Aaron Ploof
Sometimes you see a film that, while engaging, makes you wonder just what theme the creators are attempting to get across. This was my, as well as my fellow movie-goers’ initial reaction to Americana, Sydney Sweeney’s latest big film. The movie has some impressive acting, is fun to follow, and features a western-style shootout. However, it struggles to settle on one overall concept. After sifting through my thoughts, I was able to settle on a few crumbs of ideas, which I’ll posit in this review. Anyways, however befuddling the movie is, it is still a good time at the theatre.
Where’s the Artifact?
In Americana, everyone’s after a small article of clothing: an extremely rare Native American Ghost Shirt. This is an ensemble film, but the two would be protagonists who initiate the film’s inciting moment are Lefty Ledbetter (Paul Walter Hauser) and Penny Jo Poplin (Sydney Sweeney). Lefty’s a bit of a desperate man, asking relative strangers who’ve only dated him a few times to marry him. Penny Jo is a shy, stuttering waitress with a terrible home life. She has unrealized dreams of moving to Nashville to pursue professional singing.
When Penny stumbles upon a plan to steal the ancient ghost shirt, she convinces Lefty to join her in acquiring it for themselves. They plan to trade it for a hefty sum of cash ($100,000). Lefty, all too eager to please and gain the appreciation of a beautiful woman, accepts. However, the two are in for more than they bargained for. Seemingly, everyone is after the shirt.
The group that planned the heist can get a hold of it, but then it’s stolen by Mandy Starr (Hasley). The film actually begins with her knocking out her beau and escaping with him in the back of her car, in a last-ditch effort to shore up the cash for herself. She additionally leaves behind her son, Cal (Gavin Maddox), who has convinced himself he’s the reincarnation of Sitting Bull (Yes, seriously.) Cal attempts to win his way into the graces of a local Native American Resistance Group. He lets slip a mention of the Ghost Shirt, which was originally their own artifact. He is instead kidnapped by Ghost Eye (Zharn McClarnon), a Marxist revolutionist and the leader of the group.
The Chase is On
What transpires, then, is an all-out chase to acquire the Ghost Shirt by all these separate parties. Eventually, the chase ends at Mandy’s father, Hiram’s (Christopher Kriesa), compound in the woods. He has dark patriarchal practices, which one can imagine is the reason Mandy ended up with a no-good boyfriend in the first place. Her homecoming is eventually met with gunfire, as an old-fashioned western shootout is right around the corner.
All the actors who play these desperate characters capture their characteristics and essence quite well. Hauser gives Lefty a defining sweetness and earnestness that is difficult to resist, while Sweeney imbues Penny with similar characteristics, but also a hard edge that underlies it. It’s easy to get behind these two characters, and I was rooting for them to find success.
Similarly, Hasley, as Mandy, plays a fierce woman who returns to a place of nightmares, from one monster to another, to risk a chance at being able to support herself and her son. It’s just as easy to encourage her goals as the previous two, and she’s just as well, if not better, developed and acted.
McClarnon gives off an air of dignity as Ghost Eye. But despite his regal nature, this is one man you don’t want to mess with. His kidnapping of Cal, who is simply a delusional young child, displays his underlying coldness. Maddox plays a straightforward, serious young boy who seriously believes he is a reincarnation of one of the most famous Indian warriors who resisted the United States Government.
Resistance and Greed
And perhaps that is where the movie’s message is to be found, in respect towards the Native Americans who once inhabited this land. Then again, Ghost Eye doesn’t come off as so much of a heroic figure, despite being respected.
The condemnation of greed and unbarred ambition is also a major theme here. But more than greed, loneliness is at the core of several of the major characters. How they cope with that element determines their fate in the end.
The film depicts the realities of the ugliness of the world, especially in its depiction of abusive, religious patriarchy. Women are the ones who come out on top here, though. The movie is definitely feminist in its approach, as the women fight back against their abusers.
Despite these present themes, I still found it difficult to pinpoint exactly what the art here was attempting to convey, and it took a while for me to plumb these ideas in themselves. This is a bit of a confounding film, a head-scratcher to be sure. As said before, though, it’s entertaining, and while it has a bit of a slow start, it eventually picks up speed, barreling towards an explosive climax, in which no character remains unaffected.
Americana is an Odd One
Coming off a bit odd, Americana confuses as well as entertains. With solid performances, action, and an engaging script, it mostly succeeds. While it doesn’t present its main themes cleanly or easily, it still carries with it a heart that is respectable. Like the Native American Ghost Shirt it centers around, this film is unique in its own way.
Score: 7/10
Americana is now playing in theatres nationwide.
