Maps to the Stars (2014)

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A tour into the heart of a Hollywood family chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Maps to the Stars is another weird looking movie from director David Cronenberg but unlike Cosmopolis this film has a cast of great actors and yet they are getting wasted in this black comedy, satire of a film that goes nowhere with the only actor being really good is Julianne Moore but besides that everyone else is just there John Cusack is a jerk in the whole film, Robert Pattinson is kind of the same, Olivia Williams is kind of a mixed bag and Evan Bird alongside Mia Wasikowska are just weird and insane. Wanna see a great Cronenberg film? Go watch The Fly it has great actors, performances and story 5/10.

I gave this film 3 stars for the earnestness of Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska, otherwise it was nothing short of an overwrought, self- indulgent mess. Maybe Hollywood insiders would find these characters intriguing, but for me I could not relate, nor care less about them and their family dramas. And I enjoyed several other Cronenberg films, just not this crap. Perhaps I'm being overly critical because I recently watched and thoroughly enjoyed the thought-provoking Clouds of Sils Maria with Juliette Binoche and Kristin Stewart. This film handled the subject of an actress having to come to grips with how age changes the game within the industry, particularly for women, with subtlety and finesse. Maps to the Stars hit you over the head with overacting, and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink situations including ghosts, threesomes, drug addictions, pyromania, etc, etc etc. Too much over-the-top craziness for my taste. And do I need to mention a completely ridiculous caricature performance from John Cusack? Ugggghhh, spare me.

Well written Maps to the Stars engaged me from the first scene. Considering the challenging topics the film navigates, the film covers this uncomfortable territory with ease and grace. I watched the film twice and will probably watch it again. The writing provides a fundamental structure and well formed characters that manages to show the darkness of incest, psychosis, and violence in a tolerable and human way. Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. This requires talent on everyone's part. This film is well done in every sense. The facade of the persona is not written as an evil demon and neither is the darkness. Maps to the Stars blends both as simply human qualities. Qualities that are faced by many everyday. However, kept as a forbidden secret. Bravo!

Maps to the Stars is a relatively strong but somehow disturbing view of the life of Hollywood stars. Although, if that was actually the purpose of the movie, it should have a broader scope and less self indulgence.Anyway...this is the story of a strange family where, without their knowledge, a brother and a sister met, married, and have 2 children, a boy and a girl. The girl sets their house on fire () and they sent her to a far far away clinic until she was 18. Although the family (the 2 parents, and their son who turned to a star child actor) are very successful financially, they are very dysfunctional as a family and as persons.The movie is shot brightly and that is something that I liked, but the pace is inconsistent. Overall it has a surreal feel especially because the purposely blunt performance of Mia Wasikowska.Julianne Moore performance is a little over the top but it is effective. Evan Bird as the 13 yo spoiled child star gives a solid performance.David Cronenberg always tries to provoke, so expect some male frontal nudity, lots of screaming, and you even get to see Julianne Moore ...fart a few times while on toilet with constipation. Also the price for the ...feces of a movie star costs around $3000 each.Overall: For the purpose of showing a glimpse at least of the Hollywood madness this surreal movie is effective. For that purpose though, there are other movies out there, deeper and with more levels than this.