American Honey (2016)

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 criss-crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits.

Director:

Andrea Arnold

Writer:

Andrea Arnold

Stars:

Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 13 wins & 38 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sasha Lane	...	Star
Shia LaBeouf	...	Jake
Riley Keough	...	Krystal
McCaul Lombardi	...	Corey
Arielle Holmes	...	Pagan
Crystal Ice	...	Katness (as Crystal B. Ice)
Veronica Ezell	...	QT (as Verronikah Ezell)
Chad Cox	...	Billy (as Chad McKenzie Cox)
Garry Howell	...	Austin
Kenneth Kory Tucker	...	Sean
Raymond Coalson	...	JJ
Isaiah Stone	...	Kalium
Dakota Powers	...	Runt
Shawna Rae Moseley	...	Shaunte
Christopher David Wright	...	Riley

Storyline

Star, 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 criss-crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits.

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Plot Keywords:

male full frontal nudity | male frontal nudity | road movie | public nudity | triple f rated | 

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Taglines:

Wild and astonishing! An indelible epic of the open road!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, drug/alcohol abuse-all involving teens

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Andrea Arnold wanted to work with unknown actors. She would often approach teenagers on the street whom she thought would be good for the movie, and hold impromptu auditions in parking lots.

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Goofs

When Star is entering the truck of the Oil Worker you can see a crew member (maybe two?) in the rear seats.

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Quotes

Pagan: You know what Darth Vader looks like beneath that mask? He's a skeleton. Just like the rest of us.

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Crazy Credits

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. And there are no opening credits.

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Connections

Featured in Breakfast: Episode dated 16 October 2016 (2016)

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Soundtracks

I Don't Fuck With You
Written by Key Wane (as Dwane Weir II), D.J. Rogers, Big Sean (as Sean Michael Anderson), E-40 (as Earl T. Stevens), DJ Mustard (as Dijon McFarlane), Mic Free (as Mikely Wilhelm Adam), D.J. Dahi, Willie Antonio Hansbro and Kanye West
Published by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing CORP. (BMI), Sean Michael Anderson Music LLC (BMI), Wane County (BMI), Chappell & CO Inc. (ASCAP), Woogie Music (ASCAP) - All rights on behalf of itself, Sean Michael Anderson Music LLC, Wane County (Admin.
By Warner-Tamerlane Publishing CORP.)
All rights on behalf of itself and Woogie Music
(Admin. by Chappell & CO INC.), Sayitainttone Songs (BMI), Universal/MCA Music Ltd., SONGS Music Publishing LLC, Sony/ATV Sonata, Swizole Music /EMI Music Publishing Ltd, Please Gimme My Publishing Inc/EMI Music Publishing Limited
(Contains samples from "Say You Love Me, One More Time" by D.J. Rogers. Woogie Music, Chappell & CO).

User Reviews

Sasha Lane!

Featuring a cast riddled with amateur actors (aside from Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough (granddaughter of Elvis Presley) "American Honey" is more than just another Cannes Film Festival calling card for writer/director Andrea Arnold, it is a gritty, startling master-class example of "slice of life" direction, the likes of 2016's "Manchester by the Sea" or "King Jack".

Synopsis: A teenage girl, living in extreme poverty, is recruited into a traveling sales crew filled with other teens in her same situation. The group travels cross-country, scamming people into buying magazine subscriptions by day and partying incredibly hard by night.

Arnold's hand-held camera work only helped immerse me into this lesser known subculture, watching these economically disadvantaged teens make sketchy life choices as they come of age inside a van sized commune of their peers. But it's the stellar performance from newcomer Sasha Lane which gives major credibility to this film and justifies some of its more minor flaws as well as the run-time. Much of the satisfaction I received from "American Honey" came from watching Lane's character evolve throughout.

Final Thought: There are a few misplaced lines of dialogue, which seem to force-feed a bit more than I would have liked, and at a nearly three hour run-time, this Indie will be perceived as an intimidating venture for some, but boy is it worth your time. The genuine atmosphere of "American Honey" speaks to this generation like not many movies do, and will stay with you for days after viewing.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 October 2016 (UK)

Also Known As:

American Honey

Filming Locations:

Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$71,203, 2 October 2016

Gross USA:

$663,246

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,290,649

Company Credits

Production Co:

Maven Pictures, Film4, KC Film Office

Technical Specs

Runtime:

163 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1