'Star' shines bright

First-time director Arteta puts memorable cinematic experience on the map

Nobody ever said that life on the streets of Los Angeles was glamorous. Or that the shadowy and often revolting activities on barely lit corners have anything in common with Hollywood - the glitzy profit-hungry machine that rules the city. But in one of the most powerful and engaging movies of the year, the two paradoxical worlds are juxtaposed and deconstructed with unparalleled wit, insight and style.

REVIEW
	Star Maps The Michigan Theater

In his first feature film, director Miguel Arteta (who also wrote the screenplay) creates a film that is neither confined by conventions nor afraid of exploring truth. He uses his rich and memorable characters, including hopeful but streetwise Carlos (Douglas Spain), his violent pimp father Pepe (Efrain Figueroa) and the other offbeat members of Carlos' dysfunctional family to play masterfully with viewers' emotions, displaying the skill and effect of a Carnegie Hall pianist. His plot, as deep and soul-wrenching as Carlos' mournful eyes, carries the weight of a deeply disquieting drama that is offset by the light, zesty flavor of resilient hope in the face of tragedy.

Arteta explores life through the eyes of a person trying to survive on the streets, and "Star Maps" becomes many things all at once. It is a drama that deals with race and class issues, as well as destructive interaction between family members. It is a touching romance story about two innocent young people who fall in love in a unrelenting world. It is a hilarious romp through the quirks and delusions of its unique characters. And amazingly, as the film explores different styles and aspects of storytelling, it continues to pleasantly surprise as it becomes more complex and spellbinding.

Spain as Carlos will be a face that few people will forget after this motion picture. His portrayal of a boy returning from Mexico to Los Angeles with the dream of becoming a movie star is riveting and unforgettable. Though his father employs him to sell his body on the street corners under the facade of selling star maps (maps showing the locations of celebrity homes), he never loses his naive determination to achieve fame on the silver screen.

To Carlos, sex with these male or female clients is just another performance, as illustrated when a "good performance" in bed has him imagining himself reveling in the triumph of an Academy-Awards-type ceremony. But his break finally comes when one of his clients, a beautiful actress on a hit television series, promises to get him a part on her show.

Carlos' acting career is about to launch, and Pepe refuses to let Carlos out of his repulsive daytime job. Pepe continues to terrorize the family, which is also comprised of Carlos' kind and responsible sister, his mentally unstable mother and his eccentric younger brother.

While Carlos' work for Pepe reveals the life of a male prostitute, his experiences with the actress and the television studio allow Arteta to satirize the nature of the industry. "Star Maps" exposes television for all its shallowness (the writers joke about how exploiting an affair between an illegal immigrant and a rich white woman will promote social awareness), its scandal and its impersonality. This brilliantly constructed jab at the business is done in an impressively witty and amusing fashion, and the result is highly effective.

As "Star Maps" progresses, audiences never know what Arteta has in store for them around the corner. But while it is guaranteed that in this deterioration of Carlos' family life, some level of tragedy is in store, Arteta pulls it off with one of the most amazing movie endings in recent cinematic history.

Near the film's grand finale, I never laughed so hard at a moment when every fiber of my body was telling me to start bawling. Just as he did throughout the film, Arteta uses surrealistic humor (this time involving a Hispanic comedian and an astronaut suit) to offset the darkly disturbing aspects of the story. Though this bizarre and risky technique would normally threaten to ruin a movie, Arteta manages to successfully pull it off with astounding results.

Rarely does a movie come along that is so many things and that has so much to say.

"Star Maps" is one of the most hilarious, most touching, most disturbing and most intriguing movies I've seen in a long time. After a summer that provided more soggy fizzles than fireworks in movie theaters, "Star Maps" will give people faith once again that quality pictures are definitely still being made.

"Star Maps" is a film that packs the punch of King Kong. It is the one movie this year that you definitely don't want to miss.

Douglas Spain stars as Carlos in "Star Maps."

09-10-97