Maps to the stars (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: David Cronenberg
	Actors: Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, Evan Bird
	Country: USA, CDN, F, D
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 11.04.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Stafford (Cusack) is an analyst and coach; mother Cristina mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie (Bird), 13, a child star. One of Stafford's clients, Havana (Moore), is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice, a star in the 60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night.
Review: The psychological problems of people in Hollywood and actually of any people is usually a good plot. Here served by good actors like Moore, Cusack and Wasikowska. The movie does not bring any original idea on the topic and sounds often very narcissistic. The unique interest to set the situation in Hollywood is that the image is so important that the contrast between image and psychology is larger than in other groups. So what? Shall we have a special compassion to Hollywood stars? The character of Wasikowska is very interesting, because she has been rejected by her family and is not as easy to describe as the other characters. This compensates the bad points in the storyline. The directing is otherwise quite clear by Cronenberg. Even if this time there is nothing amazingly original as in The fly or Crash.
Rating: 4 /10