Tonight I did watch a movie : "A Ghost Story" (2017), starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. This was another flick I ordered from the Libe, having seen it advertised on IMDB and Amazon over the past couple of months. I knew it wasn't a horror movie, but other than that I didn't know what to expect. The dvd box has a critic's quote on the back : "Wondrous and Poignant"!
Hmmm.......definitely Poignant. And, after considering the movie on my walk this evening, I suppose it is a bit Wondrous as well.
I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, especially after the first half hour rolled by and virtually nothing happened. I was tempted to turn it off, but that temptation was only mild because there was clearly a competent movie here, and what's more - a movie with a degree of originality, a rare quality nowdays.
The problem in the first 30 to 45 minutes, is that the director David Lowery may have accidentally locked himself out of the editing room, and so was forced to show every last second of every scene that he had filmed; really long takes with little to no movement by his actors.
Or, if he was not actually locked out of his editing room, then he did it on purpose. I will just describe one scene as an example, and I choose this particular scene because, in my post-movie Googing, this scene was mentioned by several viewers.
The scene is of the Rooney Mara character eating a pie. It is depicted in real time, and while I didn't time it, I believe it lasted close to five minutes if not longer.
Okay. This took place about 30 minutes in. Had the film not had a well-executed hypnotic pace and concordant slow-panning camerawork, I would not have made it past the pie eating scene. And in fact I did wonder, just briefly, "why am I continuing to watch this"? In this case, it wasn't because the movie was bad. It actually showed all kinds of promise. It's just that literally almost nothing had happened in a half hour, and the director was trying to emulate Tarkovsky in his camerawork, but without Tarkovsky's substance of story.
I never thought seriously about turning it off, because it was clear the director was trying for something poetic, and he was pulling it off in the technical sense with great rhythmic camera movement and especially camera placement, at a distance removed somewhat from the scene, as if the viewer was standing in a corner of the room, watching unobserved.
I am not gonna tell you much about the story, because for one thing, there is barely a story to tell. This movie is more about a feeling - about isolation and loneliness and empathy, and the passage of great spans of time. It's also about loyalty and love and dedication, even while experiencing abandonment.
And all from the point of view of a ghost. The ghost is depicted in the simplest and most universally recognisable way possible : covered in a white sheet. At first you go, "wait a minute.....is this gonna be goofy"? But then as the movie progresses, you see that both the Ghost, and the director, are quite serious. Think of the human-sized Rabbit in "Donnie Darko" and you will get the idea. In fact, I'd say that "A Ghost Story" might have parallels with "Donnie Darko" in the way it touches upon the metaphysical aspects of the afterlife.
But really, it's a movie about being left behind, and waiting, waiting and waiting to be called upon once again. Waiting, because there is nothing else left to do. As a ghost, there is nothing else you can do but wait and observe.
"A Ghost Story" is not without it's problems. Ultimately for me, the main problem was not about the real-time overlong scenes, but the Usual Culprit - lack of substance in the story. Lowery was going for feel, and in that respect he hit a home run. He also scored high points for a "Donnie Darko" type of otherworldly isolation. If he had taken the time to add a few details to his script, details that would have brought the viewer more closely into the lives of the couple Affleck and Mara, which would have allowed us to understand why they were at odds, and to know what actually happened to cause the Ghost character to emerge, then he would have really had a major league movie like "Donnie Darko", a fully fleshed out story instead of a 2/3rds one.
There is one other scene that is beyond depressing and pretentious, that goes on and on like the pie-eating scene, and it takes place at a party where pretentious people are drinking and talking. An actor named Will Oldham , who was in a great Kelly Reichardt movie called "Wendy and Lucy", goes on a tirade about the futility of creative endeavor, and really of the future of human life. I thought it was one of the stupidest scenes I have ever watched in any movie, beyond pretentious and depressing, and then I thought "maybe the director intends it to be".
In the final analysis, that is why this movie is a flawed but successful experiment, rather than a Tremendous Film, which it could have been in the hands of a more experienced director and writer. David Lowery also made another film with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara called "Ain't Them Bodies Saints", which was not totally horrible but was not very good either. In fact, I don't really remember what it was about to be honest. He used slow pacing in that movie, too.
But it's not enough to try and be artful.
At the risk of hammering this point into the ground, I will say it once again :
You've got to write a story, a full story. It's a cop-out to leave things open to the interpretation of the audience. When you do that, it's like you are telling them, "you write the story for me".
And it's really too bad, because with "A Ghost Story" - which I still give a Thumbs Up - the guy could have made a hypnotic classic. If only he'd made the effort to write a complete script.
Still, give it a view, if you have the inclination. It's quite original in it's own way. ////
The rest of my day was just chillin', reading and playing a little guitar. And walking down to the Libe and store. I'm home until Friday.
Elizabeth, I hope your day was good. You are probably just chilling as well. The day after Christmas is always low key. I saw your post about your friend Nico's proximity to the fire. I assume it was the Thomas fire. I know he is one of your long time friends from way back, maybe even from your band days. I did not know that he had moved to California, but wow, that is some good fortune that he escaped the fire unscathed. Thanks be to our incredible firefighters, they are the absolute best.
The weather is still fairly warm here, about 72 degrees, and thankfully without the wind.
We will head towards the New Year then, with good energy and the expectation of good things to come.
I Love You. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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