A24 is one of those ambitious studios which isn’t afraid to produce movies that perhaps have more artistic merit than box office pull, which certainly means when they make a film, it is often something worth looking out for. Like all studios, they will have their duds, but generally you can at least be guaranteed of getting something different. Their new movie American Honey, written and directed by Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) is one of those. At first glance it looks like your typical road trip and teen rebelliousness movie, but it does have a distinct vibe and deals with a lot of weighty issues.
It also happens to star the now indie darling Shia LaBeouf who plays what is becoming his typical bad boy self, alongside the film’s star Sasha Lane as an adolescent girl who runs away from a troubled home and who tries to find her happiness in all the wrong places. Needless to say, when you have LeBeouf as your companion, what were you expecting? He doesn’t try and even look well-meaning and good-natured. I digress though as the film looks like a fairly versatile and deep drama, which should appeal to your typical connoisseur movie lover. The film has already won several awards at different film festivals and certainly seems to have the early critics loving it.
You can watch the trailer below:
Here’s the official synopsis for American Honey:
Star (Sasha Lane), an adolescent girl from a troubled home, runs away with a traveling sales crew who drive across the American Midwest selling subscriptions door to door. Finding her feet in this gang of teenagers, one of whom is Jake (Shia LaBeouf), she soon gets into the group’s lifestyle of hard-partying nights, law-bending days, and young love.
At the end of the trailer one of the film’s tag lines is ‘The Film for a Generation’. I’m not sure which generation it is referring to, but it certainly ain’t mine. It still looks like it will be quite a deep and engaging film nonetheless.
The film also stars Riley Keough and is expected in US cinemas later this year. No dates for an SA release date have been made yet. Don’t expect American Honey to make headlines or break records, but it should at least make for a decent enough time out.
Last Updated: June 23, 2016
