16 October 2016

American Honey, 2016 - ★★★★

For a film that doesn't appear to have a plot or much structure there's an awful lot going on. I was worried about the lengthy running time but I'd have happily spent more time staring out of the van's window watching America pass by; or spent another night at a motel with their ubiquitous dogs.

Music plays a big part of the film and for me it was also one of the problems. Usually if it's a type of music I don't normally like I find it still works in the right context of a film but here I struggled to accept the music - perhaps more of a sign of my age than a flaw with the film. My other problem with the film is also personal and not helped by the fact I was visited by a door to door salesman earlier in the day. In this day and age I really struggle to understand how anybody buys anything from a cold call. So I found myself struggling to believe that this group could exist from selling magazines - even though I know it still happens and is based on a real thing. Both these problems aren't a fault of the film but did cause me enough issues that I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

I also thought the film had a great ending with the final shot of the scene set to the titular song, unfortunately there a whole other scene before the film ended. The real final scene was good but I do wish it had ended earlier.

So I'm left being impressed by so much of the film but not being able to get fully behind it, which is a shame.

October 16, 2016 at 06:55PM

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