Maps to the Stars

Maps to the Stars (2014) is David Cronenberg's acid Hollywood drama, available to watch online on iFILM. Two mansions, one shared sickness for fame. A fading actress (Julianne Moore) is desperate to play her own long-dead mother, a silent-era icon whose ghost keeps turning up to torment her.

The other house belongs to celebrity therapist Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), his wife, and their thirteen-year-old son, a millionaire pop star fresh out of rehab. Into this sealed-off world walks Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), a scarred girl from Florida who befriended Carrie Fisher on Twitter and lands a job as the actress's assistant. She drags along a limo-driving actor (Robert Pattinson) and a set of buried family secrets that will burn the whole thing down.

Cronenberg films Los Angeles as a town of ghosts and incest, cold and free of any moral. Moore took the best actress prize at Cannes for it. A caustic, deeply uncomfortable watch for viewers who'd rather a director cut to the bone than console them. Stream Maps to the Stars (2014) online on iFILM.