Review: ‘Ghost’ (2020)

Ghost is finest when the characters have agency to travel and space to occupy. We begin the story with Tony’s silhouette — an outline of a ghost, if you will — outside of his wife’s door; and we observe Conor’s silhouette, fading into the backgr

★★★★½

NR - Crime, Thriller, Drama (85 minutes)

“This lyrical and atmospheric crime drama follows a grizzled ex-con during his first day of freedom. After spending a decade behind bars, he struggles to reconnect with his wife and conflicted son, racing against his violent past, which is threatening to catch up with them.”

— Official Synopsis

No need to bring up the past, is there? Gotta keep looking forward…

Ghost (Ex-Con) follows newly-released Tony Ward (Anthony Mark Streeter) over the course of a single day — as he attempts to reconnect with his wife and son. Its depiction of movement is captivating, especially considering it was shot using the FiLMiC Pro app on an iPhone 8 with a DJI Osmo gimbal for stability. More impressive: the anamorphic lenses that widen the voyeuristic qualities associated with “being-on-the-ground” as the characters make their way around London. The camera angles are often shot at the mid-line of the actors, forcing the audience to look up to them. Guerrilla-style filmmaking at its best.

First-time feature director, Anthony Z. James, establishes the tone very quickly with a carefully calculated, opening tracking shot of Tony as he leaves the prison behind him. It’s accompanied by a foreboding score in which the same piano chord is struck repeatedly. The score, curtesy of Nikolaj Polujanov, is timed to perfection with the visuals landscape and is, at times, exhilarating as you anticipate the exact moment that Ward’s past will catch up with him. Speaking of the visual landscape, the locations are barren but they feel lived in — mostly because of the agency that the outdoors provides our two main characters.

And while the score here is a truly remarkable addition to the film, it’s the silence that rattles your core. Most films only dare to have silent moments when one character is shown on-screen, but Ghost relishes in its ability to communicate non-verbally with its audience. Take, for instance, the initial scenes with Tony and his son, Conor (Nathan Hamilton): Conor and his father share a brief bonding moment as they have a quick smoke break. Hardly anything is discussed between the pair, and yet it’s obvious that Conor wants to secure his dad’s approval so bad that he will pretend he knows how to smoke, and that he does it often. These moments of silence pave the way to some of the films more intense sequences later on, propelling the callous violence to another level.

Some of this, of course, is scripted. However, it’s the subtlety of the camera placement, the deeply affecting silence, and the brilliant, non-verbal work of two very talented actors, that take Ghost to its soaring heights in visual storytelling. Hamilton and Streeter’s chemistry is infectious — and if the point was to closely examine a fractured father-son relationship (it was), then James and the entire crew succeeded. To my surprise, some of the banter between Tony and Conor is hilarious without the actors ever really pining after laughs; perhaps, the best example of this is when Tony is left in Conor’s room and begins to sift through his son’s belongings. A few moments like these make all the difference in the world when connecting with the audience.

Scenes are stitched together in a non-traditional style of filmmaking that I can only really attribute to the likes of the Berlin School (https://bit.ly/3egUrHL), where stories are told in a “reserved” fashion and often from a socio-political angle. Conor’s various interactions with his on-again/off-again girlfriend Kat (Severija Bielskyte) can definitely be categorized as reserved. Let me be clear: this isn’t a Berlin School film, but rather — it has more in common with those films than with the traditional westernized version of this story. One of the more prominent themes in Ghost is toxic masculinity; rather than have either character explicitly comment on the fact that their actions were/are toxic, the film juxtaposes a father, who, in a way, spends the entire film repenting for his past, and a son, who is still struggling with is identity.

Realistically, the only critiques that I can foster are the fact that some of the sound mixing is a little washed, particularly with a fade-in/out effect near the end of the movie, and how the sets desperately needed to be dressed a little more — particularly the indoor spaces with offices and such. Ghost is finest when the characters have agency to travel and space to occupy. We begin the story with Tony’s silhouette — an outline of a ghost, if you will — outside of his wife’s door; and we observe Conor’s silhouette, fading into the background on a passenger train near the end of the film. The parallels between Conor and Tony pen an interesting theory that pertains to how familial conflicts repeat over time and across generations. One thing is certain: Ghost is so much more than you expect.

And lucky for you, the film released on Amazon Prime here in the United States just yesterday. I do highly recommend watching it!

Film’s site: https://www.story-image.com/ghost