Winston T. Boogie
Senior HTF Member
So, if you thought that David Cronenberg was done making "monster" movies all you need do is check out Maps to the Stars. However the monsters in this film are the denizens of Hollywood, who creepily swim around the edges of this fetid pond. Child stars and aging divas, wacky shrinks with a book to sell, and their damaged spouses and children. We also get ghosts and Cronenberg's fascination with all things "disgusting" about the human body. So basically, this is a Cronenberg film.
There is sex, screaming, and scars on display...both emotional and physical. The ghosts don't really haunt these characters as much as mock them as taken directly from Shakespeare. So, they are not actually frightening but meant to illuminate how rotten to the core these people are.
Will you find this all entertaining? I suppose that depends on if you need a character that actually is somebody you can relate to in order to pull you in to the story. These folks are not likable in any way and this story goes out of it's way to show us this.
Moore is fantastic as the fading actress and quite literally shows and gives us everything she's got to get this disaster of a human being on screen. You won't like her but you will be mesmerized by where she takes things. The rest of the cast is fair to good but it is pretty obvious nobody is burning as bright as Moore is here. It's great that she gives this one some blood though because as with Cronenberg's last couple of films this feels a bit detached...not as much as Cosmopolis, thankfully, but Cronenberg has taken to sort of presenting things like a scientist observing what is in a Petri dish.
Sometimes the problem with a performance as potent as Moore gives here is it overshadows the rest of the cast and that does happen to some degree in this one. The performances do tend to head in the direction of camp and I think on first watch this might seem a bit too ridiculous to some people. I have waited a couple of weeks before talking about this film because I really think you need to digest this one a bit and it probably requires more than one watch...which I think many people will not be willing to give it because the characters and story are so hideous...but hey, what do you expect, it's a Cronenberg film.
It is darkly...very darkly..comic and feels like Cronenberg giving a giant F-YOU to Hollywood as he proudly proclaims "I'm not part of this incestual cesspit!"
Yes, we get a lot of not particularly discrete references to incest as well in this one.
Your mileage may vary with Maps to the Stars. It is not for all tastes but is worth wading into if only for Julianne Moore.
There is sex, screaming, and scars on display...both emotional and physical. The ghosts don't really haunt these characters as much as mock them as taken directly from Shakespeare. So, they are not actually frightening but meant to illuminate how rotten to the core these people are.
Will you find this all entertaining? I suppose that depends on if you need a character that actually is somebody you can relate to in order to pull you in to the story. These folks are not likable in any way and this story goes out of it's way to show us this.
Moore is fantastic as the fading actress and quite literally shows and gives us everything she's got to get this disaster of a human being on screen. You won't like her but you will be mesmerized by where she takes things. The rest of the cast is fair to good but it is pretty obvious nobody is burning as bright as Moore is here. It's great that she gives this one some blood though because as with Cronenberg's last couple of films this feels a bit detached...not as much as Cosmopolis, thankfully, but Cronenberg has taken to sort of presenting things like a scientist observing what is in a Petri dish.
Sometimes the problem with a performance as potent as Moore gives here is it overshadows the rest of the cast and that does happen to some degree in this one. The performances do tend to head in the direction of camp and I think on first watch this might seem a bit too ridiculous to some people. I have waited a couple of weeks before talking about this film because I really think you need to digest this one a bit and it probably requires more than one watch...which I think many people will not be willing to give it because the characters and story are so hideous...but hey, what do you expect, it's a Cronenberg film.
It is darkly...very darkly..comic and feels like Cronenberg giving a giant F-YOU to Hollywood as he proudly proclaims "I'm not part of this incestual cesspit!"
Yes, we get a lot of not particularly discrete references to incest as well in this one.
Your mileage may vary with Maps to the Stars. It is not for all tastes but is worth wading into if only for Julianne Moore.