That would be Maisie Williams, a.k.a. Arya Stark, and "Jane's" Gina Rodriguez, with each exhibiting considerable star quality in modest vehicles, the bittersweet romance "Then Came You" and "Miss Bala," a higher-profile remake of a 2011 Mexican film.
Both movies have awfully well-worn formulas, with Rodriguez playing Gloria, in a classic tale of an ordinary person drawn into a perilous situation simply by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Living in Los Angeles, Gloria is visiting her friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo), who's preparing for the Miss Baja pageant in Tijuana, when the club they're visiting gets shot to pieces. Suzu disappears in the melee, and Gloria -- having seen the shooters -- is snatched up by them, with their charismatic leader, Lino (Ismael Cruz Cordova), promising he'll help Gloria find her pal, if only she'll carry out a few tasks for him.
Lino would be suave and handsome except for the whole killing people part, which leaves Gloria caught between a ruthless DEA and the cartel that Lino leads. As a result, she's forced to rely upon her own resourcefulness, finding reservoirs of grit she didn't realize that she possessed.
Rodriguez makes the character believable, or at least, as believable as she can be under the extraordinary circumstances. And director Catherine Hardwicke ("Twilight") doesn't turn her into Wonder Woman, even as the body count associated with Lino's endeavors mounts.
Predominantly featuring Latinos both in front of and behind the camera, "Miss Bala" is a slight construct, but proves effective as a relatively low-octane thriller. And to the extent that it is, it's almost entirely due to how well Rodriguez -- in what's clearly designed as a showcase for her -- wears that crown.
"Then Came You" is an equally familiar story, told in a sweet, reasonably charming way. Much of that has to do with Williams, who plays Skye, a girl with a terminal illness who's scratching things off her bucket list when she meets Calvin ("Sex Education's" Asa Butterfield), a hypochondriac who keeps a "symptoms journal" and attends support groups even though he's not sick.
The basic template -- Skye, on the verge of dying, teaches Calvin how to live -- is hardly a new one, from "The Fault is In Our Stars" to early examples like the cult classic "Harold and Maude" (admittedly, with a sizable twist) and the tearjerker "Love Story."
Still, Williams manages to make the most of the clichés, from trailing off when she says, "Cross my heart and hope to..." to prodding Calvin to "Ask whatshername on a date," referring to a woman at work ("The Vampire Diaries'" Nina Dobrev) he's been too shy to directly approach.
Directed by Peter Hutchings, "Then Came You" (even the title's generic) merely reinforces what longtime "Thrones" watchers recognized from the get-go: That Williams was a singular talent as a youth who has grown up on screen. Now, with a role in the X-Men spinoff "New Mutants" due this summer, she appears ready to take her place among other actors who have successfully made that transition.
From that perspective, "Then Came You" might wind up being most interesting as a footnote, as Williams graduates into the next phase of the acting game.
"Miss Bala" opens Feb. 1 in the US and is rated PG-13. "Then Came You" premieres Feb. 1 in theaters and on demand.
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