{"id":4974,"date":"2014-05-22T06:02:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T05:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=4974"},"modified":"2014-09-27T13:49:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-27T12:49:00","slug":"maps-to-the-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/22\/maps-to-the-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Maps to the Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maps<\/a>
Maps to the Stars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease date:<\/B> 26 September 2014

\nDistributor:<\/B> Entertainment One

\nDirector:<\/B> David Cronenberg

\nWriter:<\/B> Bruce Wagner

\nCast:<\/B> Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams, Sarah Gadon, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson

\nCanada, USA 2014

\n112 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

You can say what you want about Maps to the Stars<\/i>, as long you don\u2019t mention the word \u2018satire\u2019. At least not in the presence of director David Cronenberg or his screenwriter Bruce Wagner, who spent most of their time in Cannes denying the fact that the narrative could be seen as such. A pitch-black family drama of sorts, yes. Cronenberg\u2019s very own Divine Comedy<\/i>, maybe. A haunting, terrifying version of life in LA, if you like. But a \u2018Tinseltown satire\u2019, NO. \u2018It is not a satire of Hollywood,\u2019 Cronenberg stresses in more than one interview, \u2018it\u2019s reality.\u2019 And Wagner adds: \u2018I\u2019ve given you the lay of the land as I see it, saw it, and lived it.\u2019<\/p>\n

If so, then the truth is that Wagner has seen a lot \u2013 by anyone\u2019s standards. Julianne Moore plays Havana, a fading yet feisty ageing actress, who is desperate to make her big comeback but instead is increasingly haunted by the ghost of her mother, a celebrated child actress who became a classic Hollywood star. To her good fortune, Havana is inclined to think, she meets Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), whom she employs as her new PA. Branded with burn scars on her hands and arms, Agatha, however, has her very own agenda. The daughter of a smug self-help guru (John Cusack) and demanding mother (Olivia Williams), who managed her kids\u2019 careers but otherwise cared little for their well-being, Agatha left home for rehab after causing a fire that put her and her little brother Benjie (Evan Bird) \u2013 a child star ruined by fame \u2013 in life-threatening danger. Now back in the hood, Agatha lives out her inner demons and romantic fantasies in a weird imaginary game with limousine chauffeur Jerome (Robert Pattinson), who, in turn, is seduced by Havana. Unsurprisingly, things get pretty messy from here on. <\/p>\n

In his career, spanning almost 40 years since his 1975 debut feature<\/i>Shivers<\/i>, Cronenberg has never before shot an entire film in LA and, quite aptly, finally arrives only to expose it to the bone before burning it all down to ashes. What\u2019s more, Maps to the Stars<\/i> exploits its blatantly Lynch-inspired plot of switching reality for fantasy, yourself for someone else, and losing all sense of truth to a point where delusion (and in Havana\u2019s case, hysteria) thrives, terror rules, and nothing is sacred. <\/p>\n

In both counts, the film sees Cronenberg at his weirdest, wittiest and most horrifying in years, crafting a highly charged, cynical nightmare about today\u2019s fucked-up Hollywood society, with the suitable feel of a mystery ghost story. And yet, as fitting, seductive and gruesome as it is, Maps to the Stars<\/i> somewhat feels at odds with the director\u2019s insistence that the film is anything but a satirical apocalypse. But luckily, as in real life, the truth lies in the details and it is the ambiguity that makes the experience worthwhile.<\/p>\n

This review is part of our Cannes 2014 coverage<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Pamela Jahn<\/I><\/B><\/p>\n

Watch the trailer:<\/B><\/p>\n