Maps to the Stars (2014) - Cronenberg fries Hollywood to a crisp

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Stylized, shadowy and ominous, star faces make up this smouldering poster for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars

 

A young woman lands in Los Angeles and befriends a driver. She becomes a personal assistant for a female star, who is hunting a role that her abusive mother once played, while the girl's local new family fears for her.

 

Maps to the Stars is written by Bruce Wagner (Young Lust (1984)) and directed by great Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg (Crimes of the Future (1970)).

Cronenberg's best film since Eastern Promises (2007), the film is an icy cold portrait of Hollywood, which comes across as an incestuous temple of falsity, cynicism, a vacuum of values, of shameless egocentricity, vanity and abuse. To call the film satirical or a comedy even is misleading, because it doesn't bring about laughter. But it is compelling, not least for us who are fascinated by Tinseltown.

A formidable cast helps it along: Julianne Moore (Marie & Bruce (2004)) is fearless and gives the film its integrity; Olivia Williams (Now Is Good (2012)) and John Cusack (Cell (2016)) are strong as awful parents; Mia Wasikowska (Tracks (2013)) is intriguing and flawless as their returned daughter; and Evan Bird (The Killing (2011-12)) is striking and chilling as their morally ruined 13 year-old celebrity son.

It is impossible to watch Maps to the Stars without wondering if this is how the stars behave between appearances? SPOILER The story culminates extremely, - Moore is beaten to death with a statue; Williams self-immolates, - and amorally; two youths commit suicide together while reciting poetry. The very dark Maps to the Stars is a well-made drama regardless.

 

Related posts:

David Cronenberg: Top 10: Best Hollywood-set movies

Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby
A Dangerous Method (2011) - Cronenberg's rather disappointing waltz with the fathers of modern psychology 

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2007 in films - according to Film Excess Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall? 
Spider (2002) - Cronenberg takes us to the tormented (and slightly dull) mind of a schizophrenic 
Existenz/eXistenZ (1999) - Cronenberg's 1990s-flavored VR nonsense
Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments 

The Fly (1986) - Cronenberg's gory, entertaining treatise on sickness, decomposition - and transformation 
The Dead Zone (1983) - Eerie sci-fi/horror King-adaptation
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!   

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 13 mil. $

Box office: 4.5 mil. $

= Mega-flop (returned 0.34 times its cost)

[Maps to the Stars premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 112 minutes. Wagner wrote the novel Dead Stars (2012) based on his script, while the film was stuck in development for 6 years. Viggo Mortensen and Rachel Weisz were initially meant to act in it. Shooting took place from July - August 2013 in California, including Los Angeles, and in Ontario. It was Cronenberg's first time shooting in the US. The film opened #32 to a 143k $ first weekend in 66 theaters in North America, where it never widened and only grossed 350k $ (7.8 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were France with 1.6 mil. $ (35.6 %), the UK with 599k $ (13.3 %) and Italy with 508k $ (11.3 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and won 2 prizes in Cannes, among other honors. Cronenberg returned with Consumed (2014, short), a video to advertise his debut novel of the same title, but has otherwise retired from films upon finding financing them having become too difficult. Moore returned in Still Alice (2014); Wasikowska in Madame Bovary (2014); and Cusack in Drive Hard (2014). Maps to the Stars is fresh at 61 % with a 6.37/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maps to the Stars?

Aquarius (2016) - Braga stays with us in Filho's multifaceted drama

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+ Best Brazilian Movie of the Year + Best Character Study of the Year  + Best Political Movie of the Year

Fittingly, Sonia Braga is at the center of this poster for Kleber Mendonça Filho's Aquarius

Aquarius is the second fiction feature from great Brazilian writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Neighboring Sounds/O Som ao Redor (2012).

Clara is a cancer survivor, widow, mother and grandmother in her 60s, comfortably living in her beach-front apartment, which is in the building Aquarius, which a huge construction company want to tear down to allow for new construction.

Aquarius is solidly anchored in its location of Recife, Brazil, where Filho also is from, which it portrays with tenderness and insight. It establishes its pace, which some may call languid, but which is really quite daring, instantly. Daring because all those minutes of running time need material, meanings and focus. Best of course is that the film pulls it off. We do get much more insight and meanings, - poignant observations on the differences between Clara and her children's generations, on child care, death, sickness, sexuality, personal strength through opposition, - even a wry comment on the 'digital revolution' - much more than would have been possible at a tighter running time.
Aquarius is a film that hinges on a single performance more than anything else: That of Sonia Braga (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands/Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (1976)), who gets a well-deserved and terrific comeback here in her first Brazilian performance in 15 years as Clara, the stubborn, proud, dignified and incredibly beautiful protagonist. Much of the suspense of the film,  - clearly a drama but one with a central conflict (that of the company's wanting to rid their building of obstinate Clara) that becomes very tense, - comes from our recognition of Clara's fragility in the situation, despite her personal character strengths. Satisfyingly, though, Filho does not push his plot into the criminal and violent problems of his country that we might expect, but instead leads us to an ending that is both surprising, shocking and thrillingly empowering. Braga is like a force of nature throughout but not least here.
Though the film has good supporting performances all-around, one deserves singling out: Humberto Carrão (Aurora (2016)) plays the young, slimy company chief who attempts to harass Clara out of her home with a naturalness that is positively off-putting, - doing a great job in other words.
Aquarius is a wholly realistic story with the kind of imperceptible, taut photography (by Pedro Sotero (I Swear I'll Leave This Town/Prometo um Dia Deixar Essa Cidade (2014)) and Fabricio Tadeu (Neighboring Sounds)) that is only commenting imperceptibly on the action, - except for the throwback use of zooms now and then.
Aquarius is rich on poignant details that are open for interpretation and implicit social and societal criticisms. It is a very worthwhile and unusual film not to miss.

Related posts:

 

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film with Spanish subtitles here

Cost: Reportedly 3.4 mil. R$, equal to approximately 1.07 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 2.6 mil. $
= Even
[Aquarius premiered 17 May (Cannes) and runs 140 minutes. Braga rehearsed for 3 weeks prior to filming. Shooting took place in Recife, Brazil in seven weeks from August - September 2015. The team behind the film spurred controversy at Cannes with a red carpet protest against what they saw as the coup at home against president Dilma. Controversy continued through the film's life in Brazil, possibly leading to its not becoming the country's Oscar entry (much less seen Little Secret/Pequeno Segredo (2016) got that honor instead.) The film opened #56 in 3 theaters to a 29k $ first weekend in North America, its 3rd biggest market, where it peaked at #44 and grossed 285k $ (11 % of the total gross). The biggest markets were Brazil with 1.2 mil. $ (46.2 %) and France with 601k $ (23.1 %). The gross above does not include several smaller markets, whose gross are not made public. The film is set to release in Greece and Poland within the next two months. It has been nominated for a César (France's Oscar), an Independent Spirit Award, won the Sydney Film Festival Best Film award and more. Aquarius is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Aquarius ?