Stream It Or Skip It: ‘To the Stars’ on Hulu, in Which Two Young Lady Misfits Navigate 1960s Small-town Hell

Now on Hulu, To the Stars is another entry in the burgeoning LGBTQ forbidden-love period-piece sub-sub-genre, but crossed with the omnipresent awkward-teen opening-up coming-of-age story. It’s a showcase for Kara Hayward, who enjoyed a delightfully auspicious debut in Moonrise Kingdom; Liana Liberato, anchor of 2010’s Trust and probable star-in-the-making; and director Martha Stephens, who uses her highest-profile feature to date as a platform for diverse iterations of female relationships.

‘TO THE STARS’: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Welcome to Hot Mess, Oklahoma. It’s 1960-something in a small town in the heartland, the epicenter of miserable mid-century Americana, where and when the popular people are unhappy and the unpopular people are unhappy and the straight people are unhappy and the non-straight people are unhappy. Where are the Black people? Not in this town. AMERICA SURE IS GREAT.

One school morning, Iris (Hayward) sits at the kitchen table with her mother, Francine (Jordana Spiro, channeling the spirit of Allison Janney), who at this time of day is only on maybe her second or third cocktail. She sews Iris a prom dress like a fool on a fool’s errand, because the girl is the class misfit beneath thick glasses, a mound of hair, wads of clothing and several omnipresent books. Francine will MAKE that kid A (hic) DRESS and she will WEAR IT (hic). Her dad, Hank (Shea Whigham), is a dairy farmer, gruff but far less conditional with his love. “You’re a horse’s ass, Francine,” he says as he ushers Iris out the door to school. “You should know, you’ve seen enough of ’em,” is her retort.

Iris is the object of abject cruelty by her peers. High school is terrible, always terrible. She has bladder-control issues, and the kids call her Stinky Drawers. On her walk to school, some boys in a pickup truck pull over to hassle her, and possibly do much worse. But a rock, thrown with impressive precision, dings one jackass right in the head, courtesy of Maggie (Liberato), the new girl in town heading to her first day at Shitshow High. Confident and attitudinally robust, Maggie immediately stabs back when the catty bitches who ostracize Iris in chem class parry and dodge. That night, Iris sneaks out for a swim under the stars in the nearby pond, and guess who splashes down? Yes, it’s Maggie — and she isn’t even freaked out that a woman drowned herself there. A friendship is forged.

Maggie heads home that night and her father (an uncharacteristically dour Tony Hale) is waiting. He reminds her he had to quit his job and move out of Kansas City because of her, and cuffs her twice. Why? You put two and two together. Her mother (Malin Akerman) drops by Hazel’s (Adelaide Clemens) in-home salon, where the female town gossips barely contain their lust for the local reverend and his cleft chin. Three Sheets Francine tries to get her hubby’s teenage farmhand, Jeff (Lucas Jade Zumann), to give her a ride on his moped, but he’s less the cougar type, more the Iris type. If only Iris would open up a little; cue the school-skipping sequence, where Maggie takes her to get her face done and her hair done and her wardrobe done. There’s a variety of instances of teenage turmoil and whatnot, ranging from a school dance to a midnight skinny dip to kindlings of tender romance to intense melodrama. This damn town. It’s full of heartbreak. But it’s not devoid of hope.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This modest portrait of a town where a young lady on fire lives is reminiscent of, yes, Heavenly Creatures, in which Winslet and Lynskey forged a crazy, curious relationship in mid-century New Zealand. Last year’s stunning Invisible Lifeexplored similar themes in mid-century Brazil. And of course, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, also stunning, tells a melancholy tale of repressed lesbian love in late 18th-century France.

Performance Worth Watching: The film hinges on Hayward and Liberato’s chemistry, and it’s strong, effective, earnest. But Clemens is a key dramatic catalyst as Hazel, who’s one of few people in this one-horse burg showing any kind of empathy for others.

Memorable Dialogue: Iris: “What’s that bruise?”

Maggie: “Why do they call you Stinky Drawers?”

Neither answers, but the silence says it all.

Sex and Skin: Some light teenage shenanigans, but nothing racy.

Our Take: Originality isn’t the strong suit of To the Stars. We’ve experienced many of the broader story beats and characters here before, from the birth of the mousy girl’s confidence to the small-minded actions of small-town bigots. But Stephens points her rigorous eye at the details of tone, setting and performance. Comedy and tragedy are interwoven tightly into the narrative, the threads exquisitely drawn out by key players. It’s subtly evocative of its time and place, enhanced by lovely cinematography.

Crucially, it’s about more than just the superficial emergence of true character. Maggie and Iris — and ultimately all characters of substance in the picture — yearn for some authenticity in a town offering only the phony veneer of such wholesomeness. Everyone is wounded in some way, but only the brave dare show the vulnerabilities and complexities of true spirit and integrity. The story concludes on a note that’s more sweet than bitter, with a punchline as warm and crisp as oven-fresh bread, its sadness coated in a silver lining. And god help me, the green beans on the school cafeteria trays appear to be so authentically mushy, you can taste the mid-century bland through the screen.

Our Call: STREAM IT. To the Stars is a familiar film, sure, but also a quite lovely film.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

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