American Honey

Usually films and indeed stories, have a beginning, a middle and an end.

But not this one. This one just provides a middle. A middle that exceeds over 160 minutes of screen time, and makes you feel as if you have been forced into spending the rest of eternity with Shia Labeouf’s acting. Which I think we can all agree is a horrid punishment despite his exterior attractiveness.

As is the case with many hipster films that try and ‘break’ the Hollywood mold, this one doesn’t just fail, it crashes, burns and then explodes in a cataclysmic fashion.

Though at the time I’m sure that the creator and director of this film, Andrea Arnold, thought using perspective and close up camera angles was super quirky and original, but the novelty soon wears off for those unfortunate enough witness it, mostly due to the fact that it induces nausea. 

But then again the filmmakers had to attempt something  in order to hold the audiences attention, because one things for sure, the plot definitely can’t; the whole film is essentially about a group of angsty teenagers who travel through America to ‘sell’ magazines all whilst being intoxicated and apparently very sexually frustrated as they do so. 

If you’d like to whittle away 3 hours of your life that you’ll never be able to get back (a very grace mistake on my part), than this is the perfect film for your apparently very boring entertainment purposes.