A GHOST STORY (2017)

Written, Edited & Directed By: David Lowery 
Cinematography By: Andrew Droz Palermo 


Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Brea Grant, Will Oldham 


In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.



I didn’t know what to expect when it came to this film and strangely found it to be more enjoyable than expected. Especially after One kind of avoided this film for as long as I could.

I found the film more experimental and challenging that played like cinematic poetry. This seems to be a film where each viewer will come away with a different interpretation of what they have seen and how it makes them feel. Which is something that usually happens with most films, yet this seems like it will be a more spiritual experience if you give yourself more fully to it.

As we and the ghost go through time it seems jumping around as he can’t seem to leave the location. We don’t exactly get to know other characters fully but we do get glimpses and how they relate to him. As the characters are human beings and we get to see their everyday lives their dramas. Including having to watch his wife move on without him which she should but as he can’t let go. He has to where the film could have purely focused on that instead it focuses on that same location over time.

This isn’t a film for everyone and I can see how some might find it boring or dull, but the film is inventive and tries in different ways to engage the audience and tell a story of sorts, That is emotional

It’s easy to call this film pretentious but there is something about it that feels adventurous as it seems to be about nothing but seems to be about the human experience.

The camerawork is still at times but also inventive when it does moves. The film feels majestic yet small. It works on all these contradictions. As at heart the film seems to be about intimacy. This almost feels like a smaller more dramatic Richard Linklater film

It feels more designed as an experience rather than a linear movie either way it tells a story.

Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara star but seem more supporting as they appear throughout but still only seen more in supporting roles. Though their characters haunt the narrative at different points. As hey are the starting point and introduction.

It’s an emotional film about moving on but never being able to truly leave where your heart lies. Even if only there for a short period of time. It’s where you felt the most comfortable even happy.

The film seems more an examination and meditation piece for the audience to experience. Truly a hard film to pin done even with a simple premise as so much happens through a simple lens.

The director David Lowery is onto something and so far is the best film of his that I have seen.

The films tries to say so much increasingly so with something so simple. That as the film goes along grows grander. That transcends everything around it until it feels like poetry or more do a feeling.

A Terrence Malik inspired film the type you wish Malik still made that are more intimate and wonder inducing instead of grand, overfilled and questionable. That can be simple and yet says so much. While it can easily get lost in itself and it’s tale.

Next to JIM & ANDY I will say that this is the most spiritual film I have seen all year


Grade: B