Ghostlight (#568)


I was clueless going in to see GHOSTLIGHT.  From its title I expected yet another poorly constructed and not scary horror film.  You see, I rarely if ever read anything about the movies I see in advance of my viewing.  I was pleasantly delighted to see an exceptional movie that was different, charming, well filmed,  well acted and meaningful.  And one that exhibits a variety of sensations from anger and pity, to compassion and encouragement, from highs to lows.  It opens with someone singing a song from "Oklahoma" off screen.  This is the story of a dysfunctional middle class family. The husband is a large, fumbling construction worker with a wife and two daughters, the oldest of whom is basically out-of-control, with anger issues snd a very foul mouth.  Things are going poorly for them with the daughter being expelled from school for terrible behavior and the family embroiled in a legal dispute of an unspecified nature and they are drifting apart.  Dan, the father, wanders into a group of amateur actors rehearsing a performance of "Romeo and Juliet" and is coerced into joining, eventually being cast in the role of Romeo.  Along the way we discover that the family (mostly Dan) is hiding from a family tragedy which is also the subject of the legal dispute.  Gaslight is funny and sad and entertaining and revealing, and although I did not recognize any of the actors, all of them did  their jobs very well.  This is what I would call a sleeper and is unexpectedly a very fine film which may or may not be recognized at Oscar time.  100% of critics and 96% of audiences joined me in admiration of this one.  You really don't see many films like this anymore, and that's too bad.

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