Starfish is released in the UK today, on DVD and digital. It is available to buy from Amazon, HMV, Tesco and Sainsburys. For digital fans, buy and download via Sky and iTunes.
A great new review has been shared by Britflicks.com, who gave it 4 stars, with kind words about Tom's performance.
We’re told at the start that “all this is true” and it’s reflected in director Bill Clark’s dignified approach to the subject, one that isn’t afraid to present us with the truth of what is a lesser known - and all the more terrifying - disease. One that is contracted by 250,000 people every year and which kills 50,000.
The prosthetics bring that reality home: Tom’s stumps and the inescapable effect on his face, which means he has to drink through a straw and dribbles almost constantly. It means Tom Riley has to deliver a gruelling physical performance, especially during the watershed moment at the end of the film. In such a dignified movie, he’s a man who’s lost his own personal dignity.
He and Joanne Froggatt are both excellent as the couple, although it’s left mainly to Froggatt to represent the emotional burden placed on the entire family. As ever, her slight frame belies her power on screen and the strength of her character: she’s no saint, but she’s determined to get her family to a place where they can enjoy a life not so far away from the one they used to have. And she has to support her increasingly desperate husband while also looking after their young daughter and baby son, who arrives while Tom in hospital.
