Sean Baker’s Starlet, an independent character-builder starring Dree Hemingway and Besedka Johnson, held its world premiere at the 2012 South By Southwest Film Festival, where it generated raves for the chemistry between the leads and the understated pacing of its relationship story. Music Box Films will be getting the film into theaters later this year, and they have prepped this trailer in preparation to give fans an idea what to expect. We’re sharing it below:
As you can see, the film puts the two ladies together through a contrived scenario: Hemingway’s flighty Jane finds a stash of cash buried in an item that she purchases at Sadie’s (Johnson) garage sale. But after they “cute meet,” Jane kind of refuses to leave, because she’s oddly fascinated with the elderly San Fernando Valley resident. Jane has emotional issues, and she pushes to befriend Sadie in hopes of figuring out her own troubles. As for the significance of the title, Starlet … well, we’ll leave that up for you to learn.
What critics did focus on after Starlet screenings was the emergence of Hemingway as a talent on the rise. The Hollywood Reporter summed it up by saying the actress “finds soul in a vacant-looking character.” I just can’t get over how much she looks like her mother, Mariel Hemingway, when she was around the same age. It’s relatively frightening. Baker, meanwhile, is best known for the puppet comedy Greg the Bunny with Seth Green, though Starlet could go a long way toward establishing him as a writer-director with a strong voice and a bright future. Look for the film as it opens and expands in the coming weeks.
