Starring April Telek and Anna Mae Routledge. Rated PG. Opens Friday, April 15, at the Denman Place Cinema

The seediness of show business is one of the oldest story lines in all of, well, show business. What Price Hollywood? was made in 1932, for cryin’ out loud. This subject is perhaps best observed from a side entrance, as in Stephen Frears’s film version of Dangerous Liaisons, in which French fops treated each social occasion as a life-and-death performance. In fact, the image of Glenn Close removing her makeup has been widely imitated ever since, usually in reference to the efforts of aging actors to literally maintain face, if not dignity.

Although not remotely as rarefied, there are some Glenn Close-ups in Amazon Falls, directed by Vancouver’s Katrin Bowen from Curry Hitchborn’s screenplay. It’s Bowen’s story, though, as the lanky filmmaker started out acting and doing stunts in D movies for Troma Films.

Here, the person still trying to break into the mainstream—B movies, at least—is April Telek’s Jana, hitting 40 and waitressing between increasingly rare gigs. Telek herself is a former model and beauty queen who’s done many workaday TV roles, and she has the presence to make you feel the character’s largely self-imposed anguish. Yes, filmdom is extra tough on women of a certain age (read: over 25), but Jana’s expectations are a little on the loopy side.

She also has a singularly unsupportive husband, although the casting of likably boyish Zak Santiago in this part feels all wrong. Similarly, Jana’s waitress pal Li (Anna Mae Routledge) is presented as a glamorous rival but comes across more like a goofy sidekick. And who knows what Bowen was thinking when she plastered those ’80s hair-band songs over second-unit shots of the Hollywood Hills.

Still, there is nice supporting work from locals like Benjamin Ratner and William B. Davis, and this low-budget, ironically titled effort improves while heading toward a surprisingly tough fade to black.

Its final message? Better stay on the farm, Madge!