STARFISH – A woman rakes through memories of a relationship after her best friend kills herself; it seems an odd time for the population to vanish, but that’s what happens. ‘Starfish’ is lovely to look at and wraps the absence at its heart in lush photography. Its atmosphere of melancholy is very convincing but falters a little with the introduction of Lovecraftian CGI beasts and wacky animated detours. As much as I found these bits quite intriguing at first, in the end they got a little jarring when half the film’s work had been accomplished through its pared-down approach and a focus on feelings of absence and isolation. ‘Starfish’, a vaguely odd mumblecore sci-fi horror, is an interesting experiment that didn’t quite grab me.
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