My review of "Starlet" (Sean Baker, 2012)

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I recently watched Sean Baker's Starlet for the first time. Brilliant film. I wanted to create a dedicated thread for this, since I didn't see one already.

As with Baker's Tangerine, Los Angeles may as well be another character here. The film definitely captures the vibe/tone of the city.

The friendship between young Jane & the elderly Sadie was actually quite touching.

[Show spoiler]Even though you knew the main reason that Jane "befriended" Sadie was because she initially felt guilty for unintentionally "taking" her money that she found in the thermos, it was also obvious that as time went on, she did genuinely want to help her.

I did find it funny & somewhat ironic that the title of the film "Starlet" was not referring to the blonde, youthful, and attractive main character, but was actually the name of her

[Show spoiler]male dog

The contrast between Jane's youthful life spent partying, etc. contrasted greatly with Sadie's uneventful life - but, that was the whole point. And, it seemed that both characters needed each other to a great extent.

The mistrustfulness that Sadie initially felt towards Jane was very spot-on, since there are a lot of scammers out there who will take advantage of elderly people for financial or other reasons.

Going along with this, I thought the film was unusual because it featured an older, non-professional actress in one of the main roles.

The film was also unusual in that it explored the theme of how we marginalize & dismiss the elderly in our society.

RIP Besedka Johnson (Sadie)

In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing additional films by the same director. Great stuff here!