A Ghost Story (2017)

[baumer]

Discuss

[Blankments]

A Ghost Story mesmerizes in a way films rarely do. Evocative of the free-floating nature of its titular subject, its approach is more experiential rather than telling a story. Lowery's vision of the afterlife is astounding, with tons of quirks that all are grounded in a solid world. The sound and cinematography are both top-of-the-line, and the film is at its best when its playing with horror tropes and really tackling the mourning nature of loss. Hart's score is beautiful, and Affleck and Mara both do admirable jobs in their roles.

 

However, it's a tough watch at points, thanks to its esoteric nature and refusal to commit to any actual character in the film. This is to its benefit too, but ultimately, it just left me feeling surprisingly cold by the end of the film. That negative aside, A Ghost Story is a tremendous piece of filmmaking, with fascinating ambition executed to near perfection, even if that might not be what one is expecting from the film. Definitely worth seeking out. B+

[WrathOfHan]

On 7/30/2017 at 2:50 PM, Blankments said:

A Ghost Story mesmerizes in a way films rarely do. Evocative of the free-floating nature of its titular subject, its approach is more experiential rather than telling a story. Lowery's vision of the afterlife is astounding, with tons of quirks that all are grounded in a solid world. The sound and cinematography are both top-of-the-line, and the film is at its best when its playing with horror tropes and really tackling the mourning nature of loss. Hart's score is beautiful, and Affleck and Mara both do admirable jobs in their roles.

 

However, it's a tough watch at points, thanks to its esoteric nature and refusal to commit to any actual character in the film. This is to its benefit too, but ultimately, it just left me feeling surprisingly cold by the end of the film. That negative aside, A Ghost Story is a tremendous piece of filmmaking, with fascinating ambition executed to near perfection, even if that might not be what one is expecting from the film. Definitely worth seeking out. B+

I agree with a lot of this. I'll also add in that I'm not sure how to feel about the whole time is a flat circle concept the movie threw in. The pioneer stuff was really detracting from the film IMO.

[rukaio101]

You know, watching this movie reminded me of a few years back, when I was taking my screenwriting degree and, for one of our classes, we all got together to watch 'Salo, or 180 days of Sodom'. (For those not in the know, Salo is basically an art movie about depravity and/or an excuse to show two hours of torturing teenagers, nudity and shit-eating.) The reception for that screening was, unsurprisingly, mixed. But after the movie, we had an interesting discussion about where exactly that line was between 'meaningful art about depravity/abuse of power' and 'torture porn/fetish film'. Some considered Salo art, others considered it torture porn, and that mindset tended to line up with how much they liked the movie itself. And I think that A Ghost Story is very much the same, in that regard. Either you understand its purpose as art and really get into its poetic atmosphere of grief and mourning... or you just think it's two hours of the filmmakers fucking with you and Casey Affleck in a bedsheet staring solemnly at stuff.

 

Unfortunately, I fell into the latter category. Because I fucking hated this movie. A lot.

 

Now, I'll admit I probably wasn't the best fit for this movie, since I tend to drift easily during long boring moments and this film feels like more-or-less 80% long boring moments. But a good director can make silences and nothings every bit as engaging as dialogue or action. That did not happen here. (Hell, I ended up turning on my ipod and listening to a podcast partway through and never felt like I missed a thing.) Don't get me wrong, I know what it was trying to do, build a drawn-out, melancholy atmosphere. And I've seen that done before and to great effect. But there were a few issues with its execution here with stopped it from working for me.

 

First of all, the movie makes a mistake by starting out with the same drawn-out, boring atmosphere instead of utilising it when appropriate. Seriously, I'd probably (maybe) be perfectly happy if it moved at a normal pace and waited until Affleck died before moving onto the slow, drawn-out crap. But no. We get shots of houses and hallways and etc that felt like they went on for like five minutes and all before Affleck bites the dust. And there's no real emotion for us to feel, so we don't and simply end up getting bored. Then, when Affleck finally does die and the drawn-out atmosphere feels more appropriate... it still doesn't work because we were already bored senseless by it and disengaged as a result.

 

Secondly, for much of the first two thirds or so, it really feels like the movie, like its titular protagonist, meanders a lot. Floating around with no purpose or drive or really anything. Just wandering around staring solemnly at stuff. Now, I'm certain people could argue that that was the point, that it reflects the protagonists own ennui and lack of purpose/drive as a ghost. And that's a perfectly understandable point. But just because something has a purpose doesn't necessarily mean it works. And, if you're not engaged with the movie, not in tune with the atmosphere it's going for, then this meandering attitude only makes it seem even worse. And this brings me onto my third and possibly most important point...

 

I don't give a crap about the characters. Seriously, not one crap is given before or after death. We get a handful of scenes with mumbly Casey Affleck and generic love interest Rooney Mara before Affleck bites it and neither of them make any kind of lasting impression. Thus the atmosphere of grief rings hollow because I don't care about either these characters. I don't feel especially sad about Affleck's accident, I just feel numb and bored. I didn't give a crap about Rooney Mara listening to dull music and it feels like the only meaningful exploration of her own grief we get is 9 minutes of her eating pie.* They feel every bit as lifeless as the actual ghosts, if not less. 

 

It's annoying because there really are a lot interesting ideas and themes** in A Ghost Story, especially towards the final third. But by the time the movie actually gets to them, it's already frittered away your patience with long, meaningless shots of hospital beds or Rooney Mara eating pie. And, as a result, you really can't get that invested even when seemingly interesting stuff is happening. It tries to be a poetic meditation of death and grief but, for me at least, it overestimated the audience's tolerance for its own bullshit and just ends being a bore.

 

In conclusion, my advice for seeing this movie is to wait until the pie-eating scene. If you're really feeling invested then by all means stick with it. If you're feeling bored senseless, then just walk out. It doesn't really get all that much better. Or maybe just skip to the final third where shit actually starts happening. For me thought, this was just a disappointment.

 

 

 

 

*Seriously, no amount of reasoned arguments about deeper meaning and resonance can convince me that the pie scene was anything other than the director fucking with the audience.

 

**I didn't get a chance to mention it in my review, but I really want to bring up the fucking bullshit nihilistic speech that Will Oldham gives like halfway through the movie. It really pissed me off because it came out of nowhere, barely felt like it tied into the themes of the movie, didn't really fit the scene it was in and it clearly felt like the screenwriters thought they were being really deep and meaningful with this 'Baby's first Nihilism' bullshit. And quite frankly, it really pissed me off. Fuck you movie, I've had to sit through an hour of nothing happening and Affleck looking at shit mournfully and now you want to tell me that nothing matters, like you're some sort of big boy philosopher? Fuck you, you're not intelligent to get any kind of meaningful discussion out of this subject and you think this ham-handed effort will just be enough. Go fuck yourself, movie.

 

Ahem. Sorry, that scene really pissed me off.

[WrathOfHan]

1 hour ago, rukaio101 said:

 

**I didn't get a chance to mention it in my review, but I really want to bring up the fucking bullshit nihilistic speech that Will Oldham gives like halfway through the movie. It really pissed me off because it came out of nowhere, barely felt like it tied into the themes of the movie, didn't really fit the scene it was in and it clearly felt like the screenwriters thought they were being really deep and meaningful with this 'Baby's first Nihilism' bullshit. And quite frankly, it really pissed me off. Fuck you movie, I've had to sit through an hour of nothing happening and Affleck looking at shit mournfully and now you want to tell me that nothing matters, like you're some sort of big boy philosopher? Fuck you, you're not intelligent to get any kind of meaningful discussion out of this subject and you think this ham-handed effort will just be enough. Go fuck yourself, movie.

 

Ahem. Sorry, that scene really pissed me off.

That scene's closer to the 70 minute mark IMO

[The Panda]

This movie's definitely an experience to take in at its whole.  There's a lot of meat to it, but it does draw out some of the scenes a bit to long (despite the beautiful shots it creates).  However, I do think the dragging added extra commentary to this eternal nature of an afterlife, and the feeling one would have to actually be a ghost stuck in one location.

 

It's definitely a movie that makes you feel, and you don't know quite why or what you're feeling, but you are feeling something.  Provocative, creative and sad.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Get rid of the monologue, and this might very well be an A movie for me. It's pretty moving and a truly visceral, unique look at loss and identity.

[somebody85]

On 1/3/2018 at 9:16 PM, The Shape of Pasta said:

Get rid of the monologue, and this might very well be an A movie for me. It's pretty moving and a truly visceral, unique look at loss and identity.

I have an issue with the monologue too but I understand it being there and it doesn't remove this film from being #2 of the year for me. And I've watched it twice. 

If I had any issue with it, that would be it. The rest is everything I wanted it to be. Only Blade Runner beats it this year for me but The Florida Project comes damn close.

[somebody85]

On 12/21/2017 at 12:32 PM, New Year New Panda said:

This movie's definitely an experience to take in at its whole.  There's a lot of meat to it, but it does draw out some of the scenes a bit to long (despite the beautiful shots it creates).  However, I do think the dragging added extra commentary to this eternal nature of an afterlife, and the feeling one would have to actually be a ghost stuck in one location.

 

It's definitely a movie that makes you feel, and you don't know quite why or what you're feeling, but you are feeling something.  Provocative, creative and sad.

I agree. The dragging felt authentic and added to the atmosphere. If you were actually stuck here, that's what it would be like. 

I understand that a lot of people find this movie pretentious and I get it but I can't remember the last time I left a theater feeling that effected when a film ended (the first time I saw this). I had a similar reaction to The Shape Of Water but not as strong as this.

We all have to die and this film does such an amazing job at portraying grief.

[Joel M]

I was mesmerised by many of the director's decisions in this movie. How he uses the aspect ratio, how he makes the sheet with 2 holes feel poetic isntead of just ridiculous, how he tackles heavy themes without feeling pretentious. But at the same time I felt this movie could be something more, even if I don't have a specific thing to point out that kept it from greatness. I guess you could argue about the pie scene, the obvious monologue or the "twist" but I think all of these things work in the context of the movie and the feeling it wishes to convey. But something is missing, I don't know what it is. I felt exactly the same about Lowery's 2 previous movies, like they were good movies, but just a step below they become great movies.

 

Whatever "it" is, I hope he finds it because from what I've seen Lowery is a really talented filmmaker.

[somebody85]

Was pleasantly surprised to see this be both Mike and Jays favorite film of the year on RLM.

Many people won't have an experience with it, but if you do it really is something that stays with you.