 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 2017 film a ghost story, which is an 824 film and it's horror Is is not I don't know I'm going through all the 824 horror films because I want to do like a final ranking And this is kind of horror-adjacent in a way and I would argue that because it tackles the concept of ghosts a little bit and then it also there are some things that if you think very deeply about them are actually kind of Unsettling and horrific about humanity Including you know human existence how humans think about leaving things behind and being remembered and you know Relationships and you know stuff like that. So I would argue. It's a little bit horror adjacent But at the least let's let's move on there will be spoilers for this because it's a 2017 film So just know that I would recommend it overall It is very hard to get through in the beginning, but it really does pick up towards the end and in the end I did end up enjoying it enough to recommend it Written and directed by David Lowry who did the films ain't them body saints Pete's dragon the old man in the gun and the green knight, which I have not seen any of those Now this film has actually been viewed as very tainted because one of the producers has been Allegedly charged well has been charged for allegedly sexually abusing children The other issue is Casey Affleck the main actor in this has been Accused of sexually assaulting women so those two things have kind of put a lot of taint on this actual film And I would implore people to actually just keep in mind Those are not the only two people involved with this film And there were a lot of people who worked very hard on it and there's a lot of very great things a lot of Achievement in this actual film. We shouldn't just cast it aside because of those two awful human beings just saying The cost for this film was actually a hundred thousand dollars and it ended up making 1.9 million which is a good turnaround and you have to think a hundred thousand dollars is very very low That's a low budget very very very low And you can see that in the film because there aren't really any practical effects thrown in there and they use the very simple Costume of just like a gigantic white sheet which are actually were problems with that Lowry didn't anticipate such issues as You know not really being able to see the physical acting of Affleck as he was under it And they had to kind of alter the sheet in order to get around that also the eye holes kept moving and slipping and causing vision issues But also just it didn't look right, you know shooting With the eye holes in different places So they had to come up with a way to alter it to keep them there And then also just tripping on the sheet when trying to move so they had to fix all of these things Which were actually challenging and they didn't anticipate that So this script was actually used as a way to deal with negative feelings on the trajectory of humanity And that's something that kind of Lowry said and I think that really does come through in the film Especially towards the end when you really start to see the overall idea behind it Lowry refute Lowry fused his desire to make a film with a simple ghost costume With his interest in looking at the attachments that people have to physical places now This shows up as like attachment as in the main mode that you first see as you know See the character see because it's just C and M as the two early on main characters and so sees physical attachment as a ghost to the house that he was last at and It's also kind of the attachment to a house of memories, you know Even if a person moves on even if they leave like M There's still the memory of everything that happened at that house And then when someone new moves in even though they're not aware of everything that went on in that house It has a history. It has memories. It has, you know past events It'll have future things happening too and it kind of goes down that rabbit hole And I think it's very interesting the way it's done In the end once again because one of my biggest issues with this film is that it's about a 30 minute Film in the runtime of an hour and a half I think it could have been cut down to be an amazing Amazing 30 minute film, but the problem is they chose to really stretch it out to an hour and a half It seems very arbitrary that it would end up being that long and it doesn't work at that length And for that reason there's a lot of boring moments There's a lot of times it's just moving way too slow and there's nothing going on and it's not engaging and It's not like that stuff was really it doesn't seem like it was done for any real reason Other than to just stretch runtime. I'm sure there was some sort of actual reason But it doesn't come across to the audience and it doesn't work So that's one of my big issues with the film. Like I said overall, I like the film I would recommend it But I also won't give it high marks when I could have if it was a much shorter film Because they really made some poor choices with how to put it together The costume. Oh, yeah, I already talked about that Whatever so the there's a quote in the beginning of this whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting And I think this is kind of set up to to kind of give the idea of You know, whenever you show up at a place someone is You know the door is shutting for another person and and that's very Important for you know what you see in the film of you know people new people moving into the house and as someone moves out new people move in and it's The the portion of of whoever's moving out their portion of their life that door is closing Just as other people are coming in and that portion of their life is opening in that exact same place So I think it's an interesting concept to think about So C isn't very present with this partner Which is something kind of interesting that you see in the very beginning But I think it's also a problematic for setting the the film up And this is one of my other issues with it Is you don't really get a good feeling of the relationship that c and m are having early in the film And even the little glimpses that you see C seems very distant. He's very focused on making his music He's very focused on kind of dismissing what m is saying about wanting to move. I understand that's because you know C has a very strong pull a strong tie to the place and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a bit but um It doesn't it doesn't it then plays that their relationship is not that great Now I understand that they were trying to get through that the relationship is very good by having that extended scene Where they're sleeping and cuddling together But that is one of those really long boring moments that they really should have cut down and it also People do that anyway, you know, like that doesn't say enough in my opinion. You need to show it in other ways There's some good impact to seeing just the aftermath of the car crash that happens in this for c Because really you don't need to see the horrific Events of the actual accident There is a lot of power in that and the fact that they chose to Pretty much not use any score for when that happens So you can just focus on the aftermath of C's lifeless body just sitting in the car. It does help For you processing it as an individual like you can feel free to process it however you want to And take your own time with it and it is kind of a you know a very profound impactful moment The simple sheet makes sense because C is covered with it at the morgue And that's kind of the last way that m ends up seeing him So it makes sense that as a ghost he would be like that but then we also see that all ghosts are like that So that was just the initial concept Uh But I guess maybe it was tied into the concept that that's kind of how everyone is seen for the last time when they die Other than you know, if there's an open casket the sheet is is a cool visual and uh light and shadow actually plays in interesting ways on it And my favorite parts with the use of that costume are not only some of the very smooth movements with it that Affleck does But also in the moments where they have colored lights Introduced because it reflects very very brightly off of that sheet and it just looks cool. It's a great visual Just showing C standing in the rooms of the house doesn't actually work that well at least not initially Moving through the house actually would have been a lot better And this is one of the worst parts of the film. It is terrible And this is one of my biggest issues is that after Affleck After c dies And he comes back as a ghost and he goes to the house. It is like the longest most excruciating Portion of the film as you just watch him stand In various rooms and I haven't seen him move just standing there and the the shots are way too long the scenes take way too long And then of course that scene of are we gonna watch em eat an entire pie by herself? That's inexcusable that's a stupid choice And you probably made a lot of people actually turn the film off at that point Or wherever they're watching it walk out. I don't know My wife checked out at that part of the film and she didn't check back into it I because I was going to do a review on it kept with it Uh, even if I wasn't during review I probably would keep it with it because I kind of have a policy of If you start a film just finish it out because you never know what it's going to turn into And this is one of those films, but the problem is It didn't have to be like that It could have been engaging the entire time And it's not and it they really stumble horribly Up and tell about the 38 minute mark, which is very inexcusable to go that long 38 minutes until something really interesting happens So they really miss the mark on a lot of stuff with this and I think that's one of the reasons I don't hear a whole lot about this film Like I said, if it was a half hour film amazing and here's the thing short films are still films And perfect example that film host that came out recently that's under an hour runtime People are raving about because it just goes goes goes goes goes It doesn't need to be longer. It was as long as the story needed to be and that's what a ghost story should have done Make it as long as the story needs not all this other garbage Sorry rant over Uh, and I couldn't believe we were going to watch m almost eaten entire pie. That's inexcusable The groundwork was never laid for viewers to care about c&m And their relationship wasn't developed enough for people to really love and feel for the loss That's kind of something I was talking about about not seeing enough of their relationship and getting the feeling of who they were There's no groundwork for backstory or development. You do get that later in the film But you needed that up front in order to be engaged the whole time and that's part of the reason that You know, even when the lesser interesting things are going on It could have been more interesting if you had laid better groundwork ahead of time So things are out of place a little bit in this Something interesting or I already wrote about the 38 minutes in or talked about the 38 minutes in The scene of m listening to c's song in the past and present where it's cutting in between that is actually a really good scene That's probably the best the most impactful Um sappy type scene Uh that happens first there are more It plays really well to emotion And that's actually mainly because of the music the music actually matched that that situation very well that scene very well So you did a really good job with that I think that's where it starts to really really start to pull you in and things start to really happen in the film And make sense as to what the whole point is The ghost rage seems like it comes kind of out of nowhere When c's going around and like throwing plates and stuff with that one family's there Um, I guess that's just because c is mad because m's not there anymore And I I wrote down that he needs a little ghost therapy It did seem like it didn't really make a whole lot of sense I guess that was supposed to be kind of a play on this is what's happening when people think their house is haunted But it it didn't make sense within the context of the film. It was kind of dumb The Beethoven discussion now this is a very important part of the film The discussion was that there's that party going on and c is watching it go on and that one guy who's kind of bald Is talking about Beethoven and Beethoven's song This discussion speaks to human desire to be remembered and be doing something for a purpose in life Since we all know it's eventually going to be over for us On the grand scale it actually doesn't matter though is kind of the point that he's making he's making this point that Everyone's living for something and in the end it doesn't actually matter and even when you're going You're just hoping that there's going to be at least a piece of you or something You created that sticks around that people will remember or people can look at and say hey that person did that And it's this desire to be remembered to feel like our life was for something and that when we die We won't just be 100 percent forgotten and moved past but the reality is to a degree. Yeah, that does happen Even someone like Beethoven, you know, like he's talking about like yeah He has a song there and that will echo throughout humanity for the most part Maybe at some point it won't but for a long time those songs will echo echo through humanity But people don't remember the actual person for that But I guess to a degree that is a little part of that person But I was seeing this is a lot of speaking to we think that there's so much special stuff involved with our Life and our and our relationships and everything but in the end it doesn't really matter In the grand scheme of things because everything ends because there's so many people thinking the same thing And going through the same things and it's shown very well here because see ends up seeing You know into the future and then actually goes back in time and sees all the things On that one piece of land where that house was that have happened that when he was alive had no idea about And further bolstering the point that none of it Really it all happened but none of it really mattered because no one remembered Whoever was there at that point in time on that land was only thinking about what they were doing What what their isolated little bubble was up to and forming their own memories Which is important for the enjoyment of actual life when you're going through it So I think it kind of makes a good point of like, you know, enjoy your life while you're there Create memories understand that, you know, your memories are tied to physical places But also understand that there are other people who were there and had memories tied to that and have physical Ties to those places as well and just be aware that that does happen. But don't think you're too special either it's kind of this like hopeful and happy and sad and depressing at the same time I feel Anyway, it was a good discussion because really I mean that discussion of the Beethoven song just like tells you the whole film The crux of the whole film The one driving interest in the film is wanting to find out what's on the tiny piece of paper in the wall So that was a cool little thing to throw in there Now the thing that sucks is that you don't find out what was on it So I'm sure a lot of people are mad about that I was a little bit mad about it But then again once C actually reads it and then disappears You understand that whatever was there was what gave him closure what allowed him to be done Waiting like the other ghost in the in the house next door Um and realize that there's nothing left for me here You know and I think that may be lining up with when m has finally moved on or he's realizing that m has finally moved on And that there will be memories and he was important at one point But her life has moved on and he's done and his Purpose is over to a degree so he can move on Cool shot of C standing in the wreckage of the house when the wreckage was actually there That was really cool like the long shot of just him standing there very very cool shot um I guess there's a point that C didn't want to go because in a way he was always there And would always be there at the house He was tied to that place and was never going to be able to go until he sees the paper and finds his closure basically His story is done There are portions with no score in this film But it doesn't actually work that great because there's really nothing happening and especially early on in the film So when nothing's when there's no score It's most helpful that something is actually happening and then especially if it's like gray area What's happening so then people can kind of form their own opinions of how they feel about what's going on be like Is this good? Is this bad? How am I supposed to feel about this? But A lot of the times there's actually nothing happening when there's no score So that's actually not helpful. You should actually have music there in my opinion Just saying There's a concept of people having attachments in places physical emotional and with memories And also the specter of someone you lost With you while you're in that place where you made your memories with that person And that's best seen obviously in the parts where m is back at the house And you know over her shoulder c is standing in the room as she tries To move on and have a normal life and or find out what is a normal life after that There's always that specter of the person you lost there And and some people believe that is that is physically true that the ghost is actually around you Or the spirit is actually around you and some people it's just a mental thing. It's it's the memories It's the loss. It's the grief stuff like that. I believe the second thing, but just so you know I get the idea of the audience being a voyeur to mundane regular life just like sees ghost But we don't need the scenes playing out in real time. It's it's too It's far too boring and the point kind of gets lost This is kind of talking to what I said the beginning was problematic because of so just know that Because of how slow and boring it is instead of making a point of love lost and the remnants of us left When we die it comes across more as see you're not really missing anything after you've passed And I think that's how it feels up until that 38 minute point Where the point starts to be introduced and we start to really understand what's going on So I really think that should have just cut a ton of the first 38 minutes out for that reason So maybe you know longer than a half an hour film total, but yeah, you get the point One thing that I do like is that the film makes you think about where you are And wonder who was there before you? What did they do and what memories were made there? Then think forward and wonder what and who will come after you You know, what are those people going to do like in this house that I live in? You know, it started to make me think who's lived here before what memories did they have? What did they do in this house? And then when I'm gone either because I sell the house and move or because I pass away Who's coming after and most likely they're not going to remember anything about me But maybe I'll leave something behind like that piano that's left behind and it's always been there You know, maybe there will be that one remnant That just stays there and people are aware of it, but they don't necessarily know where it came from and why Just saying maybe think of that Ultimately, there's an interesting and impactful concept here, but it's a 30 minute film stretched to one and a half hours So maybe a little bit more than 30 maybe like 45 50 whatever, but we all get the point. I've already talked about it Had nauseam Sorry about that. So anyway, um Obviously a lot of problems with this film, but a lot of good things at the same time So with the possibility of five stars and half stars in play I'm going to go ahead and give it a three star rating because it's very impactful once it really starts going It's just that beginning portion That's very very rough and it probably turned a lot of people off and made them turn it off before experiencing the important and more You know existential interesting stuff to the film, but I would recommend it for people And like I said, it's not my favorite 824 It's closer to the back of the line, but it's not bad. It's it's pretty solid So it's solid three But anyway, I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this film puts your comments down there And please do me a favor real quick hit that subscribe button because it means a lot to my channel And I'm very appreciative every time someone does that Literally takes you a second. 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