A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Lowery
Produced by	Toby Halbrooks James M. Johnston Adam Donaghey
Written by	David Lowery
Starring	Casey Affleck Rooney Mara
Music by	Daniel Hart
Cinematography	Andrew Droz Palermo
Edited by	David Lowery
Production company	Sailor Bear Zero Trans Fat Productions Ideaman Studios Scared Sheetless
Distributed by	A24
Release date	January 22, 2017 (2017-01-22) (Sundance) July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$100,000[2]
Box office	$1.4 million[3]

A Ghost Story is a 2017 American supernatural drama film written and directed by David Lowery. It stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, with supporting performances from Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo, Rob Zabrecky and Liz Franke, and follows the ghost of a recently deceased man who remains in the house he shared with his wife.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017 and was released on July 7, 2017, by A24.

Plot

C (Casey Affleck) is a struggling musician living with his wife M (Rooney Mara) in a small suburban house. One night, they hear a heavy bang on their piano, but are unable to find the cause for the noise. Some time later, C is killed in a car accident outside his home. At the morgue, he awakens as a ghost covered in a white sheet with two black holes for eyes. As he wanders aimlessly through the hospital, no one else able to see him, he comes to the end of a hallway and sees a doorway of bright flashing light open in front of him. After staring at it, the doorway eventually closes.

C's ghost leaves the hospital and returns to his house, watching his wife grieve over her loss. He continues watching over her for days and weeks on end that appear like seconds to him. Eventually, he meets another ghost inside the house beside his. She says that she is waiting for someone, but cannot remember who. One night, C's Ghost sees M returning home with a new boyfriend. Angered, he makes all the lights in the house flicker and throws several books off a bookshelf, opening one to a passage that seems to upset M. Some time later, M listens to a song that C had written for her when he was alive. Finally, M decides to move from the house, but not before leaving a note on a small piece of paper tucked inside a crack in the corner of a wall and painting the crack closed, leaving C's ghost behind.

C's ghost immediately goes to the corner and begins picking away at the paint, but as it seems he's been picking for only a few minutes, a Hispanic single mother and her young son and daughter immediately move into the house. As he walks through the house, he observes their many months there, watching them eat dinner, take piano lessons, and celebrate Christmas. One night, C's ghost makes his presence known to the children by going inside their closet and opening it up. Though it seems the girl cannot see him, the boy can. Deeply aggravated by boredom and loneliness one night, he begins throwing plates from their cupboard and flickers the lights, frightening them. Eventually, they move from the house too.

C's ghost then observes the next occupants of the house throw a party, listening to one of the guests (Will Oldham) go on a nihilist dissertation about humanity's collective efforts to ensure their legacy on earth, and how no matter how hard our efforts to try and preserve that legacy are, it will be for naught when the world eventually ends and the universe collapses on itself again. The partygoers notice the lights beginning to flicker. After some time, the house has now become abandoned and derelict. As C's ghost continues trying to pick at the corner in the wall, he finally begins to pull the paper out, only to be distracted by a bulldozer that levels both his house and the house belonging to the other ghost. As they stand upon the ruins, the other ghost says that she doesn't think whoever she's waiting for is coming, causing her figure beneath her sheet to vanish, leaving just her sheet. C's ghost watches on as a skyscraper is built on the foundation where his home used to be, walking around it from its construction to its completion. Walking to the roof, he sees a massive, futuristic cityscape where his neighborhood once stood. He walks to the edge of the building and plunges off the side to the bottom.

Upon waking up, C's ghost finds himself in a prairie where 19th-century settlers are setting up camp. The next morning, C's ghost watches as the young daughter amongst them wakes up, writes on a piece of paper and hides the paper beneath a rock. Suddenly, he hears the sound of whooping Native Americans in the distance, and upon turning back, he finds that the settlers have all been slaughtered. He gazes upon the corpse of the daughter as it decomposes and the land and grass begins enveloping her. He waits until he's once again inside his old home, just as an alive C and M are moving into it. He watches their entire relationship play out in front of him while they live in the house. One night, C's ghost sits on the piano in the living room, producing the bang that he had heard when he was alive. Eventually, he watches as M moves from the house once again as the other C (now also a ghost) watches her leave. He then returns to the corner of the wall and manages to pull the note she left behind from it. Upon opening it and reading what she wrote, C's figure disappears and leaves his now discarded sheet behind.

Cast

• Casey Affleck as C
• Rooney Mara as M
• Will Oldham as Prognosticator
• Sonia Acevedo as Maria
• Rob Zabrecky as Pioneer Man
• Liz Franke as Linda
• Grover Coulson as Man in Wheelchair
• Kenneisha Thompson as Doctor
• Barlow Jacobs as Gentleman Caller
• McColm Sephas Jr. as Little Boy
• Kesha as Spirit Girl

Production

Development

During the spring of 2016, David Lowery began to write the screenplay for the film. He was scheduled for production after completing post-production on Pete's Dragon, his Disney live action film.^[4] Prior to this Lowery had wanted to "for a while" make a film featuring a man in a simple rudimentary ghost costume, telling Comingsoon.net, "I just loved that image. I love taking something that is understood to be funny or charming or sweet or naive and instilling it with some degree of gravity." ^[5] Finally, the chance to use such a plot device came when he and his wife got in an argument about moving back to Texas. Lowery began to write down the argument "thinking about my own attachment to physical spaces.", combining both ideas he came up with the basic concept for the movie fairly quickly. ^[5]

The project was officially announced in November 2016, confirming Mara and Affleck had been cast in the film.^[6][7] It was later revealed Kesha would appear in the film.^[8][9]

Affleck's costume was more difficult to deal with than Lowery was prepared for, at first the team attempted to simply use a normal bed sheet, however they soon found that even a king sized sheet would not fully cover a grown adult male. ^[10] The final costume required Affleck to wear additional garments in addition to the normal fabric.^[10] The team also found they had to resort to some "puppeteering" to keep the eyes in place.^[10] Beyond the practical constraints of the costume, Lowery also found the simple costume impeded on Affleck's ability to act, noting "every unique physical trait as a human being was pronounced and exaggerated by this sheet over his head." This did not give Lowery the results he wanted. Lowery eventually solved this problem by reducing the amount of movement so that " it became a matter of patience and posture and moving very specifically, slowly and rigidly."^[10]

Filming

Principal photography began in July and August 2016, in Austin, Texas, concluding in September 2016.^[11] A majority of the film is set within a single house, which was chosen by Lowery because it closely resembled the first house he lived in with his wife.^[12] As the house was about to be demolished, the film crew were allowed to use it for free.^[13] The project was shot in secret as they did not know how the final product would turn out.^[14][15] Lowery chose to shoot the film in an aspect ratio of 1:33:1, partially because he thought it was thematically appropriate for the film stating "It’s about someone basically trapped in a box for eternity, and I felt the claustrophobia of that situation could be amplified by the boxiness of the aspect ratio." ^[10]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017.^[16][17][18] Prior to the festival, A24 acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film.^[19] It was released on July 7, 2017.^[20]

Box office

The film grossed $104,030 from four theaters in its opening weekend for an average per-location gross of $26,008, finishing 26th at the box office.^[21]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 147 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Ghost Story deftly manages its ambitious themes through an inventive, artful, and ultimately poignant exploration of love and loss."^[22] On Metacritic, which assigns an average rating to reviews, the film holds a score of 84 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[23]

Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, writing: "While Lowery's actual method of delivery may not be scary, it's sure to haunt those who open themselves up to the experience."^[24] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review, writing: "A poetic meditation on time, memory and spiritual connection that is utterly true to its title."^[25] Caillou Pettis of The Daily Film Fix gave the film a positive review and stated "Jam-packed with thoughtfulness and truly makes the audience think about what is currently transpiring on the screen".^[26] Eric Kohn for Indiewire gave the film an 'A' rating, calling it "an extraordinary mood piece that amounts to [Lowery's] best movie yet."^[27]

References

External links

• A Ghost Story at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Ghost Story at Metacritic
• A Ghost Story on IMDb