Starla
After their daughter Starla dies on an operating table, David (Seth Abrams) and Katie (Nancy Mitchell) find themselves grieving in different ways. For David, the answer is alcohol and losing himself in work while remembering the times they had together; for Katie, it’s her morning run, and trying to place blame for her death. Did David and Katie have a choice in getting Starla the help she needed to deal with her illness? Did the operating doctor have something to do with Starla’s death? Or do sometimes, bad things just happen?
These are some of the questions explored in Rik Cordero’s riveting morality tale, “Starla.” For a full hour, the film– written by Cordero, Billy Fox, Aaron F. Schnore — follows a relatively predictable narrative, as we see David and Katie trying to cope with their grief, without quite achieving closure. A key moment in the process is when Katie’s uncle, Jack (Norm Golden), who works at the hospital Starla was treated for lymphoma at, comes to see his niece, and has some information that might allow her some answers as to why Starla is dead. The official story is that a nurse was to blame, but what if it was to doctor who diagnosed her? The hospital found no liability in his actions, but what Jack says gives Katie some motivation to begin looking deeper into Dr. Talbot’s (Brendan Brandt) life. What if HE was responsible, and more importantly, what will Katie do?
You won’t get the answer to that question out of me, because where it leads is to a sucker punch of an ending I really did not see coming, which changed my entire perspective on the film. I will say that, although some level of reality leaves the film in its final 15 minutes, when one thinks about the film as a whole, the ending feels wholly organic, albeit morally troubling. Again, I’m not going to say a word. I will say, however, that Cordero’s film, and the performances by all the main actors, left me with much to think about, which is one of the great things I love about such independent films– in life, there are no “pat” answers. Usually, there are just events that leave a mark on the individual that, for better or worse, will be with them forever.
