Starlet

Directed by: Sean S. Baker

2012 | USA | 104 minutes | Unrated

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.

"In another time and another place, Starlet could have inspired a short story by Chekhov or O. Henry's story about two women, one 22, the other 85, who are linked by one of those accidental plot twists. Indeed, for almost an hour, the story is all the movie is about: That, and performances so effective they're enough all by themselves. Twenty-two-year-old Jane is played by Dree Hemingway the daughter of Mariel Hemingway. Besedka Johnson, playing Sadie, is a first-time actress who was discovered by the filmmakers at the West Hollywood YMCA. These two women, so very different, are the film's heart and soul, inviting us to decide for ourselves what's beneath their seemingly obvious facades." - Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times

Won Robert Altman Award, Independent Spirit Awards, 2012