'Starlet' Film Review

A film directed by Sean Baker about a girl in her twenties who purchases a vase from an elderly neighbor, with thousands of dollars stored inside, and wrestles with returning the money or keeping it for herself.

The first shot of a film sets the tone for the entire movie and Starlet does a phenomenal job at exactly that. A blank yellow wall is the first thing audiences see representing a blank slate. The lifestyle of Jane (Dree Hemingway), a spontaneous, twenty-something stripper, is captured nicely as she sits up, entering the first frame.

The lighting was effective. The faded colors portrayed plain Jane's life and contrasted nicely with the vividly colored scene at the porn convention.

Dree Hemingway and Bedeska Johnson (Sadie) had an incredible presence onscreen. Johnson did a fantastic job at portraying frail Sadie, Jane's neighbor and original owner of the vase.

Dree Hemingway and Karren Karagulian (Arash)

Bedeska Johnson as Sadie and Dree Hemingway as Jane