STARLET B
USA (103 mi)
2012 ‘Scope d:
Sean Baker
This is an unusual and somewhat mysterious examination of
the banality and utter vacuousness of both the elderly and young
twentysomethings while living in the San Fernando Valley,
which never looked more rampantly oppressive.
Opening with an exquisite musical theme by Manual that recurs
throughout, as we quickly see blank yellow walls, where a blond head slowly
rises on the edge of the screen, the film is seen through the breezy eyes of a 21-year
old blond, Jane (Dree Hemingway, the daughter of actress Mariel
Hemingway), a scantily clad girl apparently with too much time on her
hands, as she spends a good deal of it getting high or playing video games with
her roommates, where together they comprise an updated Three’s Company (1976 – 1984) glimpse of what it means to be total
airheads in the 21st century, as anything resembling thoughts rarely come out
of anyone’s heads, where one suspects they will quickly grow tiresome, as
almost immediately they hold little interest whatsoever. It’s Jane’s pet Chihuahua
dog that is named Scarlet, a well mannered dog that she takes everywhere,
sleeping away most of *his* life, much like his master. When Jane picks up a few odds and ends at
yard sales to decorate her otherwise empty room, one of the items purchased is
a thermos, which she plans to use as a flower vase, but inside she discovers
wads of cash money totaling $10,000, which she figures is actually something
worth thinking about. Returning to the
scene of the crime where she bought it, the cantankerous old lady that sold it
to her, 85-year old Sadie, Besedka Johnson, a remarkable first-time
unprofessional actress, and easily the most natural presence onscreen, slams
the door in her face before she can utter a word.
After going on an instant shopping spree for herself and her
dog, helping out the aggressively obnoxious roommates downstairs, Stella Maeve
as Melissa and James Ransone as Mikey, both regular pill poppers whose
adrenaline is always a little over-amped, calmed down by pot smoking, but both
are a nervous wreck most of the time who always find themselves in desperate
financial straits. Jane finds a way to
accidentally run into Sadie, by paying off her waiting cab at the grocery store
and pulling up in her own car, acting neighborly. The trouble is, Sadie’s been around the block
once or twice and she smells a scam when she sees one. But Jane is kind of a naïve, happy go lucky
Ana Faris style girl whose good looks get her through every situation in life,
where people will literally step over one another to try to get into position
to help her. Understanding this since
about the age of 6, she fully utilizes this kind of attention to her full
advantage, wearing barely there Daisy Mae outfits that have all eyes devouring
her. Despite this social phenomena, she
simply ignores it most of the time and goes on about her business as if nothing
of any significance was happening, constantly smiling, without a care in the
world. Nothing at this point is remotely
compelling to the viewer until Jane persists in running into Sadie, who
actually calls the cops on her as a stalker and potential scam artist, only to
discover she has no rap sheet and the police are calling her a Good Samaritan
who is actually trying to help her, offering rides for free instead of having
to pay cabfare. Sadie is the kind of
woman who rarely gets exposure in the movies, as at that age, the elderly are
invisible, out of sight, out of mind, yet she literally takes over the film. Slowly and reluctantly, a kind of friendship
develops, where it seems Jane wants to mention the money, but Sadie says she
has more money than she’ll ever need, as her dead husband was a gambler, and a
good one who apparently left her plenty.
The side stories are completely undeveloped, but notable,
where both Melissa and Jane do porn shoots on the side to earn cash, as does
Mikey, who seems to think he’s Melissa’s agent as well, but Melissa has been tossed
out of the business for 30 days to cool out after a violent, drug induced,
temper tantrum nearly costs her a job, where Jane also works a convention
circuit selling photos, hyping her merchandise, and mingling with her
fans. Sadie, on the other hand, has
ultra conservative neighbors who attempt to gain leverage over her by suing
her, claiming injuries from falls on cracks in her sidewalk, or unflattering
tree branches that reach into their yards, basically an excuse to bully an
elderly lady with self-righteous talk about how she’s a danger to the
neighborhood. Sadie, by some strange
quirk of fate, likes the foliage as it keeps her neighbors out of view. Among the best scenes in the film are quiet
and somewhat awkward moments of Sadie opening up about her life, chatting with
Jane in her backyard flower garden, where we get a glimpse of an era when she
wasn’t a frail elderly lady, but a woman happy to be with the guy she loved,
often dreaming of Paris. Instead she spends her time at weekend bingo
games, rarely winning a pot, but loves being part of the action. The two couldn’t be more different, yet the
film simultaneously explores the existential emptiness in both their lives, as neither one
has anyone close, where both are forced to suppress their real emotions in
order to get through the forced artificiality of their working life or the
dreariness of growing old alone, dealing with the onset of old age, where you
have to pretend it doesn’t bother you. Nearly all color has been bleached out of these images, where despite the vacuousness of the toxic atmosphere in the Valley, there’s a
quiet mystery to be found under the surface of this odd relationship, where the
recurring musical refrain adds to the texture of this gentle portrait.
