Hemingway’s Jane is at once tomboyish and distractingly sexual: she’s got a model’s good looks but doesn’t seem to know it. And so it begins: two women, decades apart, one too trusting and the other mistrustful, slowly becoming friends. Driven, perhaps, by guilt, Jane forms a relationship with Sadie, who lives alone and tends to her overgrown garden.
And so she’s faced with a choice: fess up and return it, or walk away with the cash. In an effort to decorate her depressing bedroom, Jane buys a thermos from an older woman named Sadie (Besedka Johnson) at a local yard sale (“It’s a vase!”) and brings it home, only to find wads of money inside, to the tune of around $10,000. Jane’s one true friend is a male Chihuahua named Starlet, who wears a bedazzled pink collar. She comes from a broken family and now lives with an unstable and drug-addicted roommate (Stella Maeve) and her creepy boyfriend (James Ransone). She’s in Los Angeles to promote her new film, Starlet-out this week-the moving story of a 21-year-old girl, Jane (played by Hemingway), who’s setting up life in California’s San Fernando Valley. Her legs go on for days, and there’s no sign of makeup anywhere on her face. Her blonde hair is stringy, dark at the roots, and she’s wearing navy short-shorts that are so small, they’re almost hidden under a flowing white top. Her knees are folded neatly to one side, and she’s leaning-almost awkwardly-on one hyper-extended arm. But Starlet, thankfully, keeps armchair psychology to a minimum, and is best when these two women (and the dog) are alone in the frame, trying to be human beings in a place where humanity can be a liability.Dree Hemingway is in bed at the Standard Hotel. The elder woman has her own secrets, and viewers may come to accept her initially outrageous behavior as a natural response to deep pain. “Starlet” is the name of Jane’s Chihuahua, but the movie’s title hints at the way Jane and her friends make their living the script is slow to reveal details, but Baker’s camera doesn’t flinch when it’s time to show the character going to work, and this part of Jane’s life is a provocative counterpoint to scenes in which she ferries Sadie to the grocery store and sits playing Bingo with her.
Hemingway finds soul in a vacant-looking character, a girl whose passive acceptance of the sleaze around her (like her drug-abusing roommates’ lifestyle) makes her seem unlikely to pursue a friendship both challenging and far outside her world. SXSW: Janet Pierson Stepping Down as Fest Director, Claudette Godfrey to Take Over
The SXSW jury has singled out Johnson’s performance for special recognition, and if the nod comes partly because it’s the actress’ late-in-life acting debut, it probably didn’t hurt that Johnson is admirably committed to this sketchy premise, rebuffing Jane’s inquiries with such baffling ferocity that the girl has to stalk her way into Sadie’s life. “I told you, no refunds!” she shouts, slamming the door in Jane’s face. Conscience-struck, she tries to return the loot to the ornery 85 year old who sold it to her, but Sadie ( Besedka Johnson) won’t even let her get a sentence out. Set in a San Fernando Valley where, according to production designer Mari Yui and high-def DP Radium Cheung, primary colors simply do not exist, the film is as pale as its protagonist’s blonde hair - distractingly so, though the look does suit a film about seeking connection in a soulless world.ĭree Hemingway plays Jane, a frighteningly skinny 21 year old who finds $10,000 rolled up in a Thermos bought at a yard sale. AUSTIN - A mismatched-friends drama whose overall sensitivity is belied by a couple of clumsily contrived plot points, Sean Baker‘s Starlet pairs story and setting perfectly and could shine in a short arthouse run.
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