Starsuckers

The latest film from Chris Atkins, the BAFTA-nominated director of the Blair-baiting documentary Taking Liberties, takes on the celebrity- obsessed media, pulling down its wizard's curtain to reveal the machinations and deceit involved in selling the notion that fame comes with credibility, money and power as its natural accessories. While providing a clever psychosocial analysis of why stardom is seen as attractive and even necessary, Starsuckers probes various aspects of celebrity culture with a scathing wit and sense of mischief, from the pushy parents who seek recognition for their children to the established public figures who use their position to gain political influence. Illustrating how truth has become devalued by the modern news media, Atkins gets to reveals some immoral, corrupt and illegal practices employed by some of the biggest names in the industry, who collect, create or bury stories for a price. In using a combination of exclusive footage, real-life stories, animation and undercover reportage, Atkins delivers an intelligent, revelatory polemic for our time.

Michael Hayden