Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Olivia Williams, Robert Pattinson, Sarah Gadon, Evan Bird
Running time: 111 minutes
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: Created through intertwining stories and relationships, Cronenberg lifts the veil on the strange lives of a paranoid C-list actress, a criminal pyromaniac, a drug-addicted child star, a limo driver, and a set of parents with a huge, dark secret.
I have to admit something – this review has been a long time coming. Having seen MAPS TO THE STARS way back in July, it’s taken me nearly two months to actually process what I saw and decide whether I liked it or not. Director David Cronenberg, known for the likes of THE FLY, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and 2011’s Freud/S&M drama A DANGEROUS METHOD, is infamous for his need to impress and thrill…but also make his audience a little uncomfortable. This definitely fits the last category.
Wasikowska stars as Agatha Weiss, a troubled young lady just released from a sanatorium in Jupiter, Florida. Desperate to see her estranged family members – father Dr. Stafford Weiss (Cusack), mother Christina (Williams), and younger brother Benjie (Bird) – she heads to Hollywood in the hopes of reconnecting with her parents and sibling, and to apologise for trying to burn their house down. On her travels she meets aspiring screenwriter/actual limo driver Jerome Fontana (Pattinson), who encourages Agatha to interview for a PA job for Havana Segrand (Moore), an unstable C-list actress. Keeping up?
While from the outside it would seem that this group of Hollywood homebodies are just strangers passing in a huge, money-hungry, prescription-drug-addicted crowd, each member is linked to another. Dr. Weiss acts as Havana’s therapist, with her mentioning to him very briefly that she’s hired a new PA named Agatha. With his hackles raised he goes on the warpath, out to prevent Agatha getting anywhere near his (and technically her) family.
While the cast list is full of A-list names, I couldn’t help but feel that the film took a turn into Crazy Town. With themes surrounding drug addiction (tween star Benjie spends a stint in rehab, relapsing when he returns to his celebrity lifestyle), mentality disorders, greed, fame, murder, suicide, and incest, Cronenberg defiantly aims to shock with MAPS TO THE STARS. Full-frontal nudity, threesomes, and the violent shooting of a dog were all points through the narrative that I felt the audience around me recoil, not wanting to see much more for fear of something worse happening. In other words, it’s uncomfortable from beginning to end.
However, that’s not to say that the names involved didn’t impress. Moore stuns as the erratic Havana, a lady addicted to fame but haunted by the ghost of her mother (played by Sarah Gadon), a figure who taunts her so much she pushes her to self-harm. Managing to switch slickly between Havana’s polished persona and her pill-popping alter-ego, Julianne is just one of the many elements that makes watching the film distressing. Mia as Agatha is another example of wise casting, with her young, innocent face contradicting the character’s cunning, sly side. And wait until Cronenberg hits you with the Weiss family’s dark secret – you won’t see it coming!
At times a clear satire of the lives of the rich and famous (Benjie’s clubbing scenes are reminiscent of Sophia Coppola’s THE BLING RING), MAPS TO THE STARS is not for the easily shocked. Clever and filled with black humour, Cronenberg fulfills his aim to disturb.
[usr=3] MAPS TO THE STARS is released in cinemas from 26th September.
