The Secret Life of Beekeepers
"The Rivals of Amziah King," potlucks, and honey.
For the past couple weeks I’ve had pretty bad writers’ block. There are so many good independent films being released this month, some of them I had the opportunity to see well in advance and am in the middle of writing up. And while I’m tempted to give up and just say something like “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is very weird and very good” and leave it at that1, I do have other thoughts in my head that I want to shape into words but there’s a lot of noise in there.
But sometimes I see another movie that cuts through all that. This wasn’t one I screened early—I saw The Rivals of Amziah King on the night of its release. I wasn’t having a particularly great day and this thing just took me into a better place. I did not expect the movie in which a beekeeping Matthew McConaughey leads a folk rock quintet (call ‘em McConaughey & Sons) to be one of my favorites of the year, but here we are. And there’s a lot of food scenes! So out came the notebook in the AMC. I came to that place for magic, but instead I got honey and a whole lot of heart.
The Rivals of Amziah King
Now playing in wide release.
The tale begins one night at a drive-in fast food joint, somewhere in Oklahoma. A truck pulls in and out steps local beekeeper Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey), mandolin in hand. Four of his pals are already there, each with their own instruments. Amziah goes to the counter and places his order: chicken-fried steak sandwich, tater tots, Cherry Coke. While the cutlet fries, he and the band tear through a frantic folk number, wrapping up just in time for a server to hand over a takeout bag.
Then the cops arrive. They’re looking for Amziah. But he’s not in trouble. Quite the opposite: six barrels of stolen honey were recovered, valued at a quarter of a million dollars. They have no idea who they belong to. Amziah is no amateur apiarist—he knows producers tend to leave a mark on the inside of the barrel, and proposes melting the honey down to reveal it.
It’s the first of many swerves in Andrew Patterson’s ambitious sophomore feature, which dabbles in various microgenres, including backcountry noir, bluegrass musical, and heist thriller. (And yes, you learn a thing or two about the cutthroat honey industry in Oklahoma.) What anchors this present-day folktale is a charismatic performance from McConaughey, who returns to the screen after a five-year acting hiatus (with the exception of voicing a sentient koala in Sing 2).
The mystery of that stolen honey goes unresolved for now, and the film doesn’t linger for long. Amziah has a chance encounter with Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass), a former foster daughter whom he hasn’t seen in years. He invites her to watch one of his gigs at a community center the next town over. (Many of the tunes come courtesy of Ben Hardesty, of folk rock act The Last Bison; he also appears in the film as Amziah’s bandmate.) There’s a potluck after the show, and it’s while Amziah and Kateri fill their plates that Patterson reveals the film’s core theme.
“There’s truth, and there’s lies. In everything,” Amziah intones, and a potluck is no exception. One by one, he points to each dish and tells Kateri the story of the person who made it, unspooling small-town gossip one casserole at a time and classifying each dish as truth (put it on your plate), or lies (leave it be). There’s mashed potatoes, brought by a family whose young son has the physique of a middle-aged man (lie), a crock pot of brisket, the recipe stolen from a culty church pastor (truth).
Patterson cuts between the potluck table and whimsical vignettes of the folks being described, but as the scene continues, the montage begins to include footage of beehives. The members of this community are like worker bees: each contributes their own piece to the whole without realizing just how essential they are.
Even the ensemble reflects this, with each actor making important contributions no matter how big their celebrity. The best known names in the supporting cast are Kurt Russell (as an underhanded business magnate; he’s one of the rivals as referenced in the title) and Cole Sprouse (as an ex-con named Oat who can procure information about anyone), but pay attention to Scott Shepherd and Jake Horowitz, who both carry an easy chemistry with the two leads during stressful situations involving, respectively, a bee swarm in an elementary school and a late-film honey caper.
The reunion between Amziah and Kateri settles into something more permanent, with the beekeeper taking the young woman under his wing. The first hour of this film is warm and inviting, verging on hopecore, especially during an impromptu jam session in Amziah’s kitchen. It has the same magical energy of the best moments in Once director John Carney’s filmography, when a group of amateur musicians make a beautiful noise together. Sitting in the middle of this circle of friends is a nervous Kateri, reluctant to join in. But then she starts to feel a sense of belonging, for the first time in a long time. By the second verse she’s singing along and drumming on the table alongside her father figure. As the final chord rings out, she sputters, “I’m never doing that again!” But she will.
Just as the film begins to feel a bit too twee, there’s a jarring cut to black, held for an ominous amount of time. In the scene that follows, a shocking event places the apiary in grave danger, and Patterson pivots the focus from charming Amziah to taciturn Kateri. It’s an audacious gambit in a medium that typically strives for consistency. For his part, the writer-director has remarked that narrative fluidity has more precedent in other artforms, particularly “novels, opera—you even see it done inside of pop songs.” Consider this a beat switch from the star wattage of McConaughey to the steady resoluteness of LookingGlass, holding her own in this first film role.
There are moments in The Rivals of Amziah King that will lose some viewers, especially the change in protagonist. It was an even bumpier ride behind the scenes, with a contentious post-production process—producers tested their own cut against the director’s—and difficulties finding a distributor after premiering at last year’s SXSW. Things eventually worked out. Patterson’s version notched higher scores with test audiences, while the film’s financier Black Bear eventually released the film through their nascent distribution division.
Though the film has unfortunately faltered at the box office, the risks have largely paid off on a creative level. The two halves—a hangout movie shifting into a revenge yarn—fit together better than one would expect. What seems disconnected is actually interlocked, as Patterson circles back to the idea of a beehive as a metaphor for collaboration and resilience. Everyone plays their part; if their leader is lost, a new queen bee will be crowned. In the words of Amziah King, this one’s for “the worker bees, who do everything.”
Tasting Notes
The aforementioned potluck table features all the Southern classics, among them black eyed peas, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and brisket. Most important is the gravy, which Amziah proclaims to be “its own element on the periodic table.” Naturally it goes on everything.
Other food moments:
The chicken-fried steak sandwiches in the opening scene
Sopapilla night, with Amziah’s honey drizzled on top
Cole Sprouse’s character, a guy named Oat, works at a fast food chain called Sad Abe’s Fish Fry, a riff on Long John Silver’s
And not to spoil too much, but castor beans are poisonous!
But the most important food pairing is local honey! The actors are interacting with real bees—no CGI or stunt doubles—and there are five bee wranglers listed in the credits. Logistics and equipment were provided by Foxhound Bee Company, based outside of Birmingham. (Though set in Oklahoma, The Rivals of Amziah King was shot in Alabama due to tax credits.) They produced tie-in “King Honey” bottles, which you can buy from the film’s producer, though the non-branded equivalent is $10 cheaper. If you happen to be in the area you can even fill your own jar.
But if you don’t live in the Sooner or Yellowhammer States, you should look for honey local to you! There’s a vendor at practically every NYC Greenmarket; one producer is called Andrew’s Honey and I recommend it because my name is on the label.
But real quick, some other films in theaters this month that are worth your time: Late Fame, Tony, Buddy, and Filipiñana.