Review of Maps to the Stars (2014) by Brett H — 27 Dec 2014
A strong return to form for Cronenberg after his last two duds that is filled with dark satire of the seedy side of Hollywood and bolstered by fantastic performances across the board. The intertwining stories of Hollywood's hopeful get more demented as the film goes on leading to some shockingly twisted revelations and Cronenberg sells the material without judgement.
The most surprising element is a young Bieber-esque movie star who's barely old enough to be entering puberty and he's already become a jaded, prick who walks all over people around him; this kid was fantastic.
But, it is Julianne Moore who gives the show-stopping performance as a washed-up, has-been desperate for a comeback, and she dives into the unflattering role head-first. This is the anti-Hollywood film and it's cynical tone is refreshing to see handled so excellently.
There is some shocking violence towards the end and one moment in particular uses laughably terrible cgi and the whole scene feels like it missed the mark as a result. Many debate this scene as being a hallucination and the entire film was a fantasy, but I don't buy that and I leave the interpretation up to you; either way it is a great film!
This review of Maps to the Stars (2014) was written by Brett H on 27 Dec 2014.
Maps to the Stars has generally received mixed reviews.
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