American Honey (15)

three stars

Dir: Andrea Arnold

With: Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough

Runtime: 164 minutes

ANY doubts about British director Andrea Arnold’s view of how the American dream is panning out are dispelled within seconds of her film opening. A young woman, two siblings in tow, is diving into a dumpster looking for food past its sell by date which she will then take home to an ungrateful boyfriend in their ramshackle home.

Do not let the title fool you – there is sweetness to be had in American Honey, but you will need determination to find it. And with a running time of getting on for three hours, a fair dollop of patience will not go amiss either.

Arnold made her name with films usually filed under G for gritty, among them Red Road (set in the Glasgow flats of the same name), Fish Tank (about a troubled teen and her mum’s new boyfriend) and a Brontesque, naturalistic take on Wuthering Heights. No surprise, then, at the clear-eyed approach she takes here.

The dumpster scene introduces the picture’s heroine, Star, played by Sasha Lane. With nothing much going for her at home, Star’s attention is caught by a band of kids her own age cruising along in a van. She is especially taken by the swaggering, up for a laugh Jake (Shia LaBeouf) who seems to be the leader of this circus on wheels. Why doesn’t she join them, he asks, so off she goes.

The youngsters, led by Krystal (Riley Keough), who functions as a sort of gang-master/big sister, are going from town to town selling magazine subscriptions door to door. Fellow orphans in the economic storm, it’s a hardscrabble life, their only real compensation being the company they afford each other.

As time goes on and one city follows another, Star finds herself increasingly drawn to Jake. But what kind of relationship can they possibly have in these circumstances? Will the tough-talking Krystal run out of patience with Star? And is this the kind of life Star really wants or should she go home to Texas?

Arnold and her young stars set about answering these questions in a film that is part road movie, part romance, part social realist coming of age drama. Think Kerouac with a detour into Loach. Her actors acquit themselves admirably, with Lane, an old head on those young shoulders, especially good as a young woman determined to play the hand she has been dealt in life to the best of her ability.

LaBeouf, meanwhile, despite being lumbered with possibly the worst hairdo in modern cinema (a plaited mullet no less) reminds you of why people used to talk about him as the next Brando. With what seems like minimal effort he takes command of the screen, one minute charming as anything, the next slightly menacing. He is fascinating to watch.

But then there are many watchable moments in Arnold’s film, and plenty of nicely observed scenes. She is a gifted director. This is a picture, however, that is badly in need of a firm hand on the editing tiller. It is always a risk when, as here, the writer is also the director, and American Honey demonstrates the dangers. Scenes and set-ups that work beautifully the first time - Star releasing a trapped insect, the kids having a singalong in the van - are repeated over and over again.

There is nothing to be gained from the repetition, and some goodwill lost as the time ticks on. Any spare time to be had would have been better spent fleshing out some of the key characters, with Krystal in particular rather undernourished for most of the film, only for the blanks to be filled in pell-mell during the final section.

Lane is a real discovery though, with this the first of what will hopefully be many more appearances on the big screen. Like Loach before her, Arnold has an eye for a towering talent in an unassuming package. She shows, too, that she can do a road movie with the best of the American directors. Just a pity she did not know when to take the turn off.