“American Honey forcibly rubs and shoves against the boundaries of cinema until it spills out into its own paths, down which it can impulsively wander and explore. It pushes the medium forward, but it also attempts to bridge the gaps in political cinema that few filmmakers can even discern. These changing times demand more directors like Arnold, who is doing something much more intricate than delivering messages or holding up a mirror to reflect the world as it appears. Arnold captures the desolation of the milieus her characters inhabit, but she refuses to withhold hope or beauty for the sake of starkness, or to ignore her poetic instincts in the name of sheer authenticity. Watching Star stumble and soar throughout American Honey, one can envision what political filmmaking might continue to become in the next few years: less a mirror than a window, opening outward onto an alternative view of the world, in which reality and imagination are not alienated, but allied.”
Read “Political Moviemaking in Hopeless Places: On American Honey” by Matthew Eng
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