Review of Maps to the Stars (2014) by Dillinger P — 22 Jan 2016

David Cronenberg certainly hasn't settled down with age, the body horror maestro may have swapped the blood and gore for a more psychological approach in recent years, but love or loathe him, there is no denying the iconic director has spent a career doing things his way.

Maps To The Stars may upset Cronenberg purists, especially coming hot on the heels of the close to impossible to penetrate, Cosmopolis, with similar style, feel and indeed actors, but where as that film struggled to connect with anyone, Maps To The Stars allows a connection to be made, if your willing to adhere to its bat shit rule book.

After arriving in Hollywood with a dream of becoming something big, Agatha has a huge uphill battle to conquer. She gets off to a glowing start as she befriends a limo driver, Carrie Fisher and indeed finds work assisting a mentally unstable actress, who will stop at nothing to get her way.

It doesnt take long until the dots start to connect, and we soon find out that associates of said actress may actually know more about Agatha than she herself lets on. Its a neon glowing nightmare, that is as zany and vibrant as humanly possible, while retaining much of Cronenbergs darker elements.

However to respect and indeed get the most from this sparkly outing, one must attune ones ear to the unflinchingly satirical and blatant over acting performances on show, Cronenberg does not create humans as such here, more heightened depictions of Hollywood stereotypes itself and if I am being honest, the first 20 minutes will make or break it for most viewers, the dialogue is jarring, cheesy and over the top in just about every aspect.

Bare with it however and you will be rewarded heavily with a brilliantly interwoven plot, continual surprises, some extremely psychological break downs and indeed hilarity aplenty. The performances are all bold, Mia Wasikowska continues to prove her worth as one of the best young talents working in cinema today, Julianne Moore is earth shattering as Havana, a struggling actress whose mental stability dwindles with every waking breath.

John Cusack is brilliantly peculiar, Robert Pattinson proves he can yet again act very well, Evan Bird channels everything you hate about Justin Bieber in such a glorious way and Olivia Williams has a wonderful time portraying an over protective mother.

The cast are clearly all in on the joke, and its brilliant to watch them having fun in a film they clearly have passion for. Maps is also pretty darn good to look at, its vibrant, colourful, twisted and clean, with a vast amount of subliminal messaging and indeed excellent symbolism that will indeed go over a huge portion of peoples heads, this however makes rewatching this demonic masterpiece even more tantalizing.

Maps does however have a flaw and this flaw knocks the wind right out its sails, the finale. Its commonplace that many films, especially of this nature, always stumble wrapping up proceedings, either becoming predictable or lost within the vast plot threads the director and writer have crafted along the way, here however Maps ending is baffling and weak.

The ending is a huge let down, its timid, when it clearly shouldnt be, its ponderous and more so in a "Is that it" kind of way and it feels rushed. Just when everything unravels and comes to a head, Cronenberg just wraps everything up in minutes, leaving a huge bundle of questions unanswered and a tension that never really gets its resolve.

It's a crying shame, as prior to the final 10 minutes, the tension and intrigue are at fever pitch, leading you to believe your in for a delightfully terrifying ending. It never comes however and Maps goes out with a whimper rather than a bang.

Maps To The Stars is not going to win over any new fans for Cronenberg and if your patience level was pushed to the brink with Cosmopolis, you to will struggle to enjoy the mans new direction. That being said, Maps To The Stars is as brutal and hilarious an insight into a world that we all appear to worship, that were going to get for quite some time.