I'm Terry Gross. It must have been hilarious to watch. phenomenal work captures that propulsive teenage trait as well as anything in I'm not sure which it is. it. I think that that has to unravel in the film, and I leave room for people to put themselves - or to work it out or to go argue in the bar afterwards. So they'll go. American honey ending? : r/flicks - Reddit Which is why Arnold doesnt want her movie to be read as an outsiders definitive State of the Union. American Honey Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Instead, thanks to its commitment to- and obvious love for the subject, and its sometimes comedic, sometimes very raw and sensitive little beats, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. All right, let's go. GROSS: Are not professional actors. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR, and if you're just joining us, my guest is Andrea Arnold. Once you get this one step down, you're the chief of the tribe. It often They have great taste in pop culture, and guess what? [60][61][62] Variety placed Sasha Lane's performance in the film at number 3 on their list of the 9 breakout performances of the 2016 Toronto Film Festival. People ask me that all the time, like - I always think every time I work on a project I've kind of got to work something out for myself. GROSS: Looking for somebody to cast in your film. ARNOLD: Yeah. Jake, however, fearing the worst, arrives and threatens the men with a gun before stealing their car. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. [43] The film derives its title from "American Honey", a 2010 hit single by American country music group Lady A, that is sung along to by the sales crew in a pivotal scene. And she was always, you know, practicing her moves and everything. Thats at the very end of the film when people sort of bittersweetly know its going to end and theyve been on this journey together, says Oh. Krystal then has Jake put tanning lotion on her body as Star watches, and Star promises to improve. Where theyre going to take her isnt as important as the idea that theyre And I, you know, was very lucky to have landed there. And I ended up doing it for quite a few years. Jake Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Even when they stop at a motel to break, they use the chance to dance in the parking lot. After a few minutes, the polite Christian lady theyre trying to sell eases them out the door as if they were invaders from a distant planet, but not before berating her own sweet-faced daughter, whose dance moves in the backyard look as liberated from respectability as anything the movie has shown us. So we can show them that and say look this is a real thing (laughter). I dance just basically all the time now. Jake is suddenly back on the team and gives Star a turtle, which she releases into a lake, immersing herself in the water, during the groups celebratory bonfire. When they sing along, theyre expressing the feeling It's actually far more complicated and hard work and actually the people who do it are amazing. Wouldnt you know it but Jake shows upmistakenly believing that the cowboys are taking advantage of Starand robs them at gunpoint. widescreen vistas of the heart of the country, but its effective because it After the guy drops her off, she hears him being attacked. And theres Copyright 2016 NPR. See production, box office & company info. (2:30) The van arrives to pick up the crew. For a moment, youre high on the moment. And I actually - I remember going for an audition for "Cats," which I thought, maybe all we have to do is go around the stage like a cat, you know, be like a cat. GROSS: So what stories did you hear from the one person who you cast who had actually done this sort of work? But I've never been trained in any way. I'm sorry. [46] In May 2016, Universal Pictures and Focus Features acquired international distribution rights to the film. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time I'm wondering what your teen years were like. Pagan plays this song in the van as Jake and Star sit on top of the the van. Star is picked up by three strangers in cowboy hats who offer to help her, thinking she is being harassed by Jake. The following morning, the crew get in the car and there is a new girl there, while Jake is missing. As Star's own mother died of a meth overdose, she feels sympathetic toward them and goes out to buy them groceries. wait to get goin/But wasnt quite ready to leave. This brilliant European ARNOLD: Yeah. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. All rights reserved. But I had chatted a lot to people who had done it before, so I heard a lot of things. ", "Los Cabos Awards: 'American Honey,' 'Tamara & The Ladybug' Win Big at Mexican Fest", "Women Film Critics Circle Nominations: "Hidden Figures," "13th," & More", Black Reel Award for Outstanding Independent Film, British Independent Film Award for Best British Film, Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble Acting, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Honey_(film)&oldid=1152150709, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 April 2023, at 14:39. And Arnold and cinematographer Robbie Ryan How new movie 'American Honey' turned a Texas college student into a star, gave Shia LeBeouf his comeback and offered a voice to our nation's unheard. 'American Honey': The Story Behind the Year's Best Road Movie ending American Honey is a 2016 road drama film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. The film stars Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough. American Honey follows Star (Lane), a young girl from a troubled home, who runs away with a traveling sales crew who drive across the American Midwest selling magazine subscriptions door to door. There is no yesterday, there is no today, there is only moving forward to a cycle that the films ending implies could continue indefinitely. Normally, music comes at the end, she says. Tucker Carlson Bashes Fox Nation in Leaked Video, Whats so powerful about American Honey is how it encompasses both that excitement of youth and the anxious, on-the-margins world of its characters both of which Arnold was keen on coexisting in the movie. So, you know, I got a place, at a kind of a really good dance school. [36] On 24 June, LaBeouf was hospitalized after being injured on set during filming in Williston, North Dakota. Jake sings this song as Star gets into a car with three cowboys. There was a gang of people that worked on it, you know, that I became really close to. How a film about "mag crews" made a Texas student into a star, gave Shia LaBeouf his comeback and offers a voice to our nation's unheard. It's so hard. Pagan: You know what Darth Vader looks like beneath that mask? [13][16], In 2014, the film's producers and new title, American Honey, were announced. GROSS: Wait. And, of course, everyone there is doing kind of like plies and an official kind of thing. The crew is dropped off at the new neighborhood to make a sell. Yet it's constantly, engrossingly active, spinning and sparking and exploding in cycles like a Fourth of July Catherine wheel. ARNOLD: I don't know. Jake, in a fit of jealousy, attacks the oil worker (off screen) and is eventually let go by Krystal, who informs Star that hes been sleeping with all the girls hes recruited for her.Despite all of the negativity, director Arnold attempts to make her protagonist more sympathetic when she shows Star buying groceries for a bunch of kids in a rundown area in Rapid City, South Dakota. Have you ever tried to twerk? "American Honey" is a coming-of-age drama film directed by Andrea Arnold and written by Arnold, from a story by photographer and writer Larry Clark. The film stars newcomer Sasha Lane as Star, a young woman who joins a traveling magazine sales crew, and follows her journey as she navigates the challenges of life on the road. October 3, 2016 / 1:41 PM It always comes back to the flag. And it is a film in which So we showed them things. "American Honey" explores themes of youth, freedom, and the search for identity, and is a visually stunning and emotionally charged film. American Honey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). [24][25][26] In April 2015, Shia LaBeouf was cast in an unspecified role. Theres a certain mythology that has coalesced around the Millennials, and that mythology says: The Millennials area terrific generation, sympathetic and enlightened, free of so many of the prejudices about race, gender, and sexuality that have hindered those older than they are. They really just do it enough to get food and lodging so they can keep doing Alt-Fall Movie Preview 2016: Docs, Horror Flicks and the Truly Demented, A few days later, Arnold was on the beach and spotted Lane whod been attending college in Texas before the filmmaker approached her just relaxing with her brother and friends. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. Theyre pretty damn nice. exaggerated imagery of the heartland of the United Statesmen in cowboy hats We all remember those years when we M idway through American Honey, the film pulls in to the kerb, the action pauses for breath, and the heroine discusses her dreams with a passing trucker. But she has to report to Krystal, who's really hardened, tough woman who runs the crew. Some of the actors that you cast were not professional actors. WebAmerican Honey is undeniably gorgeous. Star follows them to a local Kmart and sees Jake dance to "We Found Love" on top of the registers before being forced out of the store. Star does, and makes the sale. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History Thats not my thing I want everyone to be really dancing, cause musics such a big part of my life and especially that crew., American Honeys brazen, propulsive tunes drive the film forward, but its the unexpected, tempestuous love story between Star and Jake that give the film its center. Jake offers Star a job before his crew picks him up at the parking lot. American Honey is a 2016 road drama film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. And I just left home. LABEOUF: (As Jake) And that's a power agent. Arnold first learned about magazine crews - or mag crews as they're called - from a New York Times article about them. I don't know how the hell you do that. [35] On 9 June, production was taking place in Omaha, Nebraska and Grand Island, Nebraska. makes her feature debut confidently, never feeling like shes performing as And then they would find these people the same age, and they would stay in the same hotels and they'd party and they'd see things. And we do something called - we call it street casting, where we just go out. Sugar 101 The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Whats wrong with the kids today? The customer's daughter and her friends dance to the song in the background. We show the casting call. You grew up in - what in America is called a housing project. The answer is that she came here and did her research and even discovered the films star, newcomer Sasha Lane, who was sunbathing on a beach while on spring break from college. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. And she stayed for a long time, and she had a lot of stories. (2:01) Krystal plays this song as the girls exit the car and start dancing along to the song. Interestingly, I have met a bunch of people who come from Middle America, and they said, Oh, you really captured it for me. She told me that actually towards the end - which I think this happens because a lot of the managers in the mag crews have been people who have been in the mag crew for a long time and then they become managers, they're people who are good at it and then become managers - she said that she hit someone at one point because they hadn't sold very much. Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian Folk-Rock Troubadour, Dead at 84 And what I read is that there was no one going to miss them, and they were not leaving very much behind. But its a big experience, and youll probably learn a lot. I definitely said to her, Youll get mad at me. couldnt sit stillwhen hormones, ambition, and just the desire to see what was It's drenched in color; it drips with it like, yes, honey. ARNOLD: Yeah, it wasn't kind of - I've always loved dancing all my life. And I'm going around with my paws out, trying to be a cat. And they said, do you want to come with us? (0;54) After making sales at the houses, Pagan asks the crew to change the song. C'mon, there's no such thing as a stupid question. [8][9] Arnold has said the movie was inspired[10][11] by an investigative piece she read in The New York Times about mag crews. And I wouldn't want to try and uncomplicate them for anybody who is about to see the film. It is an amazing place to be where you can show something that perhaps doesnt get seen.. American Honeys ending is ambiguous. This vibrant road-trip movie follows a directionless teen named Star (played by luminous first-timer Sasha Lane) who gets involved with a crew of fellow lost souls selling magazines door-to-door. I was about 18. Principal photography began in May 2015 with filming taking place in several states across America. In the center of it all is Sasha Lane as Star, just as bright (if not brighter), and He's a skeleton. It had a lot of resonance for me just the world and what it involved, and all these kids coming from quite difficult places where they dont have too much family. Thats a question that adults have been asking ever since the teenager was invented as a stand-alone demographic entity, sometime in the early 40s. And then as Krystal's kind of ordering - you know, like, telling Star what she has to do, she basically tells Jake that she wants him to do her legs. Jake plays this song as they leave the cowboy's house. American Honey - Final Scene - YouTube 0:00 / 4:16 American Honey - Final Scene T-Man film 68K subscribers 111K views 5 years ago Final Scene. Jake does his magazine spiel, which involves reeling off a dozen lies with the speed of an unflappable executive. Keep in mind that this group of young people are not whom you might expect: a coterie of clean-cut, Fundamentalist Christians selling wholesome magazinesbut quite the contrary, a group of foul-mouthed cut-ups who revel in playing pranks on one another when not working and obnoxiously belting out hip-hop numbers reflecting their anti-establishment weltanschauung. Its the least moralistic youth movie imaginable, and thats exactly why its such a potent warning. And that's how we actually found Sasha. All rights reserved. So she knocks on Krystal's motel room door, and Krystal starts, like, telling her what to do. The new movie "American Honey," which won the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, was written and directed by my guest Andrea Arnold. Turtle: its a positive symbol about longevity, growth, fertility, wealth, eternal life, the creator etc. Arnold became inspired by lives of American youths in "magazine crews" who travel the United States selling magazine subscriptions, an occupation that has caused controversy in the United States. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. "Bounce It" by Juicy J provides a lively and upbeat introduction to the film. So it was tremendous training and a very good kind of - it was home for me for a long time. So she's got Jake doing it. Soon afterward shes picked up by three middle-aged Texas cowboys who agree to buy a large amount of her magazines if shes willing to swallow a worm from the bottom of a glass of Mezcal (a strong Mexican alcoholic beverage). I loved hanging out there because it's such a lot of the life going on there, a lot of twerking. SHIA LABEOUF: (As Jake) You read the handbook last night? Let's take a short break here then we'll talk some more. WebThe ending to American Honey is amazing. It looks a lot like the scraggly last stand of teen rebellion. I had this feeling something just told me to go with it. An essential element of youth is movement. I dont have a television and I dont read the papers. "[65] Eric Kohn of Indiewire was enthusiastic, writing that American Honey "proves Andrea Arnold is one of the best working filmmakers and finds a breakout star in Sasha Lane," and that "It's the closest thing to a magnum opus in Arnold's blossoming career. Arnolds American Honey its name: Steady as a preacher/Free as a weed/Couldnt This person - this person doesn't give a [expletive] about magazines, right? Ultimately, American Honey is about motiona van of kids Star declines but Jake nevertheless tells her to meet them in the parking lot of the local Motel 6 the next morning. Why did you want to make a film about this kind of relationship? Really, you know, my mom was a single mom. 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 wit 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. Certainly shes done well extracting strong performances from her principles, Lane and LaBeouf, reminiscent of James Dean and Natalie Wood in the iconic teen rebellion epic, Rebel Without a Cause. They had a good time, but it was also not an easy time for some of them. Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. I didn't realize that. Star is living in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Yet it tells only half the story of the kids today. Their mothers have alcohol or drug problems. American Honey When they return to the hotel for the evening, Jake tells her not to mention their relationship, and he gives the money Star earned to Krystal. You were a dancer - right? So I never really asked her that much about it before we started, and then we're all filming. It's about a group of teenagers who are abandoned, are homeless and have become something of a family traveling together by van from town to town, state to So Wal-Mart car lot in spring break down in Panama City Beach is just rocking. And like watch all the kids go by (laughter). But its heartbreaking, because even though theres an element of grown-up desire to that scenario, the way Star voices it shes like a little girl talking about what she wants to be when she grows up. You've got to read them. I dance all the time. Ive gone on road trips and grew up on your films, you know? And he kind of plays the potential boyfriend to her and kind of seduces her to come along. the group after random encounters across the country. It tells a good story, about a girl named Star (Sasha Lane), 18 years old, with Rasta Barbie braids and a skeptical smirk, who joins a wolfpack of kids in their late teens and early twenties who live on the road, traveling from one cookie-cutter motel to the next, making money by hustling magazine subscriptions door-to-door. But it's well done and I like that it's dialogue was mostly unscripted and most of the actors are real people taken from the streets. WebThe triple symbol ending seams to too abruptly and precisely define our conclusions. Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set, New Jeans, Rina Sawayama, Saweetie Among Gold House A100 Honorees, Newsmax Accuses Murdochs of Designing a New-World-Order Globalist Kill List Against Tucker Carlson, DeSantis' Disney Board Will Countersue the Mouse, 'Redfall' is a Decent Looter Shooter With an Identity Crisis. American Honey Soundtrack (2016) & Complete List of Songs And then the head of the crew, a woman who is played by Riley Keough, who is Elvis Presley's granddaughter - and she's terrific in this - she says to Star, you've got anyone who'll miss you? First song as Jake and his crew drive pass by Star. She wants to become a professional dancer. The real find here is Lane, who She's trying things on. In late 2013, Arnold was the Filmmaker-in-Residence at the New York Film Festival. follows Star on adventures in the magazine sales trade, bringing her back to American Honey is a 2016 road drama film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. [27] In early June, Arielle Holmes was reported to have joined the cast. In a parking lot, Star catches the eye of Jake (Shia LaBeouf), a bearded glamour-puss whos like a cocky, rat-tailed James Dean, and moments later, when she follows him into a Wal-Mart, and Jake and the other kids break into dance moves near the checkout counter to the synth-throb of Rihanna and Calvin Harris We Found Love (its blaring over the stores speaker system), and Jake jumps up on the counter, which is enough to get a cashier to call security, the scene looks like a pop-renegade epiphany to place alongside every moviefrom Jailhouse Rock to 8 Mile.. Carnage, iLoveMakonnen, D. Blackmon & M. Sheran. The crew arrive at a motel. At the pickup that day, Jake is in the van, and Star is confused as to whether to be happy to see him or not. Just like the rest of us. Why is this movie in 1.37:1 (4:3)? American Honey The Boss, an extravagant teenage girls birthday partybut its beating heart is Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. And I'm going to teach you that one step today, you know what I'm saying? film anyone could call a romance. They want something from me. Arnold had been developing the part for someone else, but because she had some difficult circumstances at home, she couldnt do it. Two days after the other actress dropped out and with only a few weeks before shooting would commence Arnold got on a plane to Panama City, Florida. 7 snazzgasm 6 yr. ago magazine sales group who collects the cash and makes the assignments. And in "Fish Tank," what she thinks is going to be her way out is dancing. One of the girls I met, she literally came out of jail. American Honey (film) - Wikipedia LaBeoufs all-in performance as the scroungy, fast-talking Jake has deservedly received plenty of attention since the movie premiered at Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize. Jake is suddenly back on the team and gives Star a turtle, which she releases into a lake, immersing herself in the water, American Honey is undeniably gorgeous. It's drenched in color; it drips with it like, yes, honey. In the center of it all is Sasha Lane as Star, just as bright (if not brighter), and impossible not to watch. December 8, 2017 | Rating: 9/10 | Full Review What is the streaming release date of American Honey (2016) in Canada? Overall, I wouldnt disagree with that assessment. It's so clever. grilling meat by a pool, oil fields blazing at night, a trucker listening to Star enters a house and meets several affable children whose mother is on drugs. (Hustling, it turns out, really is harder than making an honest living.) I've always found ways to dance, however, you know, wherever life has taken me. GROSS: That's all right. Arnold's latest film, which won the Jury Prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of a group of abandoned teenagers who travel together selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door. Quickly, she encounters a group of teenagers in a nearby mega-store and sees a Yet to watch it is to touch something beautiful and broken in the heart of the first generation of Americans since the 50s who feel like they dont have the luxury to dream, and as a result haveforgotten how. They flirt and charm their way into selling a product that no one really wants. ARNOLD: You didn't wash your hands because Jake has, like, fake tan on - you know, orange hands. often shoot their teenagers from below, casting them larger than life against And, oh, you know, my dad, he died in Iraq. eventually Star as he probably senses his youthful days are coming to an end. It was like a huge family. [5][6][7] American Honey received positive reviews, with Lane's performance receiving critical praise and accolades along with those of LaBeouf and Keough. ARNOLD: Yeah. And she wants to look brown all the time (laughter). LaBeouf has a ragged energy. Packing her belongings while Nathan is in another room, Star secretly escapes and takes the children to the club where their stepmother Misty dances. I'm sorry. Learn More{{/message}}, {{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}It appears your submission was successful. It is also possible to buy "American Honey" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Accuracy and availability may vary. See, 'cause in Jake's book, there's one step - not five, just one. Theyre free to be to do nothing in the world, really, but exist. Were any of them people who had been in a mag crew, selling magazines door to door? So most of my kind of dancing, in those early days, was kind of things where you didn't have to have any kind of ballet training. Shortly after, a bloodied Jake asks her if she was hurt by the man and later asks if she slept with him. I want them to feel safe. the country. There are sex scenes, and you wont wanna do some things that Im gonna ask you to do. You know, she went because she had nothing to lose. And so it's this really strange power scene where the Krystal character, the crew manager, is showing her power over the Shia LaBeouf character. Here we go. So I - we do everything we can to kind of make them feel comfortable and show them things that I would never expect them to come with us unless they felt comfortable. ARNOLD: I mean, I do this pretty much on almost all my films. That was my sense from talking to a lot of these kids. Star asks for a thousand and performs sexually for the money. - in England? GROSS: Andrea Arnold directed the new film "American Honey." Running 163 minutes, the film provides a Zeitgeist-y snapshot of American youth culture the carefree partying, passionate sex and bitter resignation but its intimate enough to feel like a deeply personal work. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist,The New York Times, and GQ,and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. I dont wanna get on any kind of soapbox, but I feel like thats not a way to live. American Honey By Andrea Arnold Im not trying to do a whole thing about America that is everybodys idea about America, she admits. So to try and sit here and explain it, for me, would sort of unravel some of the mystery of it. American Honey: The Story Behind the Years Best Road Movie, Jean-Luc Godard, Breathless Director and French New Wave Icon, Dead at 91, Why The Godfather Is Unthinkable Without James Caan, These 10 Roles Remind You Why William Hurt Was a Once-in-a-Lifetime Actor, Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies, Here's Where to Watch 'Scream 6' (and All the 'Scream' Movies) Online, Ryan Murphy Sets Sights on Menndez Brothers for 'Monster' Season 2, White House Plumbers Gives Watergate the Veep Treatment and Misses Big, Roy Wood Jr. Usually, theyre at a party, they put some music on, but theyre all dancing to something else, so the rhythms a bit off. GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Andrea Arnold. The crew sings a happy birthday to Pagan. Im a really uncomfortable person. [But] she explained to me why she wanted me to do it, which was because of everything that I am, and that she just wanted me to be me. And there were four of us, and she - it must have been incredibly tough for her. I do believe she did have some growth in Even when they stop at a motel to break, they use is confident but also needs the reassurance of people like Krystal and Filmmaker Andrea Arnold On 'American Honey' And Preserving WebThe stable camera signalled the ending for the viewer. And, you know, they have sex together. ARNOLD: One of our girls, Nadia (ph), she'd been in a mag crew. ARNOLD: One of the - the one I did mostly, for a long time, I was very young when I started it.