
After five years of living in Mexico, Carlos, an 18-year-old youth returns to Los Angeles. He wants to be an actor. But his father, Pepe, a pimp wants him to work in the family business, that is, male prostitution. Carlos decides that he will be one of his father's boys until he can get his foot in the door in Hollywood. Finally one of his clients, Jennifer a rich soap star, offers him a bit part in her show. Pepe tells Carlos that she is just using him and demands that he mo... (Full plot summary below)
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After five years of living in Mexico, Carlos, an 18-year-old youth returns to Los Angeles. He wants to be an actor. But his father, Pepe, a pimp wants him to work in the family business, that is, male prostitution. Carlos decides that he will be one of his father's boys until he can get his foot in the door in Hollywood. Finally one of his clients, Jennifer a rich soap star, offers him a bit part in her show. Pepe tells Carlos that she is just using him and demands that he most not see the woman any longer. Carlos defies his father and when his big day comes he finds out the harsh realities of life are even harsher than he imagined.
Leave your thoughts about Star Maps.
| The Seattle TimesJohn HartlThe first measure of Arteta's shrewdness as a storyteller is in the no-fuss way he reveals the nature of the father's business. |
| Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaStays consistently interesting through some risky tonal shifts. |
| NewsweekDavid AnsenOccasionally, the unevenness of the performances in Star Maps becomes distracting and the dastardliness of the characters' dysfunction impinges the bounds of dramatic believability, yet you will be hard-pressed to find another directorial debut this year that equals the narrative and structural audacity of Star Maps. |
| Washington PostEve ZibartStar Maps has youthful flaws -- all the Anglos, this film’s "others," are impotent or at least twisted -- but it is itself evidence of filmmaking’s power over Arteta, and his future power in the fantasy biz. |
| The New York TimesJanet MaslinThough Star Maps lacks a strong ending or a Ratso Rizzo to play off Spain's ingenuous hustler, it introduces Arteta as a filmmaker with a credible style and a flair for caustic storytelling. And his film takes the interesting tack of sharing Carlos' matter-of-fact outlook. |
| EmanuelLevy.ComEmanuel LevyRepresenting an uneasy balance of Latino melodrama and arthouse fare, the film tells a lurid story (about a patriarch who's a pimp to his son) in crude manner with occasional lyrical touches; Arteta's next feature will show whether he has real talent |
| Chicago TribuneMark CaroStar Maps reveals its larger (and less interesting) social intentions with a downbeat, slap-in-the-face finale, but along the way it has some good domestic grotesquerie and a layered, ironic attitude toward sex. |
| Baltimore SunChris KaltenbachStar Maps is the work of a talented group of young actors and filmmakers anxious to try as much as they can and see what works. Not all of it does. |
| New York Daily NewsJami BernardThe filmmaker's command of storytelling is less than assured, and with the exception of Figueroa and Annette Murphy (who plays Pepe's mistress Letti), the film's performances range from awkwardly wooden to amateurishly awful. While Arteta is definitely a filmmaker to watch, this particular movie is a testament to aspirations that considerably exceed his present abilities. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertStar Maps is not, to be sure, boring. But it is wildly unfocused. |