Sydney Sweeney’s star continues to ascend and with a couple of her films about to be released with possible awards hope its little wonder that Americana a small drama gets a big push as it arrives on streaming after a limited US theatrical run. But Americana is far more of an ensemble piece with everyone getting a look in to share screen glory in a plot that that sees characters and plots intertwine over a ‘ghost shirt’ apparently an item sacred to native Americans believing it to guard the wearer against bullets. Cast your eye back to the pandemic when MP’s were setting up companies to compete for lucrative supply masks and capes that were as effective as Meghan Markle’s PR team and you can’t help feel that these MP’s have been turning their attention to ghost shirts.
Split into five chapters the film sees a range of characters that includes a serial marriage proposer (Paul Walter Hauser), a stammering waitress and wannabe country singer (Sydney Sweeney) a young boy convinced he is the reincarnation of Sitting Bull (Gavin Maddox Bergman) along with a whole host of duplicitous lowlifes that it starts to look like the green room for The Jerry Springer show. That the ghost shirt proves to be worth a fortune and is in the possession of egotistical business man Duvall (Toby Huss) soon sees antiques dealer Roy Lee Dean ( Simon Rex) hire a couple of criminals to steal it in what almost instantly becomes carnage and foreshadows how the film will inevitably end. It’s this ghost short that is of interest to others too one of which is Mandy ( Halsey dressed like a Joan Jett tribute act) as well as Sydney Sweeney’s waitress both of which see it as their ticket to a better life.
Written and directed by Tony Tost this is heavily indebted to Tarantino and the Coen brothers with its chapter headings, juggling of timelines , eclectic cast of characters and bloody brutal violence and the cast embrace their roles with gusto especially Halsey who is giving Lady Gaga a run for her money as the popstar who’s equally good if not better as an actress with this being one of a number of decent films she’s appeared in.
Americana is a quirky if uneven crime drama that does eventually abandon its early inventiveness for a blood drenched bullet blast blow out.
related feature : ‘Last Stop in Yuma County’ – actors Jim Cummings & Richard Brake chat about the terrific new thriller
related feature : Brutal crime drama ‘Last Stop in Yuma County’ reviewed here
Here’s the Americana trailer…..
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