Gold Star

Released Nov 10, 2017

1h 30m

Drama

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List

88%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Vicki, a young music school dropout struggles to make sense of her aimless life while caring for her dying 90-year-old father.

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Frank Scheck

Hollywood Reporter

It's Vaughn, still looking dashing despite his obvious frailty, who gives the film its emotional core.

Nov 9, 2017

Full Review

Leigh Monson

Substream Magazine

As an examination of the ways in which we experience grief for the still-living, Gold Star is a remarkably insightful experience.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 1, 2020

Full Review

Raquel Stecher

Out of the Past

a profoundly moving film with an important story to tell.

Dec 3, 2018

Full Review

Sophia Cowley

Film Inquiry

Gold Star, the debut feature film by Victoria Negri, delivers on all fronts, with a few missteps here and there.

Dec 20, 2017

Full Review

Diva Velez

TheDivaReview.com

Painterly and lyrical, GOLD STAR is a rare glimpse into the heart of an artist, and her inspiring catharsis in the face of heartbreaking loss.

Rated: 3.5/5

Dec 2, 2017

Full Review

Brad Gullickson

Film School Rejects

The directorial debut of Victoria Negri reveals a confident eye behind what could have been a dull twenty-something diatribe.

Nov 16, 2017

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Audience Member

Fair warning, "Gold Star" is an incredible and wholly truthful film with a very targeted, heavy, and multi-pronged impact awaiting those who have seen a parent through to the afterlife. It may also prove a conflicting challenge for those who haven't, as our own reactions in the caretaking role can present as inexplicable to those yet to bear its cross. Victoria Negri writes, directs, and radiates a processing-driven weariness in the role of twenty-something daughter Vicki -- no doubt a character naming convention tipping us to the notion that Ms. Negri has herself experienced her script's own machinations in real-world time. Acclaimed actor Robert Vaughn expertly inhabits what proved to be his swansong role as Vicki's stroke-decimated father Carmine. They love each other, and it's complicated, because it always is. For those not looking beneath the skin, Vicki may seemingly exhibit the pretense of self-focus, but it's a lens tied directly to her father's health and her awful realizations that he won't see her blossom into a more fully realized self. A promising pianist before and perhaps again in the future, Vicki works at a health club, and turns on herself in ways falsely construed as narcissistic. If self-absorption in a loved one's waning moments sounds perverse, contradictory, or misplaced, therein lies the rub of the parental caretaker role: What we see on screen here shockingly reflects the way it works for most who put on the boots, and kudos to Negri for holding back not one paradoxical truth in her terrifically hard-fought film. Along the way, of course there are sisters and second parents and boyfriends entering and exiting "Gold Star," all of whom represent perfectly convoluted depictions of relational imperfectness, the core traits of which can be cruelly and perversely magnified in crisis. After a parent passes, there is a common emotion felt between most true-hearted parental caretakers: That feeling is guilt – guilt in how we counter-intuitively behaved in those precious final days; guilt over our failure to somehow miraculously save; a hindsight-driven guilt in our failure to adequately express; guilt in having failed to live in an accomplishment-driven way which we perceive would have empowered the parent to rest proud and assured. If we're lucky, we later learn that these are almost universal reactions, yet ones we only impose on ourselves; in no way do they reflect our departed loved one's earthly or spiritual vantage point. Filmmakers often create for others, but in "Gold Star," Victoria Negri exhibits raw wounds for your sake and hers. Here's hoping her film's massive achievement serves, too, as her ultimate catharsis.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The main character was dislikable. The ending was pathetic. Just nothing to love about this movie.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This had to be reviewed by 24 of her closest friends. It's so S-L-O-W .

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

Beautiful Movie. Loved it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Between a 6/10 and 7/10, Thin on the dramatics, but honest and warm and nicely-acted essay on youth confronting old age (in a parent).

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Victoria Negri

Director

Robert Vaughn

Carmine

Catherine Curtin

Deanne

Victoria Negri

Vicki

Jacob Heimer

Chris

Anna Garduno

Maria

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Gold Star: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Vicki, a young music school dropout struggles to make sense of her aimless life while caring for her dying 90-year-old father.

Director: Victoria Negri
Producer: Carlos Oller, Zachary Silverstein
Screenwriter: Victoria Negri
Distributor: Turn Key Films
Production Co: Big Vision Empty Wallet
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 10, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 12, 2017
Runtime: 1h 30m

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