The Book of Stars

Infobox Film
name = The Book of Stars


image_size =
caption = DVD cover
director = Michael Miner
producer = David Skinner
Larry Estes
writer = Tasca Shadix
narrator =
starring = Mary Stuart Masterson
Jena Malone
music = Richard Gibbs
cinematography = James J. Whitaker
editing = Brian Berdan
distributor = Winstar Home Video
released = 1999
runtime = 111 min.
country = United States
language = English
budget =
gross =
website =
amg_id = 1:201686
imdb_id = 163559

"The Book of Stars" is a 1999 American drama film about two sisters, both of whom are on the down slopes of their lives but in entirely different ways. It received its world premiere as part of the 1999 South By Southwest Film Festival. [ [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:201686 "The Book of Stars" at Allmovie.com] ]

Cast

Plot

Penny and Mary are sisters living together in a tenement apartment in a seedy section of an unnamed city. The responsibility of caring for fifteen year old Mary has fallen on Penny due to the tragic death of their parents years before.

Mary has cystic fibrosis, and the deterioration of her lungs is rapidly worsening. Forced to spend most of her time indoors, she has tracked her life and dreams and hopes in an artistic scrapbook which she calls her "Book of Stars and Lovely Things." In it, she fashions herself an astronaut, cut adrift in space and slowly and helplessly drifting towards the sun and her eventual doom. Penny is a once-promising poet who has turned to a life of drugs and prostitution to help numb her from the grim reality of her job and the impending loss of her sister.

There is the quiet young man who has moved in next door. He is from war-torn Eastern Europe and walks with a limp. Penny gets a letter from a prisoner, who was moved by her poetry and writes her admiring letters. She won't answer, or even read the letters, so Mary does it for her.

Mary arranges things and events to keep her sister human. Together they all face life, death, and the universal need to reach out for someone.

oundtrack

The soundtrack was released on August 23, 2005 on La-La Land Records.

Infobox Album
Name = The Book of Stars: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Type = Soundtrack
Artist = various artists


Cover size =
Released = August 23, 2005
Genre = Soundtrack
Indian classical music
Length = 59:49
Label = La-La Land Records
Reviews = * [http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?ID=3952 Music from the Movies] Rating|4|5
* [http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=3844&vote=10 SoundtrackNet] Rating|3|5

Track listing

#"Main Title" – 3:03
#"The Meeting / Refuge" – 2:23
#"The Prisoner's First Letter / Mary's Dream" – 3:18
#"Painted Lady / Mary's World / The Fight" – 3:32
#"New Friend" – 1:40
#"Storm Warnings" – 4:35
#"Tellmeaboutthebeach / Ticklefight / Solar Plunge" – 4:04
#"Picnic" – 2:41
#"Overdose / Grim Reaper / The Hospital" – 4:51
#"Torn Letter" – 4:56
#"Happy Birthday" – 1:57
#"Samuel's Story" – 2:51
#"The Book is Finished / Afterlife / The Beach" – 5:44
#"Transcendence" – 3:42
#"End Credits" – 4:52
#"Alternate End Credits" – 5:40

Awards

References

External links

*imdb title|163559
*amg movie|1:201686
*" [http://www.dorothyann.net/bookofstars.htm The Book of Stars] " review by Gordon Kearns