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Movies & TV

>>> American Honey

SPEC D: Andrea Arnold. United Kingdom/U.S. 158 min. Sep 11, 5:15 pm Ryerson Sep 12, 9 pm Scotiabank 12. Rating­: NNNN


Arnold’s comeback after her misfired Wuthering Heights adaptation is a ravishing and hypnotic road movie that kicks up dust along American highways with the blistering energy of its young cast and the “get money” pop-tunes they sing along to. It’s the millennial Grapes Of Wrath.

Newcomer Sasha Lane is a dynamite presence as Star, an 18-year-old who escapes a trailer park and hitches a ride with a band of misfits selling magazine subscriptions. Anyone familiar with Arnold’s work knows they’re going to be staring into the cruelest patches of humanity and poverty.

What sets American Honey apart is that it’s genuinely hopeful. We’re not just looking at a bunch of rootless and emotionally battered youth, but searching alongside them, not upwards but onwards, toward a happy place.

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