Let me start off by saying that if you see a movie named A
GHOST STORY released to DVD in the beginning of October the odds are you’re
thinking this would be a good movie for Halloween, right? Well this movie is
far from that. Yes, it involves a ghost, but that’s as close as it gets to
Halloween. And since it was released to theaters before October it may just be
a coincidence. Just be aware that this is not a good Halloween movie. As a
matter of fact it’s not much of a good movie either.
The film opens with Casey Affleck as C and Rooney Mara as M,
a young couple in love and about to move from a house they live in. Lying
together on the couch she tells him about when she was a little girl, how she
would take notes to herself and fold them into the tightest, smallest way she
could and then insert them into the crevices of the house she was leaving.
Moving a lot as a child her intent was to have something there to remind
herself of those times if she ever returned.
One of the odd things the film does is nor move in a linear
fashion but just jumps forward to key scenes. One key scene involves the couple
in bed when they hear a crash against their piano in the other room.
Investigating they find nothing disturbed and go back to bed. There they cuddle
and kiss for what seems like an eternity and then go back to sleep. Next key
scene, C plays a piece of music he’s composed for M to listen to. Next key
scene M hauls a trunk to the curb. Next key scene C is in a car crash outside
their home.
The following scene moves the reset of the movie forward. M
views the body of C in the morgue and then leaves. A lingering shot that seems
like forever just shows the sheet covered body lying there. And then it rises.
This images moves the rest of the movie forward, a sheet covered ghost.
Returning to the home it watches M deal with her loss and move out. It watches
new people move in and scares one family. It watches another move in which sets
up the next biggest portion of the film.
I could describe it but this part is the most interesting
part of the entire film and while taking time to make a point via dialogue it’s
only a small portion of the time spent watching this film. And trust me you’ll
be noticing the time while watching as it seems to take forever to go anywhere.
While watching this film one word kept floating through my
brain: pretentious. The definition of the word is “attempting to impress by
affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually
possessed.” That sums up this movie perfectly. In attempting to make “art” the
film instead induces boredom. If I were Sominex I would try and buy the rights
to this film as it induces sleep faster than that over the country drug.
Long shots of nothing, panning shots of scenes with nothing
going on and the latest fad in pretentious films, the long drawn out gaze of
one actor either at another or just at the camera, all are found here. Affleck
took some heat for some with his previous film MANCHESTER BY THE SEA where some
found it to be pretentious as well. I enjoyed his performance there and still
recommend the film. But this film is nothing more than art house self-pat on
the back type film making, a movie where those involved tell themselves how
wonderful it is and how the masses just aren’t smart enough to understand the
complexities of art.
In reality the masses are quite aware of what art is. They
know what is good and what is bad. And to use a portion of a well turned phrase
they’ll also see this movie and realize immediately that it is not Shinola but
the alternative.
Click here to order.
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