Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)

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barryconvex
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Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:08 pm
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Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)

#1 Post by barryconvex » Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:51 pm

domino harvey wrote:The logline for Starlet makes it sound like a movie you'd never want to actually sit through: flighty young woman befriends crotchety old woman. Blech, must be either feel-good garbage or some kind of culture clash nonsense, right? Except not really. It is however one of the very best films of recent years, and an exemplar of the kind of movie countless indies in the last decade have tried and failed to be: the small film done well. The success of Starlet is in how it completely trusts its audience to gradually attune itself to its level, which is mostly pitched to the tune of its central character of Jane, as played in a shoulda been star-making turn by Dree Hemingway. The film follows Hemingway's Jane through day-to-day minutiae and things start to become clearer and funnier as the film's sense of humor and measured information begin to color everything on-screen. And boy is it often funny. There is a fifteen minute block in this film that is as laugh out loud hilarious as anything I've ever seen concerning Jane's initial attempts to connect with the elderly Sadie, wherein the awkward small talk and facial expressions add up to extended segments of sustained laughter at every line and tic before finally culminating in an explosive direct confrontation. The laughs don't come from the sitcom hackery the basic premise promises but somewhere more real and both unexpected and yet immediately true to the situation, and as the film continues and turns somewhat more serious, the trust in the material and the performers to rise above the potential pitfalls is established and rewarded with great warmth of feeling. Starlet is a film built on trust (going both ways to and from the audience), but also on elisions, specifically a significant character detail withheld from the audience by the film for at least half the running time-- not because everything hinges on a surprise or twist, but because the film knows this information could cloud how the character is read if it's revealed too soon (I am, as ever, thankful that I either never read a review or saw a trailer, or forgot the relevant details if I did) and once it's learned organically, it is readily accepted as part of the package deal already bought into.

This is a beautiful-looking (and a special "Thank God" goes out to Music Box for having the faith to put a tiny indie like this out on Blu-ray) and smartly made film, but above all Starlet is a character piece. And helpfully it's hinged on one of the best performances of recent memory (and maybe ever, if I'm being honest) courtesy of Dree Hemingway, who embodies Jane in a way that is so natural and lived-in that it does not compute how she failed to gain any kind of traction as a result of her work here. Admittedly I may be biased since I've intimately known characters like Jane and yet rarely if ever see them represented in modern film in an honest way, but I consider that a vouchsafe if anything. Hemingway's perf, like the film, inspires earned effusiveness. See this film.
i saw this a couple years ago and liked it as well. Hemingway is really excellent here. i don't know what she's done since but she should have no shortage for work based on this. I agree that the script for Starlet reads like a bad sitcom episode full of unlikely situations and even more unlikely relationships but it's casting, supporting performances and direction are so assured that every potential derailment goes by the wayside.
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Also for a film about a young girl working in the porn industry and featuring some explicit scenes it never feels morally superior or exploitative/judgmental towards its characters in the slightest.

jojo
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:47 pm

Re: Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)

#2 Post by jojo » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:09 pm

I really enjoyed this as well. A small nitpick could have occurred, as Domino mentioned, in how it initially held back on revealing Jane's occupation for a minor bit of "shock" value but it was still eventually done in a more understated manner that most films would handle it. In fact, the film's lazy understated L.A. tone is probably its best quality, making all of the situations feel rather believable and organic.

How Besedka Johnson was discovered is quite a neat story. She passed away in 2013, basically only just a year after the film was released.

I'm also a bit surprised that Dree Hemingway hasn't done more film work. But I also find this to be the case with a lot of models who dip into film work; there are quite a few models out there who have put in some time in the world of film and did good work there, but never went back into it again.

Sean Baker's film resume is rather small, with a lot of TV work, most of which I haven't seen. It might be that this is a one-off thing, but it's still better than what many indie filmmakers would do with 5.

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domino harvey
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Re: Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)

#3 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:26 pm

jojo wrote:Sean Baker's film resume is rather small, with a lot of TV work, most of which I haven't seen. It might be that this is a one-off thing, but it's still better than what many indie filmmakers would do with 5.
Given that all of the stoner characters in the film seemed to be watching Greg the Bunny on an infinite loop, I surmised while watching that Baker must've had something to do with that series. Afterwards I learned he co-created it. From what I remember of Greg the Bunny, the circle for this film and for that show would not make for a useful venn diagram

As for other film work, Baker's followup, Tangerine, got picked up by Magnolia at this year's Sundance. It was shot using an $8 iPhone app

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)

#4 Post by Roger Ryan » Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:02 am

jojo wrote:...I'm also a bit surprised that Dree Hemingway hasn't done more film work. But I also find this to be the case with a lot of models who dip into film work; there are quite a few models out there who have put in some time in the world of film and did good work there, but never went back into it again...
I don't know - she's been involved in nine film or TV projects in the three years since STARLET was released including notable turns in the relatively high-profile films LISTEN UP PHILIP and WHILE WE'RE YOUNG. It looks like she's the lead or, at least, co-starring in two films currently in post-production; I'd say she's doing alright as a working actor.

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Lost Highway
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Re: Starlet (Sean Baker, 2012)

#5 Post by Lost Highway » Sat Jun 06, 2015 1:16 pm

I love this film and it's become one of my most watched in recent years. What looks like a run of the mill "heartwarming" (a word that makes me run for the hills) indie comedy from the trailer has so much more complicated and unpredictable characters. No passing-of-wisdom cliches from the old the young. I like how matter of fact and none judgemental the film is about the younger woman's line of business and how the older woman never really lets down her guard down and never looses her edge. There is nothing cutesy about the film. Graceful film making as well.

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bottled spider
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Re: Sean Baker

#6 Post by bottled spider » Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:28 pm

I ended up watching Starlet in the wee hours during a bout of insomnia. Lamentably, since it's a good film that deserved a more awake viewer. Anyway, because of the zombified state in which I watched this, I'm a bit hazy on an elementary point:
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what was the import of the two grave markers at the end? I think Sadie referred to her dead husband as Frank a few times, which was the name on engraved on the headstone. And had she earlier claimed to have not had children? But the ending reveals she had a daughter after all, deceased? I don't remember the birth dates, but the death dates were, I think, 1969 and 1971. I'll revisit the film one day, but for the moment it's a rental I have to return straight after work, so I can't just pop in the disc and review.
~
I liked that Baker took material that other directors would have used as the basis of an unlikely-to-be good comedy, and played it mostly as straight drama instead. And I liked that the two characters maintained a certain opacity. In fact I found the psychology of Jane baffling at first: surely she'd either return the money, or keep it and avoid Sadie like the plague. But her behaviour does make sense in the end:
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The supposed moral quandary provides a pretext for pursuing a friendship she can't at first admit she wants, whereas returning the money would no doubt terminate their budding relationship, so she adopts the weird compromise of trying to ascertain whether (by her own lights) she really owes the money back, and ultimately does return the money in an oblique way.

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domino harvey
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Re: Sean Baker

#7 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:39 pm

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Yes, the implication is that she had a daughter, which explains her hesitance and then investment in befriending Dree Hemingway

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bottled spider
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Re: Sean Baker

#8 Post by bottled spider » Sat Jun 09, 2018 2:54 am

Thanks! I thought so. The thing that made me a little unsure was
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Jane first stares at Frank's headstone for a while, as if both headstones were revealing something unexpected.
ADDENDUM: the final scene of Starlet is available on Youtube. Duh. I must have been really out of it before, because looking at it again, the information could not be presented more clearly!!

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mfunk9786
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Re: Sean Baker

#9 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Aug 07, 2018 1:28 pm

Westgate Gallery is selling a limited edition Starlet poster [note: the website is somewhat NSFW]

It is also priced as appropriately as possible.

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