M&M: A Ghost Story

The title seems fairly straight forward in regards to what the story is about, a typical ghost story, but "A Ghost Story" from the year 2017 is far from that. David Lowery wrote the story and also directed the movie.

The story is about a young couple (Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck) living in a small house. The woman would like to move out, but the man doesn't. He likes the history of the house, he tells her. She tells him that when she was young and had to move a lot, she would write something on a small piece of paper and hide it in a crack in the wall of the house so that she'd have something waiting for her, in case she'd come back again. Shortly before they actually do move out, the man dies in a car accident. The woman sees the dead man one last time in the hospital and finally covers him completely with the sheet. After she's gone, the body under the sheet starts to move. He turned into a ghost. He walks around the hospital covered under the sheet and goes back to the house, which he seems unable to leave.

He watches his mourning partner. It's somewhat funny and yet sad, to see the ghost with his sheet, when he's standing in a room or sitting, barely moving or not moving at all. When the ghost is looking out of a window one day, he sees another ghost in the neighbour house also looking out of the window. They have a short talk.

After some time the woman finds a new partner and moves out. One of the few moments in the movie when something scary and typically poltergeist-like happens, when the ghost gets mad (or is it jealous?). Normally we'd be scared in movie moments like that. Here the scene is more bitter sweet. Just like she told her partner before, she leaves a small piece of paper with something written on it in a crack of the house.

A mother moves in with her two children. They celebrate Christmas. But they can't cope with the ghost and after another tamper tantrum of the ghost, during with plates fly and hit the wall, the family moves out again.

Eventually the house gets steamrolled over. The “neighbour ghost” is ready to go. Only "our" ghost stays and is still there when the small house is replaced by a skyscraper with office rooms. After the ghost desperately throws himself off the building, he finds himself in the 19th century. A family of settlers wants to build a house. The girl of the family writes on a small piece of paper and puts it on the ground, placing a stone on top of it. The family is killed by Native Americans. The ghost stays with the family and watches as the body of the girl turns to just bones.

You need to watch the movie yourself to find out whether the ghost finds his peace and how the movie ends. A movie with the title "A Ghost Story" is certainly one people who don't like horror movies would avoid at first. But I can most warmly recommend it to everyone. The movie is not at all a scary movie and the two poltergeist-like moments are already mentioned above. It doesn't get scarier than that. On the contrary the movie impressed me with how calm it is, not least with very little dialogue, long scenes without cuts or camera movement and a very beautiful score by Daniel Hart. Also the movie has a 1.33 : 1 ratio, not the typical 2.35 : 1. That means black mattes left and right of the screen. Also the edges are round, which gives the movie its very own atmosphere.

I came upon this movie only a while ago, when I read the title somewhere on the internet in a list of movies. Certainly I will check out other movies by David Lowery soon, since I really liked "A Ghost Story".

["Ain't Them Bodies Saints" is another movie by David Lowery, again starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck and yes, Daniel Hart provided the score to that one as well. Haven't seen that one yet though. I might (re)view it soon though.]

M&M: The Devil's Backbone

Dear reader,

The Devil's Backbone from the year 2001 is another great movie by Guillermo del Toro. It's sort of the first part of Pan's Labyrinth, which I already wrote about. I saw Pan's Labyrinth first, so that's why I wrote about it “in reverse”, even though The Devil's Backbone came first. While Pan's Labyrinth was set shortly after the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), The Devil's Backbone is set in the time of the Spanish civil war.

The movie tells the story of Carlos, who arrives at an orphanage, which is far away from the city. He befriends some of the boys and learns that there's a ghost haunting the orphanage. The orphanage is led by Dr. Casares and Carmen. Both are Republican loyalists and keep gold for the Republicans. Jacinto working at the orphanage and was raised there. Now he wants the gold.

Over the course of the movie, we learn that Jacinto wanted to take the gold once before already, but one of the boys, Santi, caught him. Jacinto pushed Santi so hard that Santi fell and hit his head very much. To hide this act, Jacinto takes rocks and binds them to the body of the dying boy and throws him into a supply pool of the orphanage.

When the war comes nearer to the orphanage, Dr. Casares and Carmen decide to leave the orphanage with the children and the gold. Jacinto, who wanted to take the gold again, is chased away shortly before that. He comes back though and wants revenge by spreading petrol (gas) in the kitchen and setting it on fire. This leads to a big explosion in which some of the children as well as Carmen die. Dr. Casares is also injured and dies a short time later.

Jacinto comes back the next day for the gold. But the surviving children show a great amount courage and ingenuity, similar to Pan's Labyrinth, and fight against the adults. How and if they manage it, you'll have to see for yourself.

Much like in Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone is created in a visually very beautiful way, I find. Although Santi is a ghost in the orphanage, I wouldn't say that The Devil's Backbone is a ghost movie. For me, strange as it may sound, it's more a movie with a ghost than a ghost movie. The ghost in his appearance is somewhat resembling a zombie with its slow an, awkward looking movements. He's got very little of the otherwise typical soft coloured see-through features of ghosts, but has dark colours instead and blood is still streaming from his head-wound in a sort of cloud of steam. Although a ghost is not a solid figure and, in theory, could not harm a person, his looks and manners appear somewhat scary and menacing. This only changes when it's obvious that he isn't dangerous deep down. A refreshingly different ghost from what I'm used to otherwise. And anyway: who or what is a ghost? What is a ghost outside the traditional literature or movies? That's a question which The Devil's Backbone is about.

The Devil's Backbone is all around a rather quiet horror movie and is more about atmosphere than effects. Fans of pools of blood and slasher movies will probably be disappointed. The very real horror doesn't come from the ghost, but from individual adults and because of the war. This is seen in similar ways later in Pan's Labyrinth.

To stay with the subject of the movie: what's the meaning of a ghost for you? Write that to me in the comments, if you like.

Until next blog,

sarah