How far will people go to claim a rare relic? “Americana” follows a group of characters in search of a Lakota Ghost Shirt. The film, described as a modern-day western, hails from writer and director Tony Tost. This is Tost’s first feature-length directorial effort, previously writing episodes of “The Terror” and “Longmire.”
“Americana” was well received after its world premiere during 2023’s SXSW and Tost himself drew praise. The Playlist’s Simon Thompson notes that Tost “…directs his crisp dialogue like a conductor with an orchestra, brilliantly playing each character to their strengths, rising and falling in the narrative, but never losing any of them in the rich and layered melange.”
The film puts together a talented cast, featuring Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, Gavin Maddox Bergman, Simon Rex, Derek Hinkey, Toby Huss, and Harriet Sansom Harris. Sweeney stars in several upcoming projects, including the anticipated adaptation of “Split Fiction.” Hauser can be seen in this summer’s “The Naked Gun” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
The film’s official synopsis:
A highly prized Native American artifact leads a gallery of dynamic characters down a dangerous path in this wildly entertaining modern-day western. After the rare relic falls onto the black market, the lives of a small-town woman and her son become violently intertwined with a quirky local diner waitress, an offbeat military veteran, and a corrupt antiquities dealer. Crime and chaos follow when an indigenous group leader and his crew join the fray in order to reclaim the artifact and return it to its rightful place.
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Lionsgate‘s “Americana” opens in theaters August 22. Get your first look at the trailer below.
