A Ghost Story

2017 ghost story

Rating: 15/20

Plot: A guy dies and then, as a ghost, watches his wife grieve and eat pie. Then, some other people happen.

There's a scene in this where Rooney Mara comes into her house, washes some dishes, notices that somebody has left her a pie, cuts a piece of the pie, eats that piece directly out of the pan, sits on the floor of the kitchen, eats the entire pie, runs to the bathroom, and vomits. It's all while Casey Affleck, last year's Best Actor in the Academy Awards, wears that sheet with the eye holes and watches her. This scene has to be at least 8 minutes long, completely unbroken. I can't tell if it's my favorite scene of all time or the biggest waste of time I've experienced in a long while.

I don't understand all the metaphysical logic of this ghost stuff. There's a scene where a bunch of things rapidly happen, and Affleck does something and then abruptly ends up in another setting. I don't want to spoil it for you in case you decide to stay awake long enough to get to that point in the movie. If you've seen this, I'd love it if you'd explain to me what the hell happened there.

This movie has a unique pace. It moves at ghost speed. Time doesn't work right. Maybe that answers my questions that I addressed up there.

This movie gives you more space than any movie I think I've ever seen. Maybe since Gerry, also featuring Affleck. Nothing much happens on the screen during long periods of time, and the viewer has no choice but to reflect on what's going on. It makes the experience more harrowing.

There's some unfortunate music, but Will Oldham, a musician, comes in and makes up for that with lengthy pontificating. I think he has way more lines than Affleck and Mara combined.

I was moved by an interaction with a second ghost and an ending that both floored and confused me.