Before "Anora," There Was "Starlet"
This early film by Sean Baker is a gem.
Sean Baker is one of the most interesting directors working in indie film today. And although it may seem like he has had an easy path to success as a filmmaker, nothing could be further from the truth.
Baker made his first film, Four Letter Words, back in 2000. After that, he made three very low budget films that received attention mostly on the film festival circuit.
In fact, it wasn’t until Baker’s 2015 film, Tangerine, the first movie filmed entirely on i-phones, that the general public began to take notice of him.
Today, Sean Baker has a large audience for his work, and he has become a successful indie film director. His recent movies include The Florida Project, Red Rocket, and his latest film, Anora, which many critics have praised as one of the best films of 2024.
Yet, it’s Sean Baker’s earlier fourth film, the little seen Starlet, that I believe should be rediscovered by fans of Baker’s more recent movies. Made on a modest budget, Starlet features great acting and an intriguing story.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
At its core, Starlet is a character portrait about the unlikely friendship between two very different women: twenty-something Jane and eighty-five year old Sadie.
Starlet begins with Jane (Dree Hemingway) and her chihuahua, Starlet, lounging around in the empty bedroom Jane rents from her roommates Melissa (Stella Maeve) and her pal, Mikey (James Ransone). Tired of living in a room with nothing in it but a bed, one afternoon Jane decides to go check out some local garage sales.
But who is Jane?
All we know is that Jane has recently moved to the San Fernando Valley of California. Yet, the reason why Jane has relocated there remains a mystery.
As Jane and Starlet check out the local yard sales, Jane finds an old thermos that she thinks would be perfect to use as a flower vase for her room. The thermos even has a floral design on it.
Back home, as Jane rinses out the thermos in the kitchen sink, rolls of money begin to fall out from inside it. The rolls amount to a total of $10,000.00.
Stunned at this discovery, Jane and Starlet go on a spending spree. But soon guilt sets in, so Jane returns to the house where she bought the thermos from an old woman and tries to return it. However, the woman refuses to take it: “No refunds!” she yells at Jane.
For reasons that are never fully explained (is it still guilt or something else?), Jane begins following the old lady around to the point of stalking the poor woman.
Jane pops up as the elderly woman shops for groceries and offers to give her a ride home. A few days later, Jane follows the woman to a local community center and sits down next to her as the older lady is about to play bingo.
The older woman, whose name we learn is Sadie, is stubborn and wants nothing to do with Jane. At one point, she even reports Jane to the police.
But, eventually Sadie gives in and the two form an unlikely friendship of sorts, although it will eventually be revealed that each one has their own reasons for doing so.
Soon, Jane learns that Sadie was once married to a gambler. Unfortunately, he died some years ago. Sadie claims her husband left her plenty of money from his winnings so she isn’t worried about the future. Yet, the house where Sadie lives is falling apart and the yard is overgrown with weeds.
Back at the condo, Jane’s roommate, Melissa, has a loud, emotional melt-down after her car is repossessed. Fortunately, Jane is willing to lend Melissa some of the money from the thermos to help Melissa get her car back. Naturally, Melissa begins to wonder why Jane has so much cash on hand in her room.
In this first part of the film, it’s not clear what Melissa and her friend Mikey do for their jobs. Likewise, we still don’t know how Jane makes a living either.
But around the one hour mark, we finally see Jane go to work. It turns out that both Jane and Melissa are actresses in California’s porno industry. They’re even employed by the same production company. However, Jane’s career is on the rise (giving the movie’s title a double meaning), while Melissa’s career is falling apart.
One of the many interesting things about this film is the way it portrays the sex industry.
Except for Melissa, everyone associated with the production company are professionals at what they do, and they treat each other with respect. This includes Jane and the other members of the company’s roster of “actors” and crew. They all work for the company’s stern and pragmatic owner, Arash, (Karren Karagulian).
Arash’s company operates out of a bland looking building that could be the home of any other type of business. Employees are expected to clock in and out on time, and the front office is occupied by secretaries and administrators, just like you would see at any other company. The only difference here is that sex scenes are being filmed in the back room.
As the cast and crew for the company’s latest production begin filming scenes for their new movie, Jane and her male co-star both remain calm and professional as they “portray” their roles. The director and crew are also so professional they aren’t aroused by what they see in front of them. Instead, they’re only concerned about getting the right camera angles for the film.
Even so, Starlet’s scenes of the porno industry are in stark contrast to the film’s focus on the unusual friendship between Jane and Sadie. In fact, many critics have remarked that this contrast makes Starlet seem like two separate films forced together as one.
Yet, Sean Baker has found a way to make this all work by unifying the movie around a common theme: secrecy.
You see, both Jane and Sadie have secrets they’ve hidden from each other. Jane’s secret, as we know from the beginning of the film, is that she has kept the money she found in Sadie’s thermos. Jane also never talks about her line of work with Sadie either.
But Sadie’s secret, revealed in the final scene of the film, is much more fascinating.
As Sadie and Jane are about to leave town to take a vacation together, Sadie asks Jane to drive to the cemetery on her way to the airport. Sadie wants to put flowers on her husband’s grave before they go away. Once they arrive, Sadie asks Jane to put the flowers on his grave for her because Sadie is too tired to do it herself. As Jane approaches the gravesite, she notices another tombstone next to Sadie’s deceased husband; it’s for Sadie’s daughter. Jane is shocked because Sadie has never mentioned she once had a child.
Staring at the tombstone in disbelief, Jane realizes Sadie also has secrets that she has kept from Jane.
You see, Jane has been played by Sadie in much the same way Jane has deceived Sadie (by not revealing the truth about her job and the money in Sadie’s thermos).
This is especially true because earlier in the film, Melissa figures out where Jane’s bankroll of money has come from and goes to Sadie’s house to tell her the truth. “She’s not your friend!” Melissa blurts out after explaining the situation. But Sadie doesn’t react. She just stares back at Melissa as if nothing has registered in Sadie’s mind. When Sadie next sees Jane, Sadie never lets on that she knows the truth about the money in the thermos.
Later, when Jane makes all the arrangements so she and Sadie can go to Paris together, Sadie again never gives any indication that she knows the money to finance the trip came from her old thermos. Is this on purpose or does Sadie not fully understand what Melissa has shared with her?
And, as viewers, we can only wonder what will happen after the film ends. Will Jane and Sadie continue their unlikely friendship since they each seem to provide the role the other one needs in their life? (a surrogate mother for Jane and a surrogate daughter for Sadie). It’s hard to say.
One of the pleasures of watching Starlet is enjoying the fine acting by the two leads: Dree Hemingway as Jane and 85 year old Besedka Johnson as Sadie.
Dree is the daughter of actress Mariel Hemingway, who you might remember portrayed the late Playboy model Dorothy Stratten in Bob Fosse’s 1983 film, Star 80.
I find it interesting that Dree has also chosen to play a sex worker for her first leading role. In Starlet, Dree gives a very naturalistic performance as Jane. This makes her character seem very believable to viewers, especially when it’s revealed that Jane acts in pornographic movies.
In the role of Sadie, newcomer (at age 85) Besedka Johnson also gives an incredibly realistic performance in her only film.
Johnson immerses herself in the role of Sadie so effectively that she makes the viewer question whether Johnson is really acting or just being herself. This is especially true in the scenes where Sadie seems to just stare off into space.
Besedka Johnson was born in 1925. She was discovered by the film’s producers at the Hollywood YMCA where she went swimming every day. In 2012, when Starlet screened at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Johnson won the special jury award for her performance as Sadie in the film.
Sadly, Besedka Johnson died one year later in 2013.
Karren Karagulian, who has appeared in many of Sean Baker’s films, also gives a solid performance as Arash, the owner of the company making the porno film in the movie. Likewise, James Ransone is great as Mikey, Melissa’s white trash pal and manager. Ransone later played a similar role in Baker’s next film, Tangerine.
In the role of Melissa, Stella Maeve does a fine job of creating drama everywhere she goes. Maeve excels at finding ways to appear vulnerable at the same time she’s being manipulative and causing chaos.
Of course, all of these wonderful performances were overseen by Sean Baker, who has done an excellent job of directing this film.
Another enjoyable aspect of the film is the nuanced screenplay cowritten by Baker and Chris Bergoch. Starlet’s script is an intriguing mix of character study, social commentary, and drama. In many ways, it slyly references Nathaniel West’s classic novel, Day of the Locust.
Finally, Radium Cheung has done a fine job as the film’s cinematographer. He gives Starlet a bleached-out sun-drenched look that helps make the film seem more like a documentary than a movie.
Although Starlet only received a limited run in theaters when it was released in 2012, it’s an important film in Sean Baker’s growing canon of work.
It’s also Sean Baker’s first film to feature characters who are sex workers. This is something Baker would continue to explore in his next film, Tangerine, and in his later movies, including his new film, Anora.
To conclude, twelve years after it was first released, Starlet still feels contemporary and relevant to our lives today. It features an intriguing story and fine performances from everyone in the cast. I encourage you to watch it soon.
(Starlet is currently streaming on Mubi, Tubi, and on Amazon Prime. It’s also available on blu-ray).
Huuuuuge Sean Baker fan. Can’t wait to see Anora. Had a friend that saw it at Austin Film Festival and said it was amazing. Can’t wait!!
Hi thx. Just saw Anora last night.