A Ghost Story
Director: David Lowery
Screenplay: David Lowery
Starring: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Will Oldham.
“We build our legacy piece by piece and maybe the whole world will remember you or maybe just a couple of people, but you do what you can to make sure you’re still around after you’re gone”
David Lowery is fast becoming a director to keep a close eye on. His Malick-esque Ain’t Them Bodies Saints struck a strong indie and meditative vibe before he, somewhat bizarrely, took on Disney’s remake of Pete’s Dragon and made a huge success out of it. Now, though, Lowery returns to the same tone of Saints by delivering a very unusual and unique take on a ghost story. With a brief synopsis of the plot or by even judging the films poster you’d be forgiven for thinking that this film is possibly a joke or at least one that relies heavily on humour. But it’s not and it doesn’t. This is a very poker-faced meditation on memories, attachments and loneliness and, for those with an open mind, it works an absolute treat.
Plot: A musician (Casey Affleck) and his wife (Rooney Mara) prepare to move from their rural house before the musician is suddenly killed in a car accident. Waking on a mortuary slab in a white sheet, his ghostly spectre returns to his house where he has to witness his wife’s grief and come to terms with the fact that he is no longer part of our waking world.
Lowery’s film is a very deep but simplistic one. He starts slowly and quietly by using minimal dialogue and he adds little to no backstory on his two main characters – refusing to even give them names. Mara and Affleck are merely credited with the initials ‘M’ and ‘C’ respectively and it’s this sparse approach that lends the film its intrigue. For those expecting or demanding jump scares or shrieking damsels you’d be better served by looking elsewhere. It does have its ghostly apparition but that’s as far as it goes in terms of it feeling anything like a horror. This is, in fact, more of a rumination on life and the impact (or lack of) that an individual has with their time on this earth. It focuses on grief and the passage of time whereby everything that was once important to a person will inevitably be washed away and, in the grander scheme, their existence ultimately becomes inconsequential.
Lowery gives plenty of food for thought here and skilfully achieves the impact of time by employing a languorous pace. The pacing will put many viewers off as there is a certain commitment and patience required when exploring C’s torturous purgatory but there’s also a genuine intimacy at work. C witnesses his wife’s grief while being unable to provide any comfort or solace just as he also witnesses her move on with her life when she eventually brings a date home and then packs up to leave the home that they once shared. It’s in these moments that you identify with C’s grief and one scene in particular has another ghostly spectre appear at a neighbours window. They both communicate with each other on how they’re just “waiting for someone” but can’t remember who and it’s at this point that you realise the nightmarish isolation that these wandering souls are left with. Their essence and being has essentially been forgotten which resonates strongly with the existential musings from time immemorial.
A genuinely heartfelt and thought provoking piece of work. Lowery explores the metaphysical with more than a tinge of despair and deep sadness. For a concept that would normally be laughed out the door, Lowery and his cast deserve the utmost praise for attempting something very different and, better still, managing to pull it off when they could so easily have failed. This film may be slow but it’s also rich and hugely rewarding when you allow it to express its elegiac tones.
Mark Walker
Trivia: The neighbor’s ghost is played by writer/director David Lowery.
MARKED MOVIES 
October 5, 2017 at 1:00 am
It’s like poetry.
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October 5, 2017 at 2:18 pm
You’re right, Jay. A very poetic little piece and it leaves plenty to ponder over.
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October 5, 2017 at 1:05 am
Nice review Mark. Thus far A Ghost Story has been my favorite film of the year. It is quite a heartfelt and sincere picture, and often very funny too (“Scared Sheetless” scored plenty of laughs in the theater I saw this in). Lowery is becoming one of today’s best filmmakers in my book.
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October 5, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Thus far, it’s difficult to argue with you, man. This is up there with the best I’ve seen as well. Lovely little film. Lowery’s definitely carving himself a reputation and I’m looking forward to his next film with Affleck, Robert Redford and Tom Waits.
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October 5, 2017 at 5:46 am
God I am so incredibly bummed I missed the two weeks this movie was playing near me! Man, this is a really thought provoking and moving review. You’ve made me want to see it even more than I already have been!
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October 5, 2017 at 3:44 pm
It’s a good flick, mate. Very unusual and it really shouldn’t work as well as it does but it’s the sincerity it has that makes a winner. I really liked this one and considered rating it even higher.
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October 5, 2017 at 2:14 pm
This sounds far too slow for me…… and I like affleck but I’d it right he doesn’t speak? Really hoped this was straight up horror when I first heard about it.
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October 5, 2017 at 2:17 pm
I really liked this, man. It is very slow but the pace is almost hypnotic and the running time is kept to a tight minimum. Admittedly, it’s not for everyone, though. Affleck has a couple of lines at the beginning of the film but after that, yeah, he doesn’t utter a word. I still wonder if it’s even him under the sheet. I know I’m not really selling this but it worked for me.
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October 5, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Discovered recently slow doesn’t work for me. Think I’m too impatient, watched Gerald’s Game the other night and I was so bored I ended up fast forwarding. Time is precious, got obstacle races to plan for 🙂
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October 5, 2017 at 3:46 pm
I hear you. Slow does work for me but I have to be prepared beforehand. So Gerald’s game isn’t worth it? I quite fancy that.
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October 5, 2017 at 4:05 pm
Reviews critically for Gerald’s Game have been great, and I’m a huge Stephen King fan, read most of his books but not this one. There’s a certain thing personally that ruins a movie for me. Maybe just me. Like with Get Out where I said to you the ‘hypnotism’ aspect. I’m out after that. Just bullshit. Same for films where people talk to themselves, or imaginary conversations…….. don’t want to spoil films here so feel free to delete, but that’s why I wasn’t sold with Gerald’s Game. Or the Babadook for another example. But then some people don’t like brutal torture so I’ll happily watch Leatherface again 🙂
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October 6, 2017 at 12:02 am
See, I’m not into brutal torture so much. I like my horrors to be psychological. I find that most unsettling and they’re the ones that always stay with me. That said, A Ghost Story is neither. It’s a whole other category altogether. I wouldn’t even say it’s a horror at all.
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October 5, 2017 at 4:04 pm
I was just reading this the other day…
https://onthescreenreviews.com/2017/09/29/review-a-ghost-story-my-experience-with-ghosts/
…and now your wonderful review.
What I find interesting, both describe the ovie differently, but the soft dreamy tone is what unites them.
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October 6, 2017 at 12:00 am
I had a read at Courtney’s review and I’m glad she liked it as much as I did – if not more. It’s the dreamy tone that separates this from any other film of its kind. The one that it brings slight reminders of is Jerry Zucker’s Ghost but as that film played to the masses and went for entertainment value, Lowery’s film plays the to art house, Terence Malick crowd and is much better for it.
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October 6, 2017 at 7:42 am
I hope films like that can get some good recognition…
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October 8, 2017 at 3:45 pm
It certainly has received some very positive buzz among critics but it’s not something I think the masses will be drawn to, unfortunately.
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October 6, 2017 at 8:38 pm
So glad you enjoyed this one bro. It’s one of my favorites of the year so far. Love it.
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October 8, 2017 at 3:46 pm
It’s among the best I’ve seen so far too, man. I seriously considered rating it higher but I’ll reserve that decision for another viewing. It’s a beautiful, beautiful little film.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:09 pm
Indeed. Had an opportunity to watch it a second followed by a Q&A with the director. Great to meet him and hear his insight.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:15 pm
Nice! That would’ve been something. I’m always jealous of these Q&A’s you guys guys get access to. It doesn’t happen that often in Scotland.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:29 pm
To be honest this was my first. It was a two day event. The first day featured a screening of Paterson followed by an interview with Adam Driver. Both interviews were done by Jeff Nichols. It was extraordinary.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:44 pm
Sounds great, man. Paterson has been on my list for a while. I really need to catch up with that. From what I hear it’s another solid outing from Jarmusch.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:52 pm
It is. Would have been on my Top 10 if it had released here in time. Soooo good.
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October 8, 2017 at 9:14 pm
Damn it! Some more glowing praise from your good self? I don’t know why I’ve left it so long. I really like Jarmusch and I often jump in straight away. For some reason or other Paterson has escaped my clutches.
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October 11, 2017 at 1:36 pm
Great review. I really should get to this at some stage!
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October 11, 2017 at 9:26 pm
Worth a catch, Zoë. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I really liked it. It was very different.
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November 23, 2017 at 12:49 pm
One of my favourites of the year so far. Such a great atmosphere. And finest pie-eating/vomit scene since Stand By Me.
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November 23, 2017 at 6:44 pm
Haha! Yeah, there’s quite the pie eating scene here. Lardass is still my favourite, though.
Great film. One that really surprised me.
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December 23, 2017 at 3:32 am
Damn, I really need to watch this one asap! It sounds nothing like what I thought it would be!
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December 23, 2017 at 1:23 pm
It wasn’t what I expected either, man. And it was all the better for it. This is a lovely little film.
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March 3, 2018 at 2:26 am
[…] A genuinely heartfelt and thought provoking piece of work. David Lowery’s film explores the metaphysical with more than a tinge of despair and deep sadness. It’s a slow moving but rich and hugely rewarding tale when you allow it to express its elegiac tones. Full review here. […]
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