MovieChat Forums > American Honey (2016) Discussion > The two young kids in the beginning (mil...

The two young kids in the beginning (mild spoiler)

posted 8 years ago by lilolu22
10 replies | jump to latest

I really wonder how Star is related to the two young kids in the beginning, the little boy called Ruben and his older sister. In a review I read they're her kids, but isn't Star WAY too young to have a daughter that age?
I thought they were her half-siblings. As Star looks bi-racial and the two others don't, I figured they have the same mom, but different dads. I took the older guy they're living with to be the younger kids' father, Star having stayed with him after their mother left (even though he seems to be sexually abusing her).
When she drops the two off with that woman at the square dancing place (or whatever kind of dance it is they're dancing...), I figured it was the mother of all three of them who left the family. Star refers to the guy they had been staying with as "Nathan", not Dad, which I took to back my stepfather-theory...

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this. Loved the movie!

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] lilolu22 8 years ago

Chillster, thank you for your interesting point of view. That's possible, hadn't thought about it. The journalist who took the kids to be Star's children is Joe Morgenstern of Wall Street Journal: "...Star, who leaves her own two kids with her raffish mother in order to break away from a vile boyfriend?"

http://www.wsj.com/articles/american-honey-review-door-to-door-revelations-1475176798

David Edelstein from Vulture and New York Magazine also thought the kids are her half siblings and the guy's her step father: "Star (Lane) had been caring for two young siblings in the home of a seriously creepy stepfather."

http://www.vulture.com/2016/09/movie-review-american-honey.html

I know the relation isn't crucial to the story in any way. It is just bugging me and I would love to other people's thoughts.

[–] Sonfan12-1 8 years ago

Star says to the dancing lady that she thought that the lady could take them since they were hers.

[–] guccipix 8 years ago

I believe the kids belong to the guy she lives with (her stepdad) and the wiman at the dance place (ho-down?)

[–] ankivakt 8 years ago

I thought that the kids was the mothers and the creepy guy in the house and that she's lived there three years since her mom died in Texas, so she's the kids moms foster child maybe? And she hasn't left because she cares for the children.

[–] ReganRebecca 8 years ago

They're definitely not her kids, but I do wonder how she's related to them.

Initially I thought they were her half siblings, the man she lived with was her step-father and the woman was her mother. However when she got in the car with the three men in cowboy hats she tells them her mother died from meth and it didn't seem like a sob story she made up to sell magazines (if it was I feel like she would have gone with the cancer suggestion). Another clue is her saying that she got "sent" to live in Oklahoma. If she was in foster care she would have stayed in Texas. So I think she is related to the woman and the kids in some way, but I have no idea how.

[–] JJandS 8 years ago

I figured the woman at the saloon was her mothers sister, which would be her aunt and the two kids were her cousins. I think the guy in the beginning is either the aunts husband or boyfriend that probably hits on her when the aunt is away.

[–] sawherheart 8 years ago

I believe that the women at the club was either star's aunt or sister those children at the beginning did not belong to star...the reviewer at the Wall Street journal had very poor comprehension skills

[–] daddie0 8 years ago

I wondered the same thing. I believe the creepy dude said something like "Daddy only wants a dance" before he started licking her neck...which obviously repulsed her. She sneaks away (with the kids!) from him, meaning he would have been upset if any of them had left. I wish that relationship was more clear. It seemed to me the woman at the bar was definitely their biological mother, and the man at the bar was sympathetic to taking the children in.

One possibility is that she was in an unhealthy relationship with the man who was the father of the children and the ex-husband/ex-boyfriend of the children's mother? Sadly, I just don't think there is enough info in the film to draw a definite conclusion. As other have said, they were definitely not Star's children.

[–] Who (5146) 3 years ago

Star says her mother died of meth. Since she didn’t like lying as a sales strategy, this is probably true. Her Mom may have been married to or living with the kid’s father. Then after she died Star stayed on.