In the wake of an election that has caused a great divide, many will seek escape through entertainment. I know the latest episode of “South Park” is bringing great relief, with those anticipating its release waiting with bated breath on Matt Stone & Trey Parker’s sordid take on the election. Others are immersing themselves in the world of “Skyrim,” where they feel in control of their fantasy. I myself find comfort in the illuminating presentation of cinema, sinking into the cozy seating of my local arthouse theater on this fateful night. The film being screened is unconventional, go figure, but highly topical. So much so that I was one of a few in attendance, a rarity for this usually well-populated venue. I can’t say I’m surprised, as “American Honey” is nothing more than an observation on poverty and survival in the American landscape; hardly the type of film one wants to escape to.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had my reservations about attending the screening. While I had been anticipating the film for weeks, recent events (both personal and in the general populace) didn’t lend themselves to a film of this magnitude. There was a part of me that would’ve rather taken in a lighthearted comedy to cope with it all. I braved the brazen drama acting as social commentary because of its limited engagement and my still-piqued curiosity. I couldn’t have been happier with my decision!
In a strange way, “American Honey” is cathartic. Many will find that descriptor to be puzzling considering this is a film centered on a group of broken souls traversing through America hocking magazine subscriptions in order to survive. None of the characters presented are endearing in the traditional sense: they are foul-mouthed, perverted, misogynistic, selfish, brutish, dimwitted, and possibly racist. The closest thing to a decent human being we get is Star (Sasha Lane), the protagonist. Even then, she’s rude and just as selfish, abandoning her home life in favor of a new lease. Her decency comes from her compassion, which seeps through when she engages with blue collar workers and the struggling lower class.
What is cathartic about this film is its approach. Andrea Arnold doesn’t view these characters as the lowlife scum that many will make them out to be. Instead, she sees them as broken spirits just trying to get by. Their ignorance is a result of poor education and terrible upbringing. We are never let in on their past specifically as that is irrelevant. How they got to their position in life isn’t the focus; dissecting their actions and mindset is. By concealing their past, Arnold is stripping away their humanity just as we do to those who oppose our viewpoints. It is through the near three-hour runtime that we grow accustomed to these personalities and grow empathetic. We view them as the flawed human beings that they are, just as we are. Our flaws may be different, as is our approach to handling them, but we develop an understanding of their psyche.
“American Honey” is not a story told in the traditional sense. Yes, there’s a beginning, a middle, and an end, but the journey to them is heavily subdued. There’s not much of an arc, a love triangle forming between Star, Jake (Shia LaBeouf), and Krystal (Riley Keough) acting as a loose thread in which to hang the proceedings on. The bulk of the film consists of the traveling salesmen navigating through the United States, conning civilians into purchasing their subscriptions. The money fuels their travels, with the final destination never being determined. These are driftless wanderers simply getting through life day by day, their only hope to never return to their troubled past. All of this is beguiling due to the raw honesty in Arnold’s direction.
Arnold makes the wise decision in making Star the protagonist, as she’s the most level-headed of the bunch. She, like Jake, exhibits street smarts in order to get by, though her moral compass gets in the way. During her first sales pitch, she lashes out at a Christian mother for denouncing her use of foul language while neglecting her pre-pubescent daughter’s twerking to an inappropriate song. The irony here being that she pays no mind later on when interacting with a child singing the lyrics to “I Kill Children” by Dead Kennedys. She has an emotional connection to the latter, reminding her of the children she attempted to help raise with an abusive boyfriend (and possibly her own childhood). As for the former, she feels incriminated against by an individual she sees as deceitful. Her hatred of religion and God is also the reasoning, with this example acting as the catalyst for the audience of her views.
Star has a peculiar affinity for Jake, despite her disproval if his con artist tactics. She sees in him an escape from her warped reality, failing to realize he’s simply an entryway into another one. He is mysterious and dangerous, sporting a gun at all times and losing his cool on a whim. In comparison to her previous beau, he’s a saint, but a devious one at that. There’s an underlying sense of dread in watching their love blossom, extrapolated by Krystal’s questionable managerial techniques and connection to Jake. There are threats to Star’s livelihood throughout, but the most haunting ones are those that arise from eerily quiet confrontations. Not once do we see Krystal physically lash out at Star; she rests solely on her threats to dump her in the middle of nowhere. She never follows through on her threats, but the power she has over her workers is threatening enough. It’s amazing just how intense and unsettling Arnold can make these confrontations. They’re just as discomforting as scenes in which Star propositions herself in return for money, if not more so.
Arnold is able to convey a sense of unease and disconnect throughout via the usage of aspect ratio. The film is shown in 1.37:1, commonly referred to as pan-and-scan. This is the act of presenting a film in a boxed format, used only in the early stages of filmmaking. Widescreen presentations such as 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 are the norm now, providing magnificent scope to a film’s cinematography. Pan-and-scan is only utilized nowadays to crop a widescreen presentation to fit a tube television set, and even then that’s all but going the way of the dodo bird in favor of widescreen televisions. Here, the pan-and-scan is used intentionally to emit a feeling of claustrophobia that mirrors that of the characters. Star and company exist in a world that has boxed them in, hiding them from the grandeur of normalcy. Their ventures into big cities don’t widen the perspective, only collapsing the landscape into their condensed view. This also acts as symbolism to their world views: tight and unflinching, nothing that goes against their grain allowed to seep through. The longer the film went, the more I felt as if the aspect ratio was closing in on the production, as if to complement the encompassing tension. Such was not the case, but the fact that I believed this to be true is a testament to the film’s power.
There was a moment near the end of the film that I expected the aspect ratio to morph into 1.85:1 or 2.39:1. While there’s no definitive happy ending in the truest sense, there is a glimmer of hope in Star’s actions and the unity of the group. At first, I thought it was a misstep to not act upon this. Upon reflection, I find the refusal to do so an act of genius! As I mentioned, this film doesn’t have a happy ending; on the contrary, it’s quite bleak. While there may be a glimmer of hope and civility, it is just that: a glimmer. A spark of happiness amidst an explosion of depression. To convert the aspect ratio would be to diminish the impact and act as a disservice to the overall tone.
So again, how is this cathartic? Surely I have chosen the wrong word to describe this film. I stand by my choice of words. I found catharsis in “American Honey” because it challenged me to question the world. In a time of great uncertainty, I was pressured to unpeel the layers of society and peek into the underbelly that one normally turns a blind eye to. My beliefs and morality were tested as I bear witness to the actions of the ignorant, conceding that they indeed are just trying to get by. I was forced to put myself in their situations, no matter how uncomfortable they were, and decide my choice of action. And while I may not have ventured the same route as they did, I understand why they took their paths. It is not blissful ignorance to blame, but the desire to survive in a world one feels beaten down and discouraged by.
I do not blame anyone for hiding from reality in the form of mindless entertainment. I myself will no doubt partake in such indulgence. I do, however, want to thank Andrea Arnold for crafting such a thought-provoking and earnest commentary on society, which comes at a great time and need for it! It is a brave and bold determination on her part, as well as that of the entire cast and crew. This is masterful filmmaking and for that, it’s cathartic!
Final Rating: A+