Starlet

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  • Opened November 9, 2012 (NY, LA)
  • 1 hr 43 min
  • NR

  • Parents: Common Sense Media says not for kids. More on child suitability

  • Starlet explores the unlikely friendship between 21-year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85-year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley. Jane spends her time getting high with her dysfunctional roommates, Melissa and Mikey, while taking care of her Chihuahua, Starlet. Sadie, an elderly widow, passes her days alone, tending to her flower garden. After a confrontation between the two women at Sadie's yard sale, Jane uncovers a hidden stash of money inside a relic from Sadie's past. Jane attempts to befriend the caustic older woman in an effort to solve her dilemma and secrets emerge as their relationship grows. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian
  • Director: Sean Baker
  • Genres: Drama

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208 fans
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Critics say Go
74 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

So-so
Unlikely Relationship

by bartab

Starlet introduces us to Dree Hemingway who plays Jane. She reminded me of a young Melanie Griffith in ?Body Double?. The storyline is about the relation between Jane and 85 year old Sadie. Jane...

I'll Pass
Starlet may be bright

by everyweek60706

I haven't seen it, but it was at the Chicago Film Festival. No longer in area....

Must Go!
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Critic Reviews

91
Entertainment Weekly
| Lisa Schwarzbaum

Sean Baker's singular little ultra-indie is a strikingly unsentimental study in female friendship between unmoored souls in L.A.'s bleached, glamour-challenged San Fernando Valley. Read full review

90
The Hollywood Reporter
| John DeFore

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. Read full review

80
NPR
| Scott Tobias

Starlet shows enough of her unbalanced, unsustainable situation to make sense of her connection to Sadie, however frail a ballast her new friend might be. Their need for each other is disarmingly sweet, but far from sticky. Read full review

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Steven Rea

Starlet sneaks up on you. Set in the same sun-dried, strip-malled precincts of the San Fernando Valley where "Boogie Nights" took place - and set, in part, in that same porn industry milieu - Sean Baker's low-key, low-budget indie traces the relationship that develops between a young actress and an isolated, elderly woman. Read full review

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Photos

A scene from "Starlet."