“A Ghost Story” (2017) reunites director David Lowery with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. I gave a very high score to the director’s previous film “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” (2013), involving these actors, because it won me over with its embedded poeticism and creativity alone; see my review of “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints“ here, and/or read a fair take on “A Ghost Story” by Film Blerg below:
Films about ghosts are usually scary, jumpy and spine-tingling. David Lowery’s latest feature, A Ghost Story, carefully avoids boxing itself within the horror genre by proving itself an elusive poem on topics as various as life and death, time and perception, and the purpose of human and universal existence. Without doubt, it is one of…
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I read the review and liked it much. I was wondering what you thought about Rooney Mara in “Song to Song”? Can’t beat the cast, but it didn’t sustain my interest. Rooney posed a lot. It reminded me of a ghost story in a way, so ethereal. After reading the review of “A Ghost Story”, I wondered if it had the same transcendent vibe?
Regardless, I enjoyed the review and look forward to watching it.
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I think “Song to Song” is exactly what Malick’s work has been all about recently – especially “Knight of Cups” and “To the Wonder” – a lot of creative tour de force with insufficient substantial input and no clear framework to underpin it all. This means that few people would really connect with these films. Regarding Mara, I think the issue is all have to do with the particular film, the script, and what actors were told and given. On the other hand, here is director David Lowery and even if “A Ghost Story” were half good as his previous film “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, it would still have been decent and inspiring, at least in my eyes. In “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, there was not only this visual beauty/creativity (characterising also Malick’s work), but also this well-presented substantial element, be it a love story or action, maybe also with the touch of some poetic transcendence, as you also put it. Besides, Rooney and Casey’s chemistry on screen amazes me each time, they were like born to act alongside each other.
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You make a valid point about the chemistry between Rooney and Casey. I hope they star in more films together.
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Looking forward to seeing A Ghost Story at a film festival this weekend.
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Enjoy! After seeing his 2013 film, I just had this feeling that Lowery was capable of something if not totally brilliant, than unique and out-of-the-box on a grand scale. I am sure we are going to see more sublime stuff from him in future. His next movie is “Old Man and the Gun” with Robert Redford and Casey Affleck. That seems like his kind of a thing, but somehow I am not too happy with him directing the live-action adaptation of “Peter Pan” (even having in mind his previous film “Pete’s Dragon”).
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This looks so interesting.
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Sounds meditative and powerful. I saw a trailer for this, which looks so beautifully shot and interesting. I’m looking forward to watching it, and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints too!
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The trailer looks interesting, yes. Lowery is already making a name for himself as the one in the film industry who can take something completely mundane, such as a love story amidst all the violence in Texas, or ghostly encounters, and make something truly memorable with it. Thanks for commenting!
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Meditative, powerful, brilliant…all those words work just fine. I’ve called it “a haunting reflection on grief and what lies beyond the last heartbeat”.
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This is exactly it – beautifully said.
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