Twisted Turns in ‘Star Maps’

The selling of maps to movie stars’ homes is one of those only-in-L.A. institutions, right up there with Forest Lawn, Angelyne and the Doo-Dah Parade. A different kind of local landmark are the young people who dream of stardom, who want to become bigger than life themselves. “Star Maps” joins both of these L.A. preoccupations in an unusual kind of film package.

A word-of-mouth success at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “Star Maps” is balanced between contrivance and reality. Heavy on melodramatic elements, it nevertheless exerts a powerful emotional pull. That’s because a truth exists underneath the quasi-cliched situations, a truth that is unlikely but undeniable.

Part of what makes “Star Maps” different is its potentially exploitative subject matter, its fictional thesis that some of those cute young people out there selling maps on our streets are in reality male prostitutes on call to potential customers of both sexes. Writer-director Miguel Arteta has given this story both sweetness and edge, as well as an explosive father-son relationship that is a considerable strength.

Though he’s coming into town on a bus from Mexico, 18-year-old Carlos (Douglas Spain) grew up in L.A. and has only been gone for two years. In that time, however, the dream of becoming an actor and a star has so taken him over that the fantasy follows him everywhere.

The reality Carlos has to deal with would drive anyone to dreaming. His mother Teresa (Martha Velez) has had a nervous breakdown and enjoys imaginary conversations with the ghost of the great Mexican actor Cantinflas. His brother Juancito (Vincent Chandler) has become a damaged couch potato. And his sister Maria (singer Lysa Flores, who also put together the film’s driving soundtrack) is chafing at her role as the sane caregiver who holds everything together.

There is a father in this family, and he is the film’s most frightening and most involving character. Pepe (Efrain Figueroa) is a pimp who was turned out onto the street by his own father and is intent on doing the same thing with his son. Abusive, with a pimp’s terrifying charm, Pepe scoffs at his son’s ambitions. “I had dreams, but my father taught me to be a man,” he says, convinced that he knows what is best for Carlos.

As for Carlos, though unwilling to give up on his dream, he’s willing to work for his father for a chance to connect with some of the Hollywood types Pepe says he knows. “I’m not going to let it get to me,” he confidently tells his sister, but, as with most 18-year-olds, the shy and earnest Carlos turns out to be not nearly as tough and street-wise as he imagines.

Given some rudimentary training by Letti (Annette Murphy), Pepe’s hooker girlfriend who also isn’t as wised up as she thinks she is, Carlos is placed on L.A. street corners with a sign and maps and told “stand here and look pretty.”

It’s in what happens to Carlos on that corner that “Star Maps” gets more difficult to credit. Jennifer (Kandeyce Jorden), the gorgeous lead in a popular TV show, turns out to be a star maps client, addicted to extramarital sex with impoverished Latinos. She connects with Carlos and offers to help him with his career, but this is not to Pepe’s liking, and how that complicated equation works out is where the drama of “Star Maps” lies.

Though Carlos and his dreams are pleasant to experience, it’s the son’s interaction with a father devoid of family feeling that is the emotional core. While parts of “Star Maps” are awkward, predictable and not quite believable, the film’s confidence when dealing with this particular relationship never falters. It gives the film a bedrock veracity it wouldn’t otherwise have, and allows the story to make more of an impact than some of those flaws would have you believe.

* MPAA rating: R, for strong sexuality and language, and for violence. Times guidelines: numerous scenes of sexual encounters.

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‘Star Maps’

Douglas Spain: Carlos

Efrain Figueroa: Pepe

Kandeyce Jorden: Jennifer

Martha Velez: Teresa

Lysa Flores: Maria

Annette Murphy: Letti

Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Director Miguel Arteta. Producer Matthew Greenfield. Executive producers Esther Shapiro, Chris Iovenko, Scott King, Mitchell Kelly, Beth Coit. Screenplay by Miguel Arteta, story by Miguel Arteta, Matthew Greenfield. Cinematographer Chuy Chavez. Editors Jeff Betancourt, Tom McArdle, Tony Selzer. Costumes Melanie Stavinski. Production design Carol Strober. Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.

* Playing at selected theaters.