Starlet Reviews

When "Starlet," the new film from cinema-vérité expert Sean Baker, is at its best, it's deeply emotional and filled with under-stated brilliance. At its worst, it's boring and aimless. It's a mixed bag with "Starlet." But when it's good, it's very, very good.

Dree Hemingway (daughter of Mariel Hemingway) plays a young woman in Los Angeles getting started in the pornography business. But "Starlet" is not much interested in the pornography. The focus of the film is an odd friendship that the girl strikes up with a crusty, bitter 80-year-old woman, played superbly by first-time actress Besedka Johnson.

Johnson is so good that I wouldn't be surprised if she wins some Best Supporting Actress awards - or at least some nominations. I don't know how Baker does this. He finds untrained, natural actors everywhere he goes. It's one of his specialties.

Baker first began attracting attention in 2004 when he partnered with Shih-Ching Tsou to make "Take Out," a gritty examination of the army of Chinese men who bicycle around Manhattan delivering Chinese food for $2 tips. He followed that up with "Prince of Broadway," another hand-made movie with a cast of immigrants, this time from the Caribbean.

"Starlet" is not exactly cinema-vérité, but it does have something of a hand-made quality. The casting of Johnson, furthermore, a "real person" as opposed to a professional actor, gives the film that unique Baker touch. Some have described Baker as reminiscent of John Cassavetes. I can see the resemblance. But Baker has a long way to go in terms of story development if he wants to be anywhere near as good as Cassavetes.

Both "Take Out" and "Prince of Broadway" suffered terribly from under-development in the story department. Baker is the kind of filmmaker who believes that if a person looks interesting and very real, an audience will want to watch him/her walk down the street for 90 minutes. Not so. For most people, including most intelligent cinephiles, watching a unique person walk down the street remains engaging for about five minutes. The other 85 minutes must show the person involved in something that's interesting. The character's being in and of itself is not that intriguing. We need to see his being in action. And the action, furthermore, must be thought-provoking -- walking down the street is not interesting action.

Baker appears to have been working on this. "Starlet" is a step forward. There is more story in "Starlet" than in his previous two films combined. But there's still not enough. There are too many slack, repetitious moments in "Starlet," and there is too little revealed about the characters. Baker never gets inside his characters; he watches them from very far away. In a sense, he's more of a cinematographer than a filmmaker. He likes to watch his characters, but he doesn't seem to have much interest in what they have to say. When he writes dialogue, it's bare bones. In a Baker film, the dialogue is really beside the point. This makes his films more like appetizers than entrées. They always whet my appetite but not much more than that.

But there's no denying that "Starlet" has magical qualities. There are moments of truly stunning visual poetry. And its vision of these unique characters is deeply tender. I love how Baker finds humanity in the most unlikely places. When other artists are looking at the people who stand out and make an impression, Baker is noticing the guy who's delivering the take-out food, or the old crone playing bingo by herself to whom no one has spoken in years. I love that he directs his artistry toward these people. I just wish he penetrated inside their worlds more deeply.

Starlet is about an unlikely friendship forming between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale. I ended up liking this much more than I expected. Much like "Future Weather", Starlet tells a simple story containing more depth than what's on the surface. The unique relationship between two different generation of women interacting with one another is fascinating to witness. These two women have different ideals, personalities, and well rounded relationship that changes both output on life. Not only does it show that porn actors can have a heart, but also the darker side of the industry effecting personal lives. It's solely a film driven by the characters which most are highly developed. I didn't mind spending time with the central characters even if the activities they underwent were ordinary and at times just lingered around without a director. Except one flaw comes from the character of Mikey who's the boyfriend of our protagonist roommate is decidedly one note. Another problem are the supporting characters are simply in service to move to the plot. The film does not focus a huge amount of time on Jane's job only rarely seeing her do any actual work. So for those wanting an in depth look of how a porn actor is affected by their profession look elsewhere. In the end Starlet plot is naturalistic, simple to follow and one requiring a lot of thought the events we witness that what's on the surface.

The major upside of this film comes its incredibly talented cast. Dree Hemingway excels in portraying the root of her character. I could imagine other actresses going for a full dramatic take, but would have not been as effective as what Dree Hemingway did. Dree Hemingway is energetic playing a cheerful slacker while handling the duality of her playfulness and lack of maturity when she needs to swift. Besedka Johnson in her first (and last) role will amazed. Johnson has a steady relationship with Hemingway and it very sympathetic without revealing too much in her actions. At first when we see Johnson she's appears as nothing special, but grows on you. The supporting cast is decent and in terms of visuals there is some nice scenery, but nothing to get excited about.

Starlet is simplicity in nature, but filled with more depth in execution. Well rounded character portrayed by leads both giving standout performances make the viewing even more engaging. Starlet might not be for everyone due to it simplistic story, but those who see will be rewarded with a deep story under the surface and fine performances.

Starlet gives a deep view into a young blond 21 year old woman living in the North San Fernando Valley.

PLEASE don't waste your time or money. Lives up to all of its zero ambitions. Jammed with indie clichés. Nothing of value. Imagine "Foxes" being twice as dull and vacant.

Starlet is about an unlikely friendship forming between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale. I ended up liking this much more than I expected. Much like "Future Weather", Starlet tells a simple story containing more depth than what's on the surface. The unique relationship between two different generation of women interacting with one another is fascinating to witness. These two women have different ideals, personalities, and well rounded relationship that changes both output on life. Not only does it show that porn actors can have a heart, but also the darker side of the industry effecting personal lives. It's solely a film driven by the characters which most are highly developed. I didn't mind spending time with the central characters even if the activities they underwent were ordinary and at times just lingered around without a director. Except one flaw comes from the character of Mikey who's the boyfriend of our protagonist roommate is decidedly one note. Another problem are the supporting characters are simply in service to move to the plot. The film does not focus a huge amount of time on Jane's job only rarely seeing her do any actual work. So for those wanting an in depth look of how a porn actor is affected by their profession look elsewhere. In the end Starlet plot is naturalistic, simple to follow and one requiring a lot of thought the events we witness that what's on the surface.

The major upside of this film comes its incredibly talented cast. Dree Hemingway excels in portraying the root of her character. I could imagine other actresses going for a full dramatic take, but would have not been as effective as what Dree Hemingway did. Dree Hemingway is energetic playing a cheerful slacker while handling the duality of her playfulness and lack of maturity when she needs to swift. Besedka Johnson in her first (and last) role will amazed. Johnson has a steady relationship with Hemingway and it very sympathetic without revealing too much in her actions. At first when we see Johnson she's appears as nothing special, but grows on you. The supporting cast is decent and in terms of visuals there is some nice scenery, but nothing to get excited about.

Starlet is simplicity in nature, but filled with more depth in execution. Well rounded character portrayed by leads both giving standout performances make the viewing even more engaging. Starlet might not be for everyone due to it simplistic story, but those who see will be rewarded with a deep story under the surface and fine performances.

If I told you what this movie was about some would stray away without given this movie a chance and that chance you would regret if you enjoy concrete character development and actors who execute sincere imagery effortlessly.

Amazing. Top 10 low budgets ever.

This is a story about the developing friendship between a young woman and a very old one. It is reasonably well done. It held my interest; but wasnt very satisfying in the end. There is a minor plot twist at the end. But, it did not adequately explain what happened before or what was happening then. I wanted to know more about how these two women went forward from there.

We have a very old woman, Sadie (Besedka Johnson) living in nearly total isolation. I read that Ms Johnson is a new actress; discovered at a YMCA. Her character appears to be very old. Ms Johnson does an OK job in her part. She becomes pursued by a 20 something young stranger, Jane (Dree Hemingway). Jane lives in a rented room w/ a woman friend and her boyfriend. We learn these 3 are all involved in the adult entertainment industry. Jane and her roommates are apparently all newbies at this work. Jane is a good-hearted, yet vacuous soul. She seems to have trouble thinking or reflecting about everything. She goes about her porn work in a matter-of-fact way. Because she is new, she has little money? Ms Hemingway is a little bit better than adequate. She resembles her mother, Mariel, thru her forehead, eyes, and cheekbones. She is an attractive woman. Maybe she has some acting potential to be developed down the road?

Very good acting skills are on display in Janes roommates, Melissa (Stella Maeve) and Mikey (James Ransone). There is a lot of yelling and screaming. They get to chew up the scenery. Ms Maeve is especially involving and convincing.

In an aside, we see cameo appearances by porn actors, Asa Akira and Manuel Ferrara. They each have a few lines. Mr Ferraras acting skills are tastefully blurred out.

In a minor, yet major role, is Starlet (Boonee). Boonee is a male chihuahua; who is Janes nearly constant companion. He is in maybe three fourths of the scenes. His presence lends a warmth and innocence to the story. We worry about the welfare of this small dog. There is a lot of violence and sleaze surrounding this animal.

The cinematography looks washed out in the sunny California outdoor scenes. The soundtrack was a problem for me. It was often jarring and intrusive to the flow of the movie.

It was just an OK trip to the flics.

I enjoyed the movie and the relationship between Sadie and Jane but the ending was so abrupt that it felt unfinished which is why I gave it 3 stars.

Jane is a long-legged young blonde who just moved to LA from Florida. She has a seemingly narcoleptic Chihuahua named Starlet who's her constant companion. She shares a house with Mikey and Melissa, a couple who are into video games, snorting oxycodone, and fighting.

One day while out hitting some yard sales, Jane is chastised by an abrasive old woman who takes umbrage with her asking if a large thermos the woman is selling is a cremation urn. Jane buys it anyway only to get it home and discover that it's crammed full of rolls of hundreds, about $10,000 in all. After a brief spending spree that includes a bedazzled harness for Starlet, Jane's conscience kicks in and she returns to the old woman's house, only to have the door slammed in her face.

Still, she persists, concocting a silly scheme to force a purportedly chance meeting in order to gauge just how much the woman, whose name is Sadie, needs the money. Despite Jane's warmth and Sadie's apparent loneliness, Sadie ups her level of crotchetiness after another "coincidental" encounter. With so many stories of scammers preying on seniors, this is probably a sensible posture to take if one finds oneself being stalked by a stranger at the bingo hall.

"Starlet" has several little surprises along the way that aren't exactly "spoilers" but I won't deny you the pleasure of experiencing them cold. Old woman. Young woman. Friendship. Dog. That's all you really have to know.

Jane is played by Dree Hemingway, daughter of Mariel Hemingway, who seems too young to have a 25-year-old kid, but turns out "Manhattan" was 33 years ago. Sadie is played by an 86-year-old first time actress who's a master of the withering grimace. They're both good, as is the sleepy dog, unless they were actually spiking its water bowl with Nyquil.

"Starlet" was a compromise choice but after reading a few negative reviews post-decision, I became so convinced that my friend and I were going to hate it that we were still debating seeing something else two blocks from the theater until I recalled that the "Starlet" theater has the best popcorn in town and that became the deciding factor. And what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. The movie, that is; the popcorn was a little under-buttered for my taste, despite my specific request for "extra", goddammit.

Loved the move though. Ignore the negative reviews. It's not slow, it's not boring, and "indie" isn't a dirty word.

When "Starlet," the new film from cinema-vérité expert Sean Baker, is at its best, it's deeply emotional and filled with under-stated brilliance. At its worst, it's boring and aimless. It's a mixed bag with "Starlet." But when it's good, it's very, very good.

Dree Hemingway (daughter of Mariel Hemingway) plays a young woman in Los Angeles getting started in the pornography business. But "Starlet" is not much interested in the pornography. The focus of the film is an odd friendship that the girl strikes up with a crusty, bitter 80-year-old woman, played superbly by first-time actress Besedka Johnson.

Johnson is so good that I wouldn't be surprised if she wins some Best Supporting Actress awards - or at least some nominations. I don't know how Baker does this. He finds untrained, natural actors everywhere he goes. It's one of his specialties.

Baker first began attracting attention in 2004 when he partnered with Shih-Ching Tsou to make "Take Out," a gritty examination of the army of Chinese men who bicycle around Manhattan delivering Chinese food for $2 tips. He followed that up with "Prince of Broadway," another hand-made movie with a cast of immigrants, this time from the Caribbean.

"Starlet" is not exactly cinema-vérité, but it does have something of a hand-made quality. The casting of Johnson, furthermore, a "real person" as opposed to a professional actor, gives the film that unique Baker touch. Some have described Baker as reminiscent of John Cassavetes. I can see the resemblance. But Baker has a long way to go in terms of story development if he wants to be anywhere near as good as Cassavetes.

Both "Take Out" and "Prince of Broadway" suffered terribly from under-development in the story department. Baker is the kind of filmmaker who believes that if a person looks interesting and very real, an audience will want to watch him/her walk down the street for 90 minutes. Not so. For most people, including most intelligent cinephiles, watching a unique person walk down the street remains engaging for about five minutes. The other 85 minutes must show the person involved in something that's interesting. The character's being in and of itself is not that intriguing. We need to see his being in action. And the action, furthermore, must be thought-provoking -- walking down the street is not interesting action.

Baker appears to have been working on this. "Starlet" is a step forward. There is more story in "Starlet" than in his previous two films combined. But there's still not enough. There are too many slack, repetitious moments in "Starlet," and there is too little revealed about the characters. Baker never gets inside his characters; he watches them from very far away. In a sense, he's more of a cinematographer than a filmmaker. He likes to watch his characters, but he doesn't seem to have much interest in what they have to say. When he writes dialogue, it's bare bones. In a Baker film, the dialogue is really beside the point. This makes his films more like appetizers than entrées. They always whet my appetite but not much more than that.

But there's no denying that "Starlet" has magical qualities. There are moments of truly stunning visual poetry. And its vision of these unique characters is deeply tender. I love how Baker finds humanity in the most unlikely places. When other artists are looking at the people who stand out and make an impression, Baker is noticing the guy who's delivering the take-out food, or the old crone playing bingo by herself to whom no one has spoken in years. I love that he directs his artistry toward these people. I just wish he penetrated inside their worlds more deeply.

This is one of those movies, like Drive, where style gets in the way of plot a bit. But unlike Drive, Starlet focuses on creating realistic characters through mannerisms and slower paced dialogue. I'll take this over a dialogue-driven movie any day, but others might feel differently.

With an odd mix of comedy, drama, and pessimism this film is more real and moving than any studio flick you'll see in 2012 and serves as an awesome resume piece for actress Dree Hemingway.

Phenomenal acting. Loved this movie.