One Line Review: The starling may talk about moons and stars but is utterly kinda dull and slow.
Youtube Trailer The Starling
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd, Kevin Kline, Timothy Olyphant
Director: Theodore Melfi
Release Date: 17 September 2021
Introduction
The Starling, a new Netflix drama directed by Theodore Melfi that is laced with humor about the death of a child, comes across as a light-hearted take on the subject. Instead of Vanessa Kirby’s emotional performance depicting a silent form of coping, this film relies on Melissa McCarthy’s assistance in delivering the appropriate punchlines to serve as a form of defense mechanism while grieving, similar to Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman. The film is approximately two hours in length and has a beautiful OST that keeps you entertained throughout.
Plot and Analysis
After Lilly suffers a setback, a combative Starling establishes a nest beside her peaceful residence. The sassy bird taunts and attacks the bereaved Lilly on several occasions. During her journey to expel the Starling, she rediscovers her will to live as well as her capacity for love and compassion.
“The Starling” is all about relationships and rediscovery
The Starling, a Netflix original series, is primarily concerned with the theme of loss and the subsequent grief that follows. In the story, Lily and Jack, who have recently lost their newborn daughter, Katie, are the central characters. As the opening credits roll and we catch a glimpse of the feisty bird Starling, who has built a nest on a tree in Lily’s garden, we realize that the couple has become estranged as a result of the loss they have experienced.
This is not a film that is filled with surprises and climaxes at every turn. Dr. Larry subtly assists Lily in understanding the grieving process while Jack attempts to confront his suicidal demons, each episode has its own set of epiphanies that set it apart. There is a string that pulls at your heartstrings at every turn as you make your way through this movie.
A different approach is taken by The Starling when it comes to depicting various stages of the grieving process. We have Jack, who is a bit of a loose cannon, swinging from depressed to enraged and back again in a matter of moments. In Lily’s garden, we see her bargaining and becoming enraged, as we learn through her interaction with the bird in her garden. As a result of Katie’s death, both of these characters are scrambling to find a way out of the hole that has swallowed them whole.
What The Starling mostly focuses on is a journey of mending relationships and rediscovering one’s own identity, which is hidden beneath its layered humor.
Coping with the Starling
Because of the irreparable and unimaginable loss that Lily and Jack have experienced, even talking about Katie can set off an emotional reaction in one or both of them at any given time. However, how do these two characters deal with their situation?
At first, they simply don’t have any. Lily makes every effort to reintegrate into her life and act normally. She puts her husband’s grief ahead of her own feelings of bereavement. The solace of a psychiatric clinic, on the other hand, is where Jack chooses to isolate himself from the outside world. He dismisses his wife’s efforts to return to normal life and misinterprets them as the opposite of grief, which they are not.
The question of “How to cope?” is central to the film for the majority of its running time. Even the therapists in this story are realistic and human enough to admit that they do not have all of the answers to all of the problems. Educating the audience on how to arrive at a moment of healthy coping is as difficult as it gets for people who are overwhelmed by grief, and while the entire process of coping begins somewhere in the middle of the film when the husband-wife duo faces a rift, educating the audience on how to arrive at that moment is as difficult as it gets for people who are overwhelmed by grief.
The Starling: The Final Decision
Throughout the course of the film, Dr. Larry tells Lily, “It’s not about Katie.” It all comes down to Jack and you. “Can you tell me how to restart?”
The Starling is a true story about what people are left with after their loved ones have passed away, and how life can become stale to the point where you are unable to move forward. The Starling is about getting to that point and figuring out how to get that jumpstart to get back on track. Yes, it will be different, but you would still have to give it a shot.
