Star Maps Movie Review 1997

Ambitious and ambiguous effort from first-time director Arteta has boyish Carlos (Spain) chase his dreams of movie stardom on the streets of Hollywood. Pimped by his manipulative and brutal father Pepe (Figueroa), Carlos sells "maps of the stars' homes" as a cover for his real job, male prostitute. Dad's hooker mistress (Murphy) mentors him in the family business. Add in a mother (Velez) "recovering" from a nervous breakdown by talking to long-dead Mexican comedy star Cantinflas, and a brother (Chandler) who acts out scenes from Mexican wrestling movies, and it's a wonder he doesn't make his screen debut on Jerry Springer. Despite fine performances and a solid debut effort from Arteta, the tragic elements don't fit well with the attempted comic tone of the rest of the movie.

Distribution

CBS/Fox Video, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, Phone: (212)373-4800, Toll-free: 800-800-4369, Fax: (212)373-4803, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS
Running time 80 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Comedy Drama, Oldest Profession, Family Ties, Bad Dads, L.A., Sanity Check

Screenplay

Miguel Arteta

Cast

Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa, Lysa Flores, Kandeyce Jensen, Martha Velez, Annette Murphy, Vincent Chandler, Al Vincente, Herbert Siguenza, Robin Thomas, Jeff Michalski

Cinematography

Chuy Chavez

Director

Miguel Arteta

Music

Lysa Flores

Producer

20th Century-Fox