Map to the Stars (2014)
*** (out of 4)
Incredibly bizarre spoof (I think) of Hollywood about Agatha Weiss (Mia Wasikowska), a burned young woman who comes to Hollywood and quickly gets a job for actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) who is trying to win a major role. While all of this is going on Agatha becomes friends with a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) but her real mission is to get back into her family, which consisted of her younger brother (Evan Bird), a current popular actor, who she earlier tried to kill and her parents (John Cusack, Olivia Williams).
If my plot description makes MAP TO THE STARS sound weird and crazy then you'll be happy to know that I really couldn't do the story justice so the film itself is actually much weirder. In fact, I guess if you took Robert Altman's THE PLAYER and added a ton of cocaine and incest then you'd end up with something like this. David Cronenberg has made a career out of making incredibly bizarre movies and fans of the cult director will no doubt love his take on Hollywood, fame and family.
It's interesting that this movie works on so many levels as it's certainly an anti- Hollywood piece as actors, directors and the entire system pretty much gets ripped apart as a bunch of self age babies who are spoiled and aren't worth nearly as much as they think they are. The film handles all of this with a certain dark satire that really works but the movie also contains very graphic violence and elements of the horror movies that Cronenberg was making in the 70s. The entire mix of violence and comedy and sexuality is certainly something that very few could pull off but the director handles all of it extremely well and makes for a bizarre film that you can't take your eyes off of.
It certainly doesn't hurt that we're given a terrific cast with Moore once against delivering a wild performance as an actress who needs and wants that one last big role. I found the actress to be phenomenal in the part but Wasikowska is also extremely good in her role. She's a rather quiet character full of mystery and the actress adds this without issue. Cusack is as weird as you're ever going to see him as is Williams. Even Pattinson manages to turn in another fine performance. Bird is also extremely good as the troubled young actor.
The screenplay by Bruce Wagner is certainly brave and you can tell from the start that it's not afraid to break a few rules and this aspect gives the film a very fresh feeling. You certainly watch the movie and can tell yourself that you don't quite know what it's going to do or where it's going to go. It's rare for a movie like this to work but it's even rarer for anyone to even attempt something like it. The movie was a flop at the box office but that's understandable because it's certainly not for everyone.
*** (out of 4)
Incredibly bizarre spoof (I think) of Hollywood about Agatha Weiss (Mia Wasikowska), a burned young woman who comes to Hollywood and quickly gets a job for actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) who is trying to win a major role. While all of this is going on Agatha becomes friends with a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) but her real mission is to get back into her family, which consisted of her younger brother (Evan Bird), a current popular actor, who she earlier tried to kill and her parents (John Cusack, Olivia Williams).
If my plot description makes MAP TO THE STARS sound weird and crazy then you'll be happy to know that I really couldn't do the story justice so the film itself is actually much weirder. In fact, I guess if you took Robert Altman's THE PLAYER and added a ton of cocaine and incest then you'd end up with something like this. David Cronenberg has made a career out of making incredibly bizarre movies and fans of the cult director will no doubt love his take on Hollywood, fame and family.
It's interesting that this movie works on so many levels as it's certainly an anti- Hollywood piece as actors, directors and the entire system pretty much gets ripped apart as a bunch of self age babies who are spoiled and aren't worth nearly as much as they think they are. The film handles all of this with a certain dark satire that really works but the movie also contains very graphic violence and elements of the horror movies that Cronenberg was making in the 70s. The entire mix of violence and comedy and sexuality is certainly something that very few could pull off but the director handles all of it extremely well and makes for a bizarre film that you can't take your eyes off of.
It certainly doesn't hurt that we're given a terrific cast with Moore once against delivering a wild performance as an actress who needs and wants that one last big role. I found the actress to be phenomenal in the part but Wasikowska is also extremely good in her role. She's a rather quiet character full of mystery and the actress adds this without issue. Cusack is as weird as you're ever going to see him as is Williams. Even Pattinson manages to turn in another fine performance. Bird is also extremely good as the troubled young actor.
The screenplay by Bruce Wagner is certainly brave and you can tell from the start that it's not afraid to break a few rules and this aspect gives the film a very fresh feeling. You certainly watch the movie and can tell yourself that you don't quite know what it's going to do or where it's going to go. It's rare for a movie like this to work but it's even rarer for anyone to even attempt something like it. The movie was a flop at the box office but that's understandable because it's certainly not for everyone.