August 17, 2025 · Watch the trailer
August releases are often a time for movie studios to dump the films in which they have the least confidence, or sometimes simply disappointingly, studios release movies that they simply don’t know what to do with.
After acquiring first-time director Tony Tost’s Western drama “Americana” out of the 2023 South by Southwest Film Festival, Lionsgate let it sit on a shelf for the better part of a year and a half, despite having marketable stars like Sydney Sweeney and Paul Walter Hauser, as well as musician Halsey taking a turn on the big screen.
This modern-day anthology, which evokes both the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino, should have had fervent box office potential for adult audiences who will flock to theaters this fall for heavier dramatic fare.
Yet, “Americana” stumbles into theaters as children head back to school, with little to no marketing or buzz.
The film follows a series of seemingly unrelated parties, all in pursuit of a rare Native American artifact known as a ghost shirt, which is associated with violence wherever it goes. Set in a rural stretch between Montana and Wyoming, “Americana” is played out in six parts that, while largely sequential, refocus the audience from a new perspective each time, as one might find in a traditional novel.
The film’s two main leads, Hauser and Sweeney, are paired together in one of the primary plot threads: a perpetually single man looking for marriage as soon as possible and a diner waitress with a stutter who pulls him into a quest for the shirt to raise money so she can head to Nashville to pursue her singing dreams.
While the chemistry between the two may seem slightly stilted and offbeat, this is probably part of the intended quirks that Tost has written into his screenplay, and both Hauser and Sweeney are individually exceptional in their performances.
Hauser routinely brings a sheepish yet jovial charm, much in the same way that John C. Reilly might, and his character Lefty Ledbetter continues this strong trend with a plain, simple manner that’s easy for audiences to rally behind.
Sweeney, for her part, is well adept at playing doe-eyed ingénue Penny Jo, yet the movie’s Western motif and the ways in which her staccato delivery affects moments in a scene never feel overwhelming or mean-spirited toward those with speech disabilities is quite remarkable.
In her first major film performance, Halsey is surprisingly solid and able to hold her own against an assortment of capable veteran ensemble actors. The relative unease that her character has relating to her deadbeat boyfriend, played by Eric Bana, and her little brother Cal played by Gavin Maddox Bergman reflects her character’s apprehensive view of the world.
While her motivations are unclear for much of the two-hour running time, once Tost’s screenplay unravels, the depths of Halsey’s character work and decision-making become readily apparent and elevate her early work in the film in retrospect.
The supporting cast led by Simon Rex and Christopher Kriesa also deliver strong performances, adding authenticity and emotional depth to the interwoven stories.
The anthology nature of “Americana” lends itself to the Western genre of cinematic storytelling.
It’s clear that in writing the screenplay, Tost was more interested in framing specific moments around his characters and weaving the story around key moments, rather than building a framework first and creating characters to fit – as in the way a “Mission: Impossible” movie might be built around action sequences with a story to fit. Tost’s film chooses moments of character work and builds around these sequences using an anthology frame style to sew the whole thing together.
Visually, “Americana” revels in a rustic, vintage 1970s-era haze in its camerawork, which feels as if there’s just a little bit of dust on the lens. This helps add contour and texture to the modern Wild West motifs and setting for the film.
While it’s unlikely to be a film at the end of most cinephiles’ best of 2025 list, there’s absolutely no reason ardent moviegoers shouldn’t take a chance and head out to theaters to catch this unique and original modern Western drama with a terrific ensemble cast.
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