Americana (2023)
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A desperate quest for a stolen Native American artifact leads a group of disparate individuals into a tense, Western-style standoff.
The story
Cal Starr, a young boy in a small South Dakota town, believes he is the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. His life takes a turn when his troubled sister, Mandy, flees from an abusive boyfriend who has stolen a valuable Lakota ghost shirt. Meanwhile, a military veteran named Lefty and a struggling waitress named Penny Jo become entangled in the underworld of stolen Native American artifacts. When they discover the truth about the stolen shirt, they find themselves following the trail of the thieves across the American landscape, leading to a high-stakes confrontation involving a radical group and a desperate family.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Cal Starr, a boy in South Dakota, believes he is the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. After his sister Mandy flees her abusive boyfriend Dillon, who stole a valuable Lakota ghost shirt, Cal kills Dillon with a bow and arrow. Simultaneously, a veteran named Lefty and a waitress named Penny Jo follow the trail of the stolen artifact. They eventually follow Mandy to her father's fortified compound in Wyoming. A radical Native American group, led by Ghost Eye, also seeks the shirt and joins the fray. The narrative culminates in a Western-style standoff at the compound involving the Starr family, the radical group, and the artifact's dealer, Roy Lee Dean. After a violent shootout, the group splits up: Penny Jo and Lefty flee with the money, while Cal is left with the shirt. The film ends with Mandy reuniting with Cal and Penny Jo, now able to sing without a stutter, heading toward Nashville.
- First release year
- 2023
- Runtime (minutes)
- 107
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Tony Tost
- Writers
- Tony Tost · writer
- Cast and characters
- Sydney Sweeney · Penny Jo Poplin; Paul Walter Hauser · Lefty Ledbetter; Halsey · Mandy Starr; Simon Rex · Roy Lee Dean; Eric Dane · Dillon MacIntosh; Zahn McClarnon · Ghost Eye; Gavin Maddox Bergman · Cal Starr; Joe Adler · Fun Dave
- Genres
- crime; thriller
- Themes
- Identity; Cultural Appropriation; Survival
- Tone and mood
- Melancholic; Tense
- Premise and plot tags
- Heist; Western; Road Movie
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 61 · scale: 100 · review count: 16
- Production trivia
- The film was originally titled 'National Anthem'.; The film was shot in New Mexico in 2022.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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