A Ghost Story – 4 out of 5
I remember seeing the trailer for A Ghost Story when I went to see The Big Sick in the theater. The concept of a ghost being the whole bed sheet costume idea intrigued me. I put it on my Watch List but never made it a priority. After the allegations of star Casey Afflecks’ sexual assault came to light, there was no hope of this movie being a priority but I didn’t write off seeing it entirely because I was still interested in seeing the product. A friend of mine really enjoys the film and had been bugging me to check it out for months so I finally caved in and checked it out. It was odd because I really enjoyed the film but also felt like the film was annoyingly pretentious.
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| Hey! Kesha is in this movie! |
A musician (Casey Affleck) and his wife (Rooney Mara) are living a quiet life in a simple home in Dallas, Texas. The wife hopes to move but the husband wishes to stay. After he is killed in a car accident one day, he finds himself as a ghost (in a sheet, no less) who forgoes crossing over and decides to return home. There he is forced to witness his wife grieve, try to move on (which upsets him greatly) and eventual move out. Before she leaves, she hides a note in the wall that the ghost is desperate to retrieve but can’t. Time passes and the ghost finds himself trapped and unable to move on…and then things get really weird for him.
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| Well, the ghost is Casey Affleck so he probably wasn't going to be allowed in there to begin with. |
My experience with A Ghost Story is an interesting one because there are times where I found the film striking and brilliant with its display of emotion but then would have these extreme negative reactions where I found the film to be extremely pretentious and full of itself. As you can see from my score, these pretentious moments didn’t kill my enjoyment because overall I found the film to be pretty amazing (had Casey Affleck not been covered in a sheet most of the time that might have changed things).
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| It's easy to pretend he's not even in the film when he's covered up. |
The double-edged sword to A Ghost Story stems greatly from its use of moments with no dialogue and only music or natural sound. When this formula is used effectively, sequences can be exceptionally emotional as it illustrates loss, heartbreak, anguish and isolation. Sometimes, however, this formula is used and it feels like director David Lowery is trying to pull a fast one and look artistic but is doing the bare minimum of creativity. I felt this when I had to watch a nearly 5 minute sequence of Rooney Mara’s character eating an entire pie after Casey Affleck’s character died. While this sequence, in theory, illustrates a woman trying to find solace in something simple and almost mechanical—who hasn’t eaten their feelings? I know I do a lot—but as the time grew and passed this moment stopped feeling like an exploration of the human condition and just felt like a lazy way to say, “Look, I made art” and then acted smugly about it. It’s the type of moment that the annoying film nerds who use their taste in films as a personification of status would say is “brilliant” just so they look smart. This is compounded by the fact that, realistically, A Ghost Story could have existed solely as a short where these humanistic moments are compressed. Essentially, the pretentiousness vibe I got from these moments extends from the fact that these scenes ultimately felt like they existed for no other reason than to pad out the film and extend the running length.
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| Somewhere, there is a movie snob who is overthinking this scene and thinking they "get it." |
This sounds like a very harsh criticism and one that could potentially kill all entertainment value for the film but it truly didn’t. The reality is A Ghost Story comes off as a pretentious film only at times and the times are few and far between. From a majority standpoint, the featgure is very well made. It does so much with telling so little and it creates an atmosphere of heavy emotions that have the capability to haunt the viewer long after the credits end. Even from a storytelling and presentation perspective, the movie showcases the potential silent torment a loved one could experience in an afterlife in a new direction. The idea of presenting the ghost in the costume sheet fashion seems silly on paper but was actually a very imposing visual that amazingly never felt or looked out of place among everything else thanks to the perspective of the feature.
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| "What cha thinking about?" "I dunno. Ghost stuff." |
A Ghost Story is a unique take on the examination of loss and how the lives we live can haunt us…or cause us to haunt. There’s a very striking simplicity to its presentation as the film is light on dialogue and character interaction but still heavy on the drama and emotion. The performances are almost negligible because the content and impact is nearly entirely derived from the music and visuals but that isn’t to say the acting is bad. The movie does have a habit up getting up its own ass and feeling very self-important but it still is a very tantalizing film that explores some very grounded themes and ideas.
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