Childstar
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brendan Fehr, Gil Bellows, Kristin Adams, Niv Fichman, Victoria FodorBrand: Hart Sharp Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Childstar
Movie Review: A must-see for cynical movie-lovers
Summary: 4 Stars
Taylor Brandon Burns (Mark Rendall) is a 12-year-old star known for his role on a popular family TV show. On his show, he's cute and funny. In real life, he's an obnoxious almost-teenager who's demanding and spoiled. To make his latest movie, he's shipped off to Canada with his bored, uncaring, and equally demanding mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They're put in the care of Rick Schiller (Don McKellar), a former college professor who quit his job to make movies-and who's now working as a limo driver. As filming begins, though, Rick becomes more than just Taylor's driver. He soon also takes on the roles of Taylor's tutor and legal guardian-and his mother's lover.
Childstar is a darkly comedic look at the world on the other side of the big screen-giving viewers a peek at the movie-making world and revealing child actors for what they really are. It also shows another side-the broken families, the money-hungry parents, the difficulty of finding real friends, and the impossibility of having a normal childhood or living a normal life. It even shows the child actor's future-though Taylor's costar, Chip (Brendan Fehr), a former child star who battles a fading career and a problem with addiction while trying to gain recognition as an adult.
The theme may not be totally original, but it's well-executed-for the majority of the film. Writer/director Don McKellar creates a captivating story that's insightful as well as amusing. Unfortunately, however, things fall apart toward the end of the film, when Taylor sneaks out and follows Rick's advice to "live a little." He meets a girl, decides he's fallen in love, and disappears from the set-and things go downhill from there. The rather confusing turn of events leads to an ending that's unnecessarily preachy.
As a whole, Childstar is an excellent indie. McKellar plays his role with an understated dry wit that enhances the story. And Rendall is wonderful in his role as the obnoxious yet conflicted child star. Despite its disappointing conclusion, Childstar is a clever and witty film-a must-see for movie-lovers and cynics (and especially for cynical movie-lovers).
Summary of Childstar
CHILDSTAR - DVD MovieBilled as an eccentric, funny film, this award-winning Canadian import from director/actor Don McKellar (eXistanZ, The Red Violin) is more drama than comedy; a multi-layered, provocative satire of the movie industry and its self-serving exploitation of child celebrities. Childstar is the story of Taylor Brandon Burns (Mark Rendall), a spoiled 12-year-old American megastar and his self-absorbed mother, Suzanne (Jennifer Jason Leigh), together in Canada while Taylor films a big budget movie. Shockingly insolent on the exterior, Taylor struggles with conflicting emotions of anger and apathy and, at the point of despair, runs away with a prostitute. Enter Rick Schiller (Don McKellar), a hapless indie filmmaker picking up a paycheck as Taylor's limo-driver who is now enlisted to find the boy before he destroys himself. With camera in hand, Rick can't help but see Taylor's life as a movie while he attempts to engage Taylor as a friend. Perhaps intentionally, this movie-about-a-movie-about-a-movie eschews a single raison d'être in favor of many. At times wry, it is also a sobering statement on America's celebrity culture. Most notable is the film's cinematography--artsy, innovative, and, at times, disturbing. With standout performances by McKellar and Leigh, viewers can't miss the message on child stars explicit in the script: "When they hit puberty, we chew them up and spit them out; they spend the rest of their lives entertaining us in the tabloids." Rated R for extreme language and sexual content. --Lynn Gibson
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