- Starring
- Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham
- Writers
- Kristin Scott Thomas, John Micklethwait
- Director
- Kristin Scott Thomas
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 95 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
North Star premiered on the opening night of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and marks the directorial debut of veteran actor Kirsten Scott Thomas. The plot centers around three sisters Katherine (Johansson), Victoria (Miller), and Georgina (Beecham) who return to their family home for the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother Diana (Thomas). As they arrived, Diana and her three daughters are forced to revisit the past and confront the future, with help from a colorful group of unexpected wedding guests. Unfortunately, the film is one of the bigger misfires of this year’s TIFF and this terribly average and familiar family drama marks a disappointingly dull debut for Thomas as a director.
The best part of North Star is the performances from the cast, in particular, the dynamic of Johansson, Miller, and Beeecham as sisters. They make it a lot more watchable than it would have been without them. Miller and Beecham are great here as Victoria and Georgina are the ones that audiences are sure to latch onto the most while Georgina and her storyline is the most relatable and authentic. Meanwhile, Miller is surprisingly great as the comic relief and Johansson is good as always, despite a wonky accent that sticks out more alongside Miller and Beecham. It also doesn’t help that she has absolutely zero chemistry with her love interest played by Frieda Pinto thus sinking that relationship’s potential. Thomas does good with what she’s given but she’s pretty underused throughout and never gets a moment to truly shine like which is surprising considering her role in the story and also being the director and co-writer of the film.
The film works best when it leans more towards its comedic side and the humorous situations the characters constantly found themselves in. However, those moments are weighed down heavily by melodrama and the film’s failure to produce compelling characters or storylines for any of them. The three sisters are well fleshed out for the most part but everyone else, including Thomas’ Diana, feel like a complete afterthought. From Diana, a character for which the film is centered around, onward, they are barely given any focus, screentime, or personality which is kind of a problem for a film that’s barely 90-minutes long. Even with that short length, it still feels incredibly drawn out considering how little actually happens. But at the same time, it desperately needed to be longer to fully flesh out its characters and their stories. A film that is pretty saccharine throughout, it will leave a bad taste in the mouth of audiences when it finally does come to an end.
In the end, North Star isn’t technically what one would call a bad or poorly made film on paper, but it just fails at nearly everything it sets out to do and leaves zero impression on audiences. Dull and middle-of-the-road, it can’t help but feel incredibly underwhelming with all the talent behind it. Clearly a very personal film for Kristen Scott Thomas, the result was sadly a bit of a misfire.
still courtesy of TIFF
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