American Honey
British director Andrea Arnold (FISH TANK, RED ROAD) won the Jury Prize at Cannes for her first film set in the US, about a crew of hard-partying teenagers criss-crossing the Midwest while selling fraudulent magazine subscriptions.
Star lives on the fringes of American society, resorting to dumpster diving in order to feed her half-siblings. When she meets Jake dancing in the aisles at a Kmart, their attraction is instantaneous. Star immediately joins Jake on a cross-country drive with a Dickensian gang of misfits: slugging hard liquor in the backs of vans and crashing in rundown motels. Star and Jake begin dreaming of a house and family to call their own. But their relationship offends the crew’s queen bee, Krystal, and Star’s precarious place – in the gang and in society – becomes clear.
Shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, the film keeps us close to its cast. And Arnold brings a verité-style realism to the motley band of youths, who are played for the most part by non-professional actors. Propelled by a dynamic soundtrack that ranges from E-40 to Rihanna to Bruce Springsteen, AMERICAN HONEY is an energetic road trip across a rarely seen America. (source: www.tiff.net)