Masterful at creating images. Many frames in this movie could be in a fine arts photo exhibition.
Not so good at making a movie.
Monster or metaphor? Real or not real? Does it make difference? All good questions and to be open ended in the answers can be really good. Just not in this case. To see an example where this was handled extremely well see the movie Babadook.
Babadook is an entirely different type of movie. Babadook is doing the "monster" as metaphor, yeah. It's similar to Hereditary, or, like, The Haunting of Hill House, the netflix show.
But I don't think Starfish is intending to ask any of those questions (actually, I don't think Babadook is "asking" those questions either. It's just the manner in which it is telling its story).
Starfish is similar to Babadook in that they are exploring grief, and the impact grief has on the person and the people around them. But I don't think it's fair to compare their structures. Babadook is presented as a straightforward monster horror movie that can be viewed as just that (but you can delve further to look at the subtext in the trauma/abuse). Starfish does not have a straightforward narrative at all, and it's not trying to. Imo, it's trying to convey a number of emotions, regrets, and desires all in the wake of someone's loss, and it's doing that through a surreal sequence of images and sounds.
I'm not necessarily saying that the alien invasion is NOT a metaphor for something (though I don't think it is, per se, not in the way that the babadook is a metaphor). But I think it's clear that both films are trying to do two different things, regardless of how well Starfish is succeeding or if it floats your boat.
I hated Badabook. It’s not bad, but that obnoxious child just killed the movie for me. Killed it.
Starfish is surreal. It is really a metaphorical film about grief and forgiveness. Pretty clearly spelled out, despite the superficial storyline of alien monsters (hallucinations?) in a post apocalyptic world. It’s like a blend of Lost Highway, Donny Darko, and Melancholia.
I like starfish. I’ll keep an eye on this director!
lol, it took me several tries across years I think until I finally finished Babadook. The child made me turn it off every time haha. But I think the reveal that he's an abused child makes the movie come together. But anyways, enough about that...
Awesome! I'm glad you liked Starfish! lol I think it's not a very well-known movie; I stumbled upon it randomly on Amazon Prime based off the description and the trailer...and I can't remember the last time I was so enamored with a film that I did not understand at all (at least with Mulholland Drive, I had some sort of an idea after a first viewing). Shared it with a friend because I just needed to share this experience, and after she's like "the fuck was this", but we ended up bouncing ideas back and forth on how to make sense of the metaphors in place, and the narrative elements that are being alluded to. As I recall we did finally settle on a general interpretation of the film even if we couldn't be sure about some of the more specific imagery it used.
Yeah, I think is his first feature length film. I can't wait to see what he will do next too He's also solely responsible for the score, which is part of why I loved the movie. (He was my most played artist on spotify in 2021 because of the soundtrack haha). Anywho, glad to see a fan. And if you're interested in physical, there's a pretty blu ray edition with illustrated cover along with an audio cd.
i enjoy this movie a lot. i suppose it's fair to say it's all style and no substance - i've watched it three or four times and i probably couldn't really tell you what it's about - but if it's great style, then that's good enough for me. i'm happy to watch it every 6 months or so and go along with its hazy atmosphere and cool visuals and indie-rock soundtrack. i think it's great stuff.
you can say it's lacking in ways that make it have any kind of resonance, emotional impact, and i won't disagree. at least not hotly. but it has lots of great things in it that make me happy to watch it again and again.