by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer

There are some movie studios to which I’m going give the benefit of the doubt almost no matter what. For a while, I gave all Pixar and Marvel movies a chance. Eventually, after enough misses, you start to become more skeptical of their work. The only studio right now whose movies I will at least give a shot is A24. They’ve had an outstanding 2022. Here are the amazing movies that they’ve had a hand in releasing in 2022: X, Men, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is still my favorite movie of 2022. A24 has even had some great TV shows come out in 2022, like Irma Vep and Mo. Hulu just released another movie from A24 that also made a splash at Cannes Film Festival.

Stars at Noon, directed by Claire Denis and based on the novel of the same name by Denis Johnson, is about a journalist named Trish (Margaret Qualley), who is stuck in Nicaragua with nowhere to go. She tries a variety of different tactics to get out of the country, but all of her efforts to raise money or retrieve her passport have failed. She meets Daniel (Joe Alwyn), an Englishman who is in Nicaragua on business. The two come up with a plan to help one another, but after spending time together, they form a passionate bond.

I’ve been a fan of Qualley ever since I first saw her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She does an outstanding job in Stars at Noon. Trish can be a tough character to root for at times, as her journalism doesn’t get explored, and she is trying her best to get out of Nicaragua. She also isn’t concerned with being likeable either, because she has an objective she is trying to accomplish and she doesn’t care who she mows over to accomplish that. Qualley’s performance is still engaging and charismatic, even if her character is frustrating.

I have to give props to Denis as well. The direction is outstanding and the cinematography is strong. The filming shows the beauty of Nicaragua even though it’s deteriorating on the inside. The shots in the town that Trish and Daniel live in are vibrant and beautiful, in the middle of a chaotic situation. Even the jungle scenes are wonderfully shot. Denis also manages to get the best out of her performers, which is the best part of the film.

There isn’t a lot of context as to how or why Trish ended up in Nicaragua, nor does the film say what it is that destabilizes the country. The novel is set during the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1984. It’s slightly different in the film, but that context gives us some assistance as to why Trish is in Nicaragua in the book. With there being such a strong emphasis on issues within Nicaragua, which warrants the U.S. CIA involvement, one would think the light would be shed on what is going on.

When we first meet Daniel, he is charming and is guarded with who he is. As a businessman trying to make the most of his opportunity in Nicaragua, Daniel is a mystery throughout the film. Alwyn is doing the best he can with the material he is given. However, from a character standpoint, I don’t know a lot about him or what he is doing in Central America. I wish we would have gotten more background.

This perhaps leads to one of my biggest problems with Stars at Noon: I don’t buy Trish and Daniel’s chemistry and subsequent love story. Their relationship starts casually and transactionally. When they find themselves falling for one another, nothing suggests to me that they care for one another, other than using the other for personal gain. Even towards the end, when Trish decides what she wants to do with Daniel, she makes a curious decision that feels counterintuitive to what she ultimately wants.

Other than the love story, the overall plot feels disjointed. We see Daniel and Trish spend time with one another, but we don’t see much of anything else besides Trish trying every trick she can think of to escape her situation. It feels like a bit of a metaphor for the lengths people have to go to from an immigration standpoint. The plot is also painfully slow at times. After the movie was over, I tried to rack my brain to figure out what of significance happens, only to come up empty.

Stars at Noon is a beautifully directed and well-acted film. The plot can feel lifeless, and I’m not rooting for this couple to make it. There’s an audience out there for an arthouse movie that showcases two strong individual performances, but unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. There are other A24 movies to check out this year before this one. I liked it enough to not regret watching it, but it will be a one-and-done movie for me.

Score: 6/10

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