Reviews

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  ★★★★★ review by Derek Diercksmeier on Letterboxd

  If you ever saw David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and wondered what it might have looked like with David Cronenberg at the helm, then this is the film for you.

  This is a great film and one that only Cronenberg could have made.

  This is easily Julianne Moore's best performance and the entire cast is terrific

  Bruce Wagner's script is equally haunting and satirical.

  Howard Shore's score is absolutely beautiful.

  David Cronenberg is one of the best filmmakers around and this is one of his finest works to date.

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  ★★★½ review by davidehrlich on Letterboxd

  los angeles seems like a nice place.

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  ★★★★ review by Eli Hayes on Letterboxd

  Insanity.
  
  Satire.
  
  Brilliance.
  
  Amazing.
  
  Pure Cronenberg.
  
  I loved it.

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  ★★★½ review by Sean Gilman on Letterboxd

  It never really makes sense in any kind of meaningful sense, but Cronenberg is such a master of unease that the feeling of the film sticks with you longer than its ludicrous scenario has any right to. As always, his focus is on the body (a mascara-ed Cusack’s manipulation of Moore’s freckled muscles, Wasikowska’s visible burns and tantalizingly, the ones she keeps hidden under her black gloves) and its isolation (the actors are filmed most often in one-shots, rarely sharing the same filmic space). That isolation, combined with Cronenberg’s minutely off-rhythm cutting compounds the alienating effect, throwing us off with all the subtlety absent from Bruce Wagner’s script. Like Cosmopolis, like A Dangerous Method, late Cronenberg has given us a film more disturbing, more memorable, more weird than it probably should be.

  The rest at Seattle Screen Scene.

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  ★★★★★ review by James Healey on Letterboxd

  This is my second time seeing Maps to the Stars, and I've had a lot of time to think about it since I saw it premiere at Cannes back in May. I still feel like I'm at loss for words after seeing this fucking marvelous satire.

  2013 brought us Spring Breakers which I find to be the greatest satire ever made. 2014 brings us Maps to the Stars, which as a whole I didn't find it to be as amazing as Spring Breakers, I still find Maps quite masterful. So masterful that I wouldn't hesitate once to call this Cronenberg's masterpiece. I can't give all the credit to David though, because Maps is nothing without Bruce Wanger's hilarious yet haunting script. Maps' smart sharp satirical dialogue makes it possibly the funniest film of the year in my opinion.

  One of the most amazing things about this film is that there really isn't a single like-able character, yet this doesn't detract from the film. Above all the performances, Julianne Moore stand on top. It's obvious that she brought her A game with possibly her best performance since Magnolia.

  Maps to the Stars is a film that has gotten much mixed reception, and I don't really understand that. It is without a doubt a syringe contender for one of 2014's best films, and I highly recommend anyone remotely interested, checks this out when it hits theaters.

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