This film has been garnering almost universal praise, and whilst I admired a lot of it, it didn’t quite resonate with me in the way it has with many others. Casey Affleck and Roony Mara play a couple living in a rented house. It seems that Mara wants to move but Affleck does not, though it is not clear why either feel the way they do. Then tragedy strikes as Affleck’s character is killed in a car crash. As Mara grieves, Affleck returns to the house as a ghost, trying to reconnect with her although she has no idea he is there.
It is unusual to see an American film that has this much time to breathe. Most of the takes are long and deliberate, giving the two leads a chance to show how they can do so much with the minimum of dialogue. Credit needs to be given to director David Lowery, who also wrote the screenplay, for such an audacious approach, including a decision for the ghost to be just Affleck covered in a sheet with two eye holes.
There is a moment, about half an hour in, when the ghost ‘talks’ to another ghost in a neighbouring house. If the film had ended there, it would have been a brilliant short film. A while later, Mara moves out of the house, but Affleck has to stay. Again that would have been a good ending, because without the connection between the couple, and as Affleck has to live with the people who move in, the story loses most of its impact. It does pick up again towards the end, though, as things come full circle, and the ending itself is satisfying.
This is an ambitious film and Lowery should be commended for following up his Pete’s Dragon remake with such a resolutely non-mainstream effort. However, if you want to see one film about the nature of grief starring Casey Affleck, I would recommend Manchester By the Sea above this.
Rating: 6 out of 10