Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Americana,” a neo-Western starring Halsey and Sydney Sweeney, and now playing in theatres, a group of disparate characters are brought together by a rare Indigenous jacket.

CAST: Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, and Simon Rex. Directed by Tony Tost.

REVIEW: Set in a small South Dakota town “Americana” is a gritty neo-Western that feels like an artifact from the time when the Coen Bros and Tarantino crime dramas roamed free.

In his feature film directorial debut Tony Tost places a stolen Indigenous heirloom in the middle of the action in a story featuring a diner waitress with a speech impediment (Sydney Sweeney) and dreams of becoming a star in Nashville, a lovelorn military veteran (Paul Walter Hauser), a vicious killer (Eric Dane), a Western antiquities dealer (Simon Rex), the leader of an Indigenous group (Zahn McClarnon), a desperate woman on-the-run (Halsey) and her young son (Gavin Maddox Bergman) who sincerely believes that he’s the reincarnation of legendary Lakota warrior Sitting Bull.

It feels like a mid-90s indie ensemble piece, complete with a broken timeline, romance, violence, quirky humor and lots of star power. Tost avoids clutter by cutting the fat, paring the story down to its essentials. The result is a tightly crafted, violent crime drama that tells a compelling story with interesting characters and subtext about identity, cultural appropriation, greed and the commodification of Indigenous culture.

At the same time, by avoiding the stereotypes of the Western genre, it feels fresh and authentic, particularly in the case of Halsey, in her feature film debut. Her character Mandy has a troubled past, present and is trying to make a better future for herself and son. Driven to extremes, she consistently subverts our expectations to create a character that never goes over-the-top but packs a huge punch.

“Americana” is a welcome return to the quirky indie films of the Jean Chrétien years.