'Maps to the Stars' has stellar cast lead by John Cusack, Robert Pattinson Mia Wasikowska, and Oscars winner Julianne More. It also bagged trophies from different film festivals including Cannes, but despite of these features, this movie directed by David Cronenberg has earned mixed reviews from fillm critics. Is it because of Moore's acting or the melodramas within the film.
The focal character in Maps is Havana Segrand, is played by Moore. Segrand, a fading Hollywood star that wants to get the role of her late mother popularized before, has a therapist Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), limo driver Jerome (Robert Pattinson), and personal assistant Agatha (Mia Wasikowska). All of them including Weiss'13-year old son Benjie (Evan Bird) are move by their Hollywood dreams and frustrations that are connect to their personal dilemmas.
Apparently, these characters and plot are based on onservations of film's screenwriter Bruce Wagner who's a Limo driver back in 90's. Few of the major highlights Wagner's story are the 13-year old troubled child star Benjie, ghost of Havana's celebrity mom (played by Sarah Gadon) and Agatha's schizophrenic tendency.
"It was really Bruce's obsession with Hollywood; this is where he lives and has always worked, and it was more about the dialogue and the characters. The dialogue was fantastic, I'd never heard that kind of stuff before. And it just happened to be set in Hollywood - for me, anyway," the 71-year old 'Cosmopolis' director, who according to some reports was avoiding to shoot in Hollywood, shared with The Verge.
"But there's also a sense in which Hollywood is very much haunted by ghosts - you think of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, or even Humphrey Bogart - people whose presence is still felt very strongly, not just actors but many other creative forces still haunt Hollywood that way, and have an influence on Hollywood. So that's another way of looking at it," Cronenberg's explanation of dead personas in the film.
Though Maps promises great deal of meaty characters and plot interpreted by respected Canadian director, for some film critics these ingredients are confusing. According to Rolling Stone, Maps offerings are "a lot to take in" and overcrowded, but somehow ghosts help to create comical approach.
"When ghosts show up to haunt Havana and Benjie. And yet the film works as a dark comic blast into the dazzle and depravity of Hollyweird," review of RS' Peter Travers. "You can laugh with Maps to the Stars, but you can't laugh it off. Prepare to be knocked for a loop."
Meantime, USA Today' Claudia Puig commented that with Maps' "mishmash" quality, it can't be an Oscars film. She also mentioned that its directionless satire beefed up with unpleasant characters is not thrilling as it trying to show.
"Some of the barbs work, but as it progresses, Maps dials down its mockery of Hollywood hedonists and devolves into a ghost story and dysfunctional-family melodrama," Today's film reviewer commented.
On the other hand, New York Times' A.O Scott pointed out Wagner's treatment to his creatures: "And yet all of them [characters] are viewed with a measure of rueful compassion. The hush in Mr. Cronenberg's scenes can resemble the calm of an analyst's office, where damaged souls come to breathe and reflect. The grotesque humor of Mr. Wagner's script feels less like a distancing gesture - hey, let's laugh at these freaks - than a route toward empathy."
Maps to the Stars opens Friday, February 27, 2015, is a film that gave best actress trophies to Julianne Moore from Cannes Film festival and Sitges Film Festival. It also features Sarah Gadon as Havana's dead mom Clarice Taggart and Olivia Williams as Benjie's mom and talent manager.
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