Review of Maps to the Stars (2014) by Drauchdoes2015 — 14 Apr 2015

Maps to the Stars is a scattered collection of repulsive characters, some less so than others but, aye, there is nary a sympathetic individual to relate to here. The experience of enduring their forced company is a combination of horrified revulsion, bizarre fascination, and occasional boredom, despite the unrelenting steamroller of antipathetic sentiments. Cronenberg's motive for displaying such abhorrent behavior is in the service of a painfully obvious, yet watchable critique of hollywood, one that doesn't succeed entirely for two reasons. They are (1) how the multiple interweaving characters don't thematically cohere by the conclusion, rendering the significance of their stories hollow, and (2) the loathsome qualities of Hollywood Cronenberg takes aim at being either over-exaggerated for shock value or crude and dull.

Cronenberg adds a supernatural element that, though absurd and melodramatic, adds a touch of distinction to an otherwise reality-grounded tale. This is also a movie that, however misguided and hyperbolic, is fearless in it's presentation. Evident of this is the unabashedly unflattering light cast upon the actors, many rising above it and delivering noteworthy work, particularly the multi-dimensional, accolade-worthy performance by Julianne Moore (seriously, one of her all-time best characters), an uncompromisingly ugly and monstrous creation that borders on villainous, yet is also pitiable and damaged.

Cronenberg can still create disquieting films. Even though Maps to the Stars is jumbled, I can't say I wasn't challenged. The character of Benji, a drug addicted rising star brat is vulgar, barbaric, and downright loathsome. He is brought to life by young actor Evan Bird with an aplomb beyond his years, whose age-to-explicitity ratio reminds me of Chloe Grace Moretz's controversial star turn in Kick-Ass. Also included in Maps to the Stars is a storyline involving incest, an overall indulgence in gratuitous sex and drug abuse, the manipulation of a child's death to further someone's career, and numerous instances of self-serving behavior masked behind a facade of passive aggression. Some of this has become commonplace in tales of excess, but there are occasional developments that I see as unprecedented (did I mention the incest plot line?).

That being said, Cronenberg places all of these potential shock-worthy elements in the service of story that as a whole only intermittently tries to dispense meaning to the proceedings, and it ends on a regressively non-resolute note. When he pitches a scene satirically, the results are often so stone-faced that the line is blurred as to whether or not the cast is in on the 'joke', or if Cronenberg was even trying to be funny in the first place. Some attempts land (I found the quip where Robert Pattinson considers joining the church of Scientology to advance his career pretty left-field), but many of the jabs at hollywood are just as artificial and surface-level as the subject he means to criticize.

But then again, it never is easy to generalize any of the films of David Cronenberg. He often hovers in that odd area of provocation, queasy discomfort, brilliance, and abstraction, and in this work of his, it isn't elucidated as to what it is he's trying to say, more so than many of his other films. I don't mean that he should dumb down his output or avoid challenging his audience, those are the qualities I regard in his work. I do think that, as is the case of Maps to the Stars, he tends to send us down a rabbit-hole of his own unique design where even he doesn't know it leads to. So, yeah, Maps is a bit of a miss for him. It left me feeling sour and perturbed, in a good way, but also indifferent, in a bad way. A mixed bag.