The Trailer:
Director: Sean Baker
Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, & James Ransone
Synopsis: Two unlikely women, Jane (Dree Hemingway) and Sadie (Besedka Johnson), become friends after Jane finds a stash of money in a thermos she bought from Sadie's yard sale.
I didn't know what to expect when going into Starlet. and I especially didn't expect to love it as much as I do. Well, I think love is too strong of a word, but appreciate, admire, adore are all good substitutes. Starlet is a marvelous, in-depth character study of two vastly different women who bring such meaning to each other's lives.
To continue with the synopsis: with the help of her slacker roommate, Jane comes to the conclusion that she should get to know Sadie in order to determine if she should give the money back or not. If Sadie is struggling financially, Jane will return the money, but if not Jane will keep it. So that's the beginning of their friendship. As mentioned before, they're very different women. Jane is a ne'er-do-well, living with two like minded people, Melissa (Stella Maeve) and her boyfriend Mikey (James Ransone). They all seem to just sit around all day, getting high, and playing X-box: it doesn't become clear until later what they all do for a living. Jane in some ways seems naive and childlike and in other ways she is the adult of her friend group, the stable one. Which says a lot since she is directionless and complacent of her place in life. Additionally Melissa and Mikey don't put off real friend vibes, you know? Especially Melissa— a whiny girl whenever she doesn't get her way— who feels she deserves something out of the friendship other than companionship, she's selfish in her motives for friendship. Anyways, then there's Sadie, a sour elder woman with no friends and whose only source of fun is bingo on Saturdays. She is curt and stays safe in her home surrounded by her wall of a garden and her Paris memorabilia. Due to both character's environments, filled with fake people or no people at all, both are equally lonely. Which kind of eludes to an undercurrent of urban loneliness, of being in a big California city full of people but not being genuinely connected to any of them. And so when they meet, they are both, unknowingly, yearning for real human connection. But because of their inexperience with genuine human beings, they both struggle to make a connection with one another. Through their friendship, though, they realize how empty their lives were before and how much they truly care about each other. And then there's Starlet, Jane's adorable dog, and the film titles namesake. I believe that the writer's chose to title the film after the dog, because like Jane and Sadie, Starlet is this symbolism of complacency (having a "feminine" name while being a male dog, but not being bothered by it) and he's also the catalyst for a lot of the discord between various characters in the film.
The actresses put on dazzling, genuine performances. Dree Hemingway, whom I had never seen before, is amazing as Jane. She has this California drawl that is both slow and laid back that emphasizes Jane's lackadaisical lifestyle, yet she's also endearing and sweet which allows us to empathize with her. Even when we know that her reasons for befriending Sadie aren't the best, we see how she actually begins to care for her. And the late Besedka Johnson (she passed away a short time after the release of the film) is illuminating as Sadie. Johnson has this stoic, dignity about her which is perfect for Sadie, this somewhat bitter older woman. Both of them together have this real chemistry. Their personalities bounce off each other and create this space of love and adoration. Stella Maeve as Melissa is scary reflective of young, ambitious girls of today. Well not all ambitious girls, but the type of girls that are indifferent, selfish, willing to step on others to get ahead, and immensely cruel to others when they see they are doing better than them. Maeve has this valley girl/surfer accent that is both annoying and convincing, and works with her whiny, California girl character. James Ransome, though a small almost insignificant role, is also a mirror of ambitious young men who will pander their own friends/partners in order to gain success. Example: he installs a stripper pole in their house so that Melissa can work on her stripping skills to dance at clubs and make a profit for himself (since he handles her finances). All in all the acting is good and believable. A+, man!
I enjoyed Starlet, it's interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, enlightening, and joyous. I love watching films about unlikely friendships, or films simply about a budding friendship. It fills me with such happiness when everything is good, and such sadness when things go wrong. The performances are dazzling and the story is intriguing, though may not be everyone's cup of tea. Also, I will warn you that ending is an ambiguous one, there is no real conclusion. If that's not something you like, then don't even watch it because you will be left with many questions. But if you like films that are thinkers, and allow you to discuss the whys and hows of various events of the film, then Starlet is for you. Would I watch it again? Of course I would.
!!!Spoiler Alert!!! I have a theory about the ending. If you've seen the film, you know Melissa discloses to Sadie that Jane had only been friends with Sadie because Jane had her money. And instead of telling Jane she knew, Sadie asks Jane to take flowers to her late husbands grave before they leave for Paris. At the grave Jane sees that Sadie had a child, a daughter, who died also. This is important as Sadie had told Jane earlier in the film that she didn't have children. My reasoning for this being significant is because I think it showed that Sadie, too, had been in the friendship with a ulterior motive other than just having a friend. Sadie wanted a daughter figure in her life and was more than happy to have Jane fill that role for her. Or it may be Sadie's way of hurting Jane, like "see I lied to you too, how does it feel?". Either way I think the ending poses the question: even if we have an agenda for a relationship with anyone, does that make the love and affection gained any less real? You decide. !!!Spoiler Alert Over!!!
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