Film Review: "A Ghost Story" (2017).

"It's all about time" in A Ghost Story. This supernatural drama film written and directed by David Lowery. Recently deceased, a white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to console his bereft wife, only to find that in his spectral state he has become unstuck in time, forced to watch passively as the life he knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away. Increasingly unmoored, the ghost embarks on a cosmic journey through memory and history, confronting life’s ineffable questions and the enormity of existence.

In Spring 2016, Lowery began to write the screenplay for the film. Lowery wrote the film as a reaction to the 2015 New Yorker article The Really Big One by Kathryn Schulz. He was scheduled for production after completing post-production on Pete's Dragon. Prior to this Lowery had wanted "for a while" to make a film featuring a man in a simple rudimentary ghost costume. 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. Lowery also used the film to work through what he termed "An existential crisis" brought on by reading an article about the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake. In November, the project was officially announced with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara to star. Principal photography took place in Fort Worth and Irving, Texas. Filming was hidden from the public. The project wasn't announced until months after filming had wrapped. 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. They soon found that even a king-sized sheet would not fully cover a grown adult male. In order to achieve the shape for the ghost Affleck had to wear several petticoats and a hoop under the sheet. The team also found they had to resort to some "puppeteering" to keep the eyes in place. Beyond the practical constraints of the costume, Lowery also found the simple costume impeded 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." Some shots of the ghost, specifically those done during pickups or reshoots, do not use Affleck at all, instead replacing him with the film's art director, David Pink, who was found to have a similar build.

The film stars Affleck and Mara. The film is anchored by two strong performances from Affleck and Mara.

The film is sparse and slow. It's dusky palate and hazy, starcrossed-fairy-tale mannerisms will come off as pretentious affectations to those not gripped by paralyzing emotional attachment.

Simon says A Ghost Story receives: