A Ghost Story is a 2017 American supernatural drama film written and directed by David Lowery. It stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, with supporting performances from Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo, Rob Zabrecky and Liz Franke, and follows the ghost of a recently deceased man who remains in the house he shared with his wife.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017 and was released on July 7, 2017, by A24.
Video A Ghost Story
Plot
C (Casey Affleck) is a struggling musician living with his wife M (Rooney Mara) in a small suburban house in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. One night, they hear a heavy bang on their piano but can't find what caused it. One day, C is killed in a car accident just outside his house. At the hospital, he awakens as a ghost covered in a white sheet with two black holes for eyes. He wanders through the hospital with no one able to see him. He comes to the end of a hallway and sees a gateway of light appear in front of him. He does not enter the gateway, and the gateway closes up.
C's ghost leaves the hospital and returns to his house, watching his wife grieve. He continues watching her for days and weeks that appear like seconds. Eventually, he sees a second ghost inside a small house next to his. Wordlessly, she tells him that she is waiting for someone, but she cannot remember who. One night, C's Ghost sees M returning home with another man. He makes all the lights in the house flicker and throws some books off a bookshelf, opening one to a passage that seems to upset M. Some time later, M listens to a song that C had written when he was alive. Finally, M decides to move from the house. Before leaving, she writes a note and tucks it inside the small gap of a wall and paints over the gap, covering it.
C's ghost goes to where M hid the note and begins picking away at the paint, but as it seems he's been picking for only a few minutes, a Hispanic single mother and her young son and daughter move into the house. As he walks through the house, he observes their many months there, watching them eat dinner, take piano lessons, and celebrate Christmas. One night, C's ghost makes his presence known to the children by going inside their bedroom closet and opening the door. Though it seems the girl cannot see him, the boy can. One night, C's ghost angrily throws plates from a kitchen cabinet as the family is eating dinner, frightening the family. Eventually, they move from the house.
C's ghost observes the next occupants of the house throw a party, listening to one of the guests (Will Oldham) give a long monologue about humanity's efforts to ensure their legacy, but no matter how hard our efforts, they will be for naught. The party-goers notice the lights flicker. After some time, the house becomes abandoned and derelict. As C's ghost continues picking at the wall where the note is, a bulldozer comes and levels both his house and the house occupied by the second ghost. The second ghost says she doesn't think whoever she's waiting for is coming. She vanishes from beneath the sheet, and the sheet falls to the ground. C's ghost then watches as a skyscraper is built where his home used to be. Going to the building's roof, he sees a futuristic cityscape where his neighborhood once stood. He walks to the edge of the building and jumps off.
Next, C's ghost finds himself in a prairie where a family of 19th-century settlers has come to build a house. This is the same spot where his house will one day be built. The ghost watches as the family's daughter writes a note and hides it under a rock. Then, in the background, is the sound of whooping Native Americans. Turning, C's ghost sees that the settlers have been killed. He looks on as the body of the daughter decomposes over decades. The ghost sits there in the same spot until he's once again inside his old house, just as another C and M are moving in. He watches their relationship play out in front of him. One night in bed C tells M that he's ready to move out. The ghost then walks to the piano in the living room and sits down, accidentally striking the piano keys, making the noise C heard when he was alive. When the ghost next looks up, C has died, and M is moving out. The ghost, still seated at the piano, is now in a time loop, as it also sees itself standing at the window watching M leave. After M leaves, C's ghost goes to the wall where M left the note and is able to pull it out. He opens the note, reads it, and suddenly disappears from under the sheet. A shimmer of light floats in the middle of the room as the movie ends.
Maps A Ghost Story
Cast
- Casey Affleck as C
- Rooney Mara as M
- Will Oldham as Prognosticator
- Sonia Acevedo as Maria
- Rob Zabrecky as Pioneer Man
- Liz Franke as Linda
- Grover Coulson as Man in Wheelchair
- Kenneisha Thompson as Doctor
- Barlow Jacobs as Gentleman Caller
- McColm Sephas Jr. as Little Boy
- Kesha as Spirit Girl
Production
Development
During the spring of 2016, David Lowery began to write the screenplay for the film. He was scheduled for production after completing post-production on Pete's Dragon, his Disney live action film. Prior to this Lowery had wanted to "for a while" make a film featuring a man in a simple rudimentary ghost costume, telling Comingsoon.net, "I just loved that image. I love taking something that is understood to be funny or charming or sweet or naive and instilling it with some degree of gravity." Finally, the chance to use such a plot device came when he and his wife got in an argument about moving back to Texas. Lowery began to write down the argument "thinking about my own attachment to physical spaces." Combining both ideas he came up with the basic concept for the movie fairly quickly. Lowery also used the film to work through what he termed "An existensial crisis" brought on by reading an article about the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake. Lowery said "I was not feeling optimistic about the future of mankind. I felt the world was on its way to ending. The film became my way of dealing with those issues."
The project was officially announced in November 2016, confirming Mara and Affleck had been cast in the film. It was later revealed Kesha would appear in the film.
Affleck's costume was more difficult to deal with than Lowery was prepared for. At first the team attempted to simply use a normal bed sheet. They soon found that even a king sized sheet would not fully cover a grown adult male. The final costume required Affleck to wear other garments in addition to the normal fabric. The team also found they had to resort to some "puppeteering" to keep the eyes in place. Beyond the practical constraints of the costume, Lowery also found the simple costume impeded on Affleck's ability to act, noting "every unique physical trait as a human being was pronounced and exaggerated by this sheet over his head." This did not give Lowery the results he wanted. Lowery eventually solved this problem by reducing the amount of movement so that "it became a matter of patience and posture and moving very specifically, slowly and rigidly." Some shots of the ghost, specifically those done during pickups or reshoots, do not use Affleck at all, instead replacing him with the film's art director, David Pink, who was found to have a similar build.
Filming
Principal photography began in June 2016. A majority of the film is set within a single house, which was chosen by Lowery because it closely resembled the first house he lived in with his wife. As the house was about to be demolished, the film crew were allowed to use it for free. The project was shot in secret as they did not know how the final product would turn out. Lowery chose to shoot the film in an aspect ratio of 1:33:1, partially because he thought it was thematically appropriate for the film stating "It's about someone basically trapped in a box for eternity, and I felt the claustrophobia of that situation could be amplified by the boxiness of the aspect ratio."
Music
Daniel Hart composed the score for the film as another collaboration with David Lowery. It was released on July 7, 2017, by Milan Records.
Release
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017. Prior to the festival, A24 acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film. It was released on July 7, 2017.
Box office
The film grossed $104,030 from four theaters in its opening weekend for an average per-location gross of $26,008, finishing 26th at the box office.
Critical response and awards
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91% based on 204 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Ghost Story deftly manages its ambitious themes through an inventive, artful, and ultimately poignant exploration of love and loss." On Metacritic, which assigns an average rating to reviews, the film holds a score of 84 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, writing: "While Lowery's actual method of delivery may not be scary, it's sure to haunt those who open themselves up to the experience." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review, writing: "A poetic meditation on time, memory and spiritual connection that is utterly true to its title." Caillou Pettis of The Daily Film Fix gave the film a positive review and stated "Jam-packed with thoughtfulness and truly makes the audience think about what is currently transpiring on the screen". Eric Kohn for Indiewire gave the film an 'A' rating, calling it "an extraordinary mood piece that amounts to [Lowery's] best movie yet."
At the 43rd Deauville Film Festival the film won three awards: The Revelation Prize, The Critics Prize and The Special Jury Special.
At the Sitges Film Festival the film won two awards, Best Cinematography and Best Feature Length Film.
References
External links
- A Ghost Story at Rotten Tomatoes
- A Ghost Story at Metacritic
- A Ghost Story on IMDb
- Official Website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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