At the end of this movie, I realized there was a missing scene. The young woman's mother finds a photo of her dad in the workshop when he was younger. Mom tells her about how her dad struggled early in his career, and what happened to get him back on track. Then they speak about it on the ocean bench. "Life goes on" doesn't seem enough of a finish, and a little more closure would have been nice.
10 Reviews
Miserable
countryshack14 January 2018
If you are ever having a bad time in your life, watch this miserable movie. It will make your life seem like a great day at Disney World.
The movie starts off slow and depressing and then goes down from there. I challenge any guy to keep his eyes open for the whole hour and thirty minutes that this misery is on screen.
I noticed that 3 people rated this anchor a 10! What? Is there another movie named Gold Star or something? Because this complete waste of time is a 3 at best.
The acting is good so maybe it would be something for a student to watch or something. Other than than, avoid this waste of film and watch Anything else.
Love, loss and caregiving
leenyc99-122 April 2018
In Negri's quiet film debut, you feel as if you're entering her character's living room and watching the actions play out in a very intimate way, as if you're part of the family . Negri and Robert Vaughn give strong, understated performances that feel truthful and pull you in close. The film has so many beautiful and tender moments that feel very personal, even autobiographical. I think it's an amazing debut achievement with a distinct voice and I look forward to future titles by this director.
Do NOT recommend
The_Boxing_Cat11 May 2018
I can't understand how this movie scored 7/10. It's just awful, just awful.
Bad script Bad direction. Basically a bore fest.
The acting sux - a second grader could have done better, the worst by far is Negri. Robert Vaughn as a stroke victim is the exception. How could you not like him!
Z3
Bad script Bad direction. Basically a bore fest.
The acting sux - a second grader could have done better, the worst by far is Negri. Robert Vaughn as a stroke victim is the exception. How could you not like him!
Z3
A young woman's life changes when she becomes a caregiver to her father after he suffers a stroke.
desdemona8420 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
It's not easy to make a compelling film about a character who's mired in inaction, but Gold Star achieves that with a thoughtful and moving portrayal of a woman moving adrift through her life until a family emergency forces her to uproot her current situation and make some immediate changes.
There has been much conversation among feminist and artist circles about the importance of telling stories about complex women - women who are flawed and real and not necessarily "likable" in the traditional sense. Vicki is that kind of character we're looking for. She resents having to change her life to help take care of her father, even though her life was unfulfilling. She's brittle and caustic to people who don't deserve it. But she's also unhappy and lost, wanting answers without knowing the right questions to ask. As a director, Victoria Negri shows several scenes of Vicki lying in bed, aimlessly looking over her phone, juxtaposed with scenes of her running faster and faster - towards what? We don't know, and neither does Vicki. Her journey to self-fulfillment has no easy answers.
Vicki is both helped and hindered by the people in her life - by her family members, friends, and love interests. The character relationships make up the strongest aspect of this moving film. The love between her parents, played wonderfully by Catherine Curtin and the late Robert Vaughn in his last screen role, has none of the showiness of on-screen dramatic romances, and all of the tenderness, compassion, and devotion of a real-life married couple. Vicki's relationship with her mother, relatively honest with open communication, contrasts with the more distant relationship with her father, which changes and progresses realistically as she grows into her caregiving role and they understand each other better - ironically, after he's lost the ability to speak. Not enough can be said about the talent of Robert Vaughn, communicating so effectively with a wordless performance.
This thoughtful, moving story is a truly impressive debut from Victoria Negri, who has definitely become a filmmaker to watch.
There has been much conversation among feminist and artist circles about the importance of telling stories about complex women - women who are flawed and real and not necessarily "likable" in the traditional sense. Vicki is that kind of character we're looking for. She resents having to change her life to help take care of her father, even though her life was unfulfilling. She's brittle and caustic to people who don't deserve it. But she's also unhappy and lost, wanting answers without knowing the right questions to ask. As a director, Victoria Negri shows several scenes of Vicki lying in bed, aimlessly looking over her phone, juxtaposed with scenes of her running faster and faster - towards what? We don't know, and neither does Vicki. Her journey to self-fulfillment has no easy answers.
Vicki is both helped and hindered by the people in her life - by her family members, friends, and love interests. The character relationships make up the strongest aspect of this moving film. The love between her parents, played wonderfully by Catherine Curtin and the late Robert Vaughn in his last screen role, has none of the showiness of on-screen dramatic romances, and all of the tenderness, compassion, and devotion of a real-life married couple. Vicki's relationship with her mother, relatively honest with open communication, contrasts with the more distant relationship with her father, which changes and progresses realistically as she grows into her caregiving role and they understand each other better - ironically, after he's lost the ability to speak. Not enough can be said about the talent of Robert Vaughn, communicating so effectively with a wordless performance.
This thoughtful, moving story is a truly impressive debut from Victoria Negri, who has definitely become a filmmaker to watch.
Difficult story, told in a difficult way
ematerso15 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The writer is maybe better as an actress. The story told was overlong and disjointed. Why did the seemingly very acceptable, lover/boyfriend become an assailant and why did his girl friend submit? Why was her new male interest so very apathetic while at the same time being totally available?
The difficulty of having a blended family and also caring for a critically ill person was very well expressed. while at the same time the heroine, seemed unnecessarily testy with the patient, her father. And this is maybe a silly complaint but the people who were supposed to be related by blood bore no physical relationship to each other. That was disconcerting. Still kudos to a writer/director/actress for putting it out there. My family also has a budding film maker so I realize what a rocky path it is.
The Perks of Going Home Again
fiorj27 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Victoria Negri's partially autobiographical narrative feature film debut, "Gold Star," is an honest, artful, and nuanced portrayal of how the illness and loss of a much older parent impacts a young Juilliard dropout's self-perception, identity, and ability to connect with those around her. Negri plays Vicki, who initially wants nothing more than to continue her life in New York City with her boyfriend. She resents the set of circumstances that requires her to move home to Connecticut to become the primary caregiver to her elderly father who has suffered a stroke, is confined to a wheelchair, and has lost his ability to speak. The father is masterfully played by Oscar-nominated actor Robert Vaughn (The Young Philadelphians, The Magnificent Seven) appearing in his final film role before his death.
Negri's raw scenes skillfully portray Vicki's alienation from her father and her exasperation at not understanding what he needs. Assuming the responsibility of being a caregiver does not come naturally for her, causing her to question not only how her parents raised her, but also whether she could be a good wife and mother in the future. However, amidst the tense complexities of family dynamics, the journey home moves Vicki out of her paralyzing self-absorption and discontent, and allows her to see and understand the importance of compassion and the responsibility that adult children have toward aging parents. The film's artful cinematography, polished direction and editing, together with moments of humorous relief add special texture and human warmth to the film. Vaughn's performance is remarkable in that he speaks no audible lines in the entire film, instead "voicing" everything through his powerfully expressive eyes. Vicki's revealing conversations with her new friend and prospective love interest, Chris (Jacob Heimer) complement the silent "speaking" of her father.
Thematically, "Gold Star" traces how Vicki, new to adult life, realizes that she has more in common with her father in the last stage of his than she could have ever imagined. By learning how to care for and communicate with her father, she in turn, comes to a mature appreciation of relationships that are healthy, and finds the courage to end those that are not. "Gold Star," with its well-crafted script, notable performances, and thoughtful filmmaking, poignantly entertains, moves, and engages the audience from beginning to end.
26 June 2017 Jennifer Emily Fiore (United States)
Negri's raw scenes skillfully portray Vicki's alienation from her father and her exasperation at not understanding what he needs. Assuming the responsibility of being a caregiver does not come naturally for her, causing her to question not only how her parents raised her, but also whether she could be a good wife and mother in the future. However, amidst the tense complexities of family dynamics, the journey home moves Vicki out of her paralyzing self-absorption and discontent, and allows her to see and understand the importance of compassion and the responsibility that adult children have toward aging parents. The film's artful cinematography, polished direction and editing, together with moments of humorous relief add special texture and human warmth to the film. Vaughn's performance is remarkable in that he speaks no audible lines in the entire film, instead "voicing" everything through his powerfully expressive eyes. Vicki's revealing conversations with her new friend and prospective love interest, Chris (Jacob Heimer) complement the silent "speaking" of her father.
Thematically, "Gold Star" traces how Vicki, new to adult life, realizes that she has more in common with her father in the last stage of his than she could have ever imagined. By learning how to care for and communicate with her father, she in turn, comes to a mature appreciation of relationships that are healthy, and finds the courage to end those that are not. "Gold Star," with its well-crafted script, notable performances, and thoughtful filmmaking, poignantly entertains, moves, and engages the audience from beginning to end.
26 June 2017 Jennifer Emily Fiore (United States)
Great debut, coming-of-age feature
michaelgoldburg19 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Victoria Negri's "Gold Star" is a beautifully shot, well-acted, and moving debut feature inspired by events in her own life. A twenty-something music school dropout, Vicki (exceptionally played by Negri herself) is aimless in her life until her father (played by Robert Vaughan, incredible in his final screen role) suffers a stroke and she becomes one of his reluctant caregivers. Drawing closer to her father, her mother (brilliantly played by Catherine Curtin), and ultimately herself, Vicki finally confronts the crossroads in her life, with a little help from a budding relationship with Chris (Jacob Heimer), who's struggling with his own personal demons. Full of authentic details and performances, "Gold Star" also employs poetic, lyrical visuals to frame Vicki's isolation at her dead-end job as well as her running in front of an omnipresent island off the Connecticut coast where the film was shot. Negri has mentioned "Five Easy Pieces" as an influence, and the comparison is apt. Both films have protagonists struggling with personal, existential crises while trying to connect with fathers who have suffered strokes. Vicki is ultimately more successful than Jack Nicholson's character as evident in the transcendent final scene of the film where Vaughan and Negri share an intimate moment, staring out across the ocean together. You get a real sense of Vicki finally becoming her true self, ironically through a deeper connection with her father.
The Paradoxical Caretaker Role
TheAll-SeeingI13 November 2019
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 end-of-life. It may also prove a conflicting challenge for those who haven't, as our reactions while serving in the caretaker 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 pained 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 own ultimate catharsis. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
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 pained 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 own ultimate catharsis. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
Loving and challenging
photography-4453010 May 2019
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