To the Stars (2019)

To the Stars: Directed by Martha Stephens. With Kara Hayward, Jordana Spiro, Tina Parker, Shea Whigham. Under small town scrutiny, a withdrawn farmer’s daughter forges an intimate friendship with a worldly but reckless new girl in 1960s Oklahoma.

“I didnu0026#39;t know what to expect from this film, because Iu0026#39;d never heard of it and randomly picked it out for a Sunday evening flick.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is about an outcast, bullied high school girl in Small Town, USA (Oklahoma) who is so unhappy with her circumstances that she wishes she would disappear. Enter the pretty, cool girl from a bigger town who moves to the neighborhood and, from the start, sets out to help and liberate the bullied girl and help her find her way in life.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI wonu0026#39;t give much away, but I wasnu0026#39;t expecting the turn the story took about 3/4 of the way in. I felt that although the u0026quot;eventu0026quot; that occurred was hinted at, it all seemed to occur too late into the story. From this event forward, everything followed a predictable dive towards the ending like the movie couldnu0026#39;t get to the ending fast enough, so much so that several major story lines were left dangling on the prairie wind.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe acting is not bad at all, and the stifling atmosphere of small towns/small minds is well captured. But as much as the story was going somewhere most of the film, before taking a sudden turn and race, I wish it had either stuck to one main plot point or at least given the last 3rd of the film much more depth.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, Iu0026#39;d give the film 6.5/10 stars and would recommend it being watched at least once.”