Movie Review: A Ghost Story

You ever see something for a low-budget, B-movie and say, "I have to see it."? I was watching YouTube and saw a list of great movies that no one saw in 2017. One of the was "A Ghost Story" and I was instantly curious. It was not on Netflix. I would have to pay for this one. So I dropped the big $4.99 on Amazon. Josie and I sat down, popped open a little refreshment and took a look. Here is the preview:

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The 2017 film, "A Ghost Story is a drama written and directed by David Lowery. It stars Casey Affleck (Ocean's Eleven) and Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). It is a drama (not a horror!) that had a 91% on RottenTomatoes.com.

The movie is about a married couple (who are unnamed) that move into a house in the country. The wife (Mara) does not like living in the house but the husband (Affleck) refuses to move. That is, before he was killed in a traffic accident. At the medical examiner's office, the wife identifies the body and covers it with a sheet. A few minutes later the body rises, covered by the sheet (Casper the Ghost style). He walks through the hospital, unseen by others. That is when a door of bright light opens. The ghost looks at it and walks away. He walks back to the house and watches as his wife suffers though her mourning.

As time passes (and time is a real big deal in this movie), he sees his wife try to get on her life. He rages when she brings home a date, turning lights on and off and knocking down books. While waiting at home, he sees another ghost in another house. The ghost, without words, tells him she is waiting for someone but cannot remember who. The wife finds she cannot live in the house any longer, still suffering through her loss. She puts a note in the wall and moves out. The ghost tries to get the note but is unable to get through the wall. He is now alone and trapped in the house for, what the viewer can assume, is hundreds, if not thousands, of years (in human time).

This movie is deep and very sad. It really had an impact on me. It has been a week since I have seen it and I am still thinking about it. In fact, I had to stop myself from writing more of the plot even though I think the plot only begins after the wife moves out. The movie is not a love story. The ghosts love of his wife is only a motivation for him not to leave the earth (a big motivation and something that sticks with the viewer). But the point of the movie is concept of time when one has eternal life. This is a huge concept studied by physics and philosophers for thousands of years. Seeing the ghost simply "exist" is heart wrenching and it is almost a relief when he slips into his inevitable destiny.

Yeah, the movie is a mind screw.

The filmography a is beautiful. There is not much dialog, but listen to it when it comes. Just about everything said (and there is very little) has meaning. This is a "thinking" movie that probably needs to be seen more than once. It can be long winded. Some scenes seem to go on for what seems like forever and, I believe, this was done on purpose. The long-winded, silent scenes bring the viewer into the monotony of eternity.

There is no violence, nudity, suspense or foul language in the movie but this is not for children. This is a good date movie because because it will give a couple a lot to talk about it (though Josie did not think it was that great a movie). I think it is a must see. I give it a 5 out of 5 stars.