutely desperate to catch a generation with all the singing along to songs and **** too. Can imagine the idea was that by travelling to all these parts and spending a decent length at each one would capture a big portion of America too, but it never seemed to note any kind of difference itself beyond one place is poor, one place is rich, one place has weird jobs and lots of me... surface level nothings.


I'd love to hear the reason it was shot in 4:3 too, when nothing else seemed to work it was a bit **** to not even have the big sweeping shots of the landscape.

Fysh

I thought that choosing 4:3 was weird too, but the director says she chose that ratio after seeing an exhibition which featured a load of Polaroids, because she thinks it helps keep the focus on the characters rather than lose them in the landscape.

Overall I did enjoy it quite a lot - amongst other things it's that rare film in which the supporting cast are fully realised, rather than just thinly-sketched placeholders present to perform some plot function. I can imagine hours of more material following other characters from the car that would have me just as interested.

pumpkin4life

I used to fùcking hate Shia Laboeuf. Fùcking Indiana Jones ruining twat.

Until I saw this film.

Magnificent movie. There's so much going on in it. This might sound like a very odd comparison, but it reminds me of the movie Barry Lyndon quite a bit. The ending is perfectly done as well.

My choice for the best film of 2016.

Chain Smoker

Fysh wrote: »

I thought that choosing 4:3 was weird too, but the director says she chose that ratio after seeing an exhibition which featured a load of Polaroids, because she thinks it helps keep the focus on the characters rather than lose them in the landscape.

Overall I did enjoy it quite a lot - amongst other things it's that rare film in which the supporting cast are fully realised, rather than just thinly-sketched placeholders present to perform some plot function. I can imagine hours of more material following other characters from the car that would have me just as interested.

That's a battle she absolutely lost then. The only way I think the landscape wouldn't win in that environment would be to shoot at night. Hell though, if you don't want to be battling the landscape, stick to more urban areas, compromise.

The supporting cast are very solid though, yeah. I feel like a film with any of the rest of those kids as the lead would've grabbed me far more. I bet almost all of them have some kind of not totally different background in real life.
There's something of preordained quality to these lead-star-picked-from-the-streets casting moves where everyone showers praise on them every time but Sasha Lane damages the film hugely.



I saw a review somewhere that said this film is more interesting in terms of the other films it could influence than it actually is itself, and I 100% agree with that. The right young filmmaker with a half decent consumer level digital camera, a van and a few friends could do everything this film tries to.

Outlaw Pete

pumpkin4life wrote: »

I used to fùcking hate Shia Laboeuf. Fùcking Indiana Jones ruining twat.

Until I saw this film.

Yeah, I used to hate him too but it was Charlie Countryman which changed my view of him as an actor.

Worth checking out if you haven't seen it.