A Ghost Story

Alright. I confess. I am an emotional person. After seeing the Plugged In review for this film, I cautiously threw this movie in on a slow, Saturday night. I assumed that it was going to be much like the movie "Ghost," and that it would be good, but not overly amazing. I was so wrong.

Not only did this movie make me cry for most of its duration, but it literally made me sob so hard that I was afraid of waking up the rest of my family is I cried in my bedroom at 11:45 at night. The film just hits so close to home. Time is the enemy of everyone. There's no going back, and there's no stopping it either. People pass, relationships end, romances form and then break apart. Nothing, at least in our physical world, ever stays the same. This movie beautifully illustrates this in a way that most American audiences don't seem to be understanding, which is why I am writing this review.

This movie deserves so much more recognition that it currently has; especially on this site. While this is by no means an action-packed or on-the-edge-of-your-seat film, the pure amount of artistry and raw, unadulterated emotion found in it makes stand out in my mind as one of the best films I have ever seen.

It's so simple. So astronomically simple; and that's what makes it so magical. Whether it be the haunting image of a wrecked car or the heavily-spoken about scene depicting a woman eating an entire pie for over five minutes, every single shot is filmed with so much emotion, it makes you want to pause the film and reflect on every minute the story has to offer. Everything has a purpose in this film. It all ties together in this beautiful, haunting tragedy mixed with a love song.

I know I'm just a kid. Yes, I may be only seventeen. But I beg you, if the reviews for this film on this site are making you think twice about seeing this, just listen to what I have to say and watch it. No, it's not for everyone. If you're looking for a horror movie or a blood-splattered motion pic, skip this one over. But if you're deeper than that, and you actually want to experience something you won't forget, throw yourself into this one.

It's sad to see that this beautiful masterpiece of American cinema is being so overlooked.

In summation, 'A Ghost Story' is a poetic and almost meditative anecdote about existentialism that wilfully facilitates relevant discussions on what our life is and what value it exactly holds.

While being profoundly philosophical and introspective with its notion, the execution for the majority comes off as dull and tiresome, and that's because there's not much transpiring. Each one of the frames, though looks gorgeous, carries little to no significance. They look empty, devoid of tangible conflicts or palpable emotions.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not against slow burners or prolonged camera movements, or any elaborated sequences, but everything has to have some implication, some ambition. To me, it felt like most of the scenes here (except for a handful) were there just for the sake of it, without serving a greater purpose.

Alright, I can see why and how people would interpenetrate this film as pretentious but bare with it. This film obviously focuses on the grieving stage but more so from the perspective of the deceased which is quite an innovative angle.

Parts I liked: The film uses creative camera angles with plenty of long shots taken from still angles, and from what I've read, there were many shots that only took one take to film. The camera adds to the dreary, depressing atmosphere David Lowery wants you to feel, after all this is a film about bereavement. Affleck and Mara deliver a solid, believably performance when they're both on camera together, which is no surprise as I believe Affleck is fantastic in all of his works. The ghost itself (also played by Affleck) is an interesting character to read. When watching I did start to feel a connection to the poor ghost who is left in a time lapse. There are some tear jerker scenes when it's evident the ghost (Affleck) just want's to comfort his bereaved wife. The ghost also shows anger when it witnesses it's wife close to another man. All of these aspects added to the character development of the friendly ghostly character which kept me interested throughout the movie. I noticed a lot of people are not a fan of the long scenes (pie scene) but I felt it added to the immersion of what life is like after losing someone close to you. I liked the pie scene in particular, it's a slow burner where you can see Mara's characters emotions building up as she starts to eat more and more aggressively until she ends up being sick, all the while our poor ghostly character watches over her. I felt this captured the numbness and pain Mara's character is feeling in this scene. As a final point for the positives, I felt the sound track captured the mood of the film really well and added to my experience.

Things I didn't like: About halfway through the movie I started to lose interest slightly, mainly because the story leaves Mara's character behind and focuses on the location, i.e the house. I felt this took away the sentimental value of ghosty and Mara's characters connection, I mean, surly if ghosty can walk from the hospital to the house he could follow Mara's character, right? I didn't really care about how the house was knocked down or the squatters party scene, it's like the director wanted the audiences attention to be shifted from Mara's character to the house almost? I'm sure others will disagree with me but this is where I found my attention at this point in the film. When Mara's character comes back in I was sort of like 'Oh yeah, I remember her'. I felt the film brought out more of my emotions when it was ghosty following Mara's character.

Conclusion: This film captures the struggles of someone graving fantastically and offers a unique angle from the dead's point of view which I really liked. It has plenty of scenes which you may need to bring the tissues out for, especially if you have just recently lost a loved one. I felt it lost it's way slightly and became a bit boring, however the story didn't take away from the cinematography which I think is great. The film requires you to feel a certain degree of empathy to the ghost to really feel what David Lowery was trying to achieve when filming.

My overall score is 7 out of 10. I don't believe it deserves to be slated, however I can see why people would dislike this film. It's definitely worth a watch, if you're 50/50 about it, give it the first 40 mins and see how you feel.

Also just wanted to drop in that I thought the casting of Kesha as the other ghost is probably the most bizarre cameos I have ever seen.

This is not a film to watch with a big bowl of popcorn snuggled up looking for something to entertain you on a Tuesday night. It's probably best that you know what you're getting yourself into...

It's a film that challenges you to empathize with a faceless, voiceless entity that you only get to know briefly. It weaponizes boredom and hazy, cold cinematography to put the viewer in a similar situation as the titular ghost. You are a distant, helpless observer to a world that relentlessly moves forward without you. Characters come and go without much introduction or resolution, and all you can do is watch as time goes on... and on... and on...

A Ghost Story is intentionally divisive, but if you immerse yourself in its bold and and chilling atmosphere, you will experience a film that is deeply moving and sticks with you for a long, long time.

I am surprised at how emotional this movie was. I fully expected this to be slow and it was so as it started off I wasn't angry but I was getting bored, anyone who has seen it can admit that the pie eating scene is a tad too long. However as the movie progresses it becomes better or even great in places, it is slow but it explores the passing of time and mortality in such a magnificent way that it makes the viewer think and reflect on their own life and what it means. As I said in the title this movie would go really well with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, especially the song Time. The story of the movie is very simple but effective and the length of it is perfect. The movie is an unexpected gem because even though people have recommended this I did not expect it to be one of the most resonant movies of 2017 for me and one that would make feel so sad and thoughtful.