Americana – Review

Told through multiple chapters and multiple viewpoints, Americana is not always what it seems, showing bits and pieces of characters and interactions sporadically depending on its current focus. While this may be a more normal storytelling convention these days, if the script is good enough, a tale like this can still bring a few surprises and laughs, which this one does well enough.

Some of the main players of this film are a stuttering waitress with aspirations of being a star singer Penny Jo (Sweeney), a right-handed oddball veteran who cannot wait to be married named Lefty Ledbetter (Hauser), a mother named Mandy (Halsey) with a Native American obsessed white son Cal (Bergman) and an abusive boyfriend Dillon (Dane) who has his own secrets, and a whole slew of others.

As a worthwhile artifact gets thrown into the mix of oddball players, multiple parties seek it as a treasure to sell, while others deem to get it back for their own usage. While Americana may not bring an absolutely new take on crime tales, it still brings enough fun and a couple good twists.

The script aims for a more modern-day western/crime tale, and is set in a South Dakota small town. A bit sharper of a script and a bit more editing and this could have been an all-time crime classic, but either way it’s not a bad flick and has some good quirky characters. While it loses a bit of steam during its runtime, I liked Americana well enough and it was a worthy enough addition to the “intersectional crime tale” genre. Acting is sound and the director does a fine job keeping it all flowing.