CHILDSTAR

D: Don McKellar; with McKellar, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mark Rendall, Dave Foley, Kristin Adams, Eric Stoltz, Brendan Fehr, Michael Murphy

Narrative Feature Competition

Childstar, Canadian filmmaker Don McKellar’s satire on Hollywood’s exploitation of young actors, has all the elements to be an indie feature hit. Superb cinematography by André Turpin, a cast of recognizable, capable actors – namely the captivating Leigh and the phenomenal Rendall (the child star) – and a worthy topic, to boot. So then why does the film fall so flat? Could be due to McKellar and Michael Goldbach’s unfocused script. While there are a few sidesplitting scenes, most drone on without progressing the story or fleshing out any of the shallow characters. On top of that, why doesn’t the story focus on the child star himself, instead of the purely artistic, moral limo driver? Oh, right, he’s played by the director. Maybe I just don’t get it, but then again, I’m just a silly American.

This article appears in March 25 • 2005.

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