Directors: Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson
Writer: Kelly O’Sullivan
Stars: Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen
Synopsis: When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.
The ghost light is a theater practice of placing a light center stage for safety reasons so that in the completely dark theater, one can see their way around obstacles or danger. Though, like many things in the theater, it’s also a superstition. A ghost light is away to ward off or encourage the spirits that haunt theaters. It is a connection between our world and the spirit realm. It’s like the connection between an actor and their role.
There’s an alchemy to channeling someone else’s existence through our body. Performance is a form of possession, taking over the person in front of us, stripping them away. Ghostlight is a film about many things, but it’s very much a film about developing empathy through acting. From the perspective of Dan (Keith Kupferer) we’re transported into a community of actors. Actors who see and feel in a completely different way than Dan is used to. Being with those people, giving himself to the process brings out what Dan hasn’t been willing to say, or think, or feel as he deals with his grief.
Writer Kelly O’Sullivan has built a deeply layered film. She slowly, beautifully creates the narrative in stages, calling our attention to details, feeding our brains pieces of a puzzle that our heart begins to work out through context. This isn’t a film of grand exposition, preamble, or aside. Ghostlight is a film that gives us everything we need when we need it and not a second sooner. You can see the ghosts, the small ideas written into the script, on the screen in a way that’s magical. It’s a story that will unfold in your head for hours after watching it as your brain stitches together the brilliance of the nuance in every scene and every word spoken. Ghostlight’s characters drive us forward, build the tension, and break our hearts. The script attains that rare balance of true human drama with very funny comedy, often within the same scene.
There is a scene of the production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ when the players are rehearsing the play’s final moments. Directors O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson stage the scene perfectly with Dan in the wings like an audience member and two of his fellow castmates, the veteran Rita (Dolly De Leon) as Juliet and the enthusiastically hammy Lucien (Tommy Rivera-Vega) as Romeo. As the scene progresses and Lucien keeps us enthralled by his antics with the poison bottle, editor Mike S. Smith cuts over to a visibly upset Dan. There is a back and forth that continues until Dan finds his voice, his anger and his relief about finally telling his castmates about his real life tragedy. We go from chuckling at the ludicrous acting choices of Lucien to weeping with Dan as the rest of the cast does. It’s a masterful balance for the scene and the film.
These types of scenes wouldn’t work if it weren’t for the incredible cast of Ghostlight. They have a brilliant authenticity to their characters and know them intimately. Dolly De Leon steals every scene she’s in because her character feels so lived in, like she’s known Rita, has been Rita. It’s the kind of intimacy brought by the actors playing our nuclear family because they are a nuclear family. Tara Mallen imbues Sharon with that staunch determination of a woman doing everything to hold her family together so much so that she feels she can’t exist in her own grief. Katherine Mallen Kupferer as Daisy has that incredible fiery tempered teenager mixed with theater kid drive and energy down pat. Keith Kupferer as Dan is an utter revelation.
Kupferer is so incredibly naturalistic in his role. He has these looks, these expressions, that play across his face. As a taciturn character Dan is rarely speaking his mind aloud. He’s a roiling mass of pent up emotions ready to explode. Kupferer finds that within his performance. His movements, presence, and at times, grace build into a towering life on screen.
Ghostlight is the kind of film that you didn’t know you needed until you’ve seen it. It captures the feelings of grief and empathy in a way that is simply astonishing. In true cinema fashion, we are stripped of the seat we’re in, the building around us, the screen we watch, and we become ghosts. We haunt the lives of these fully fleshed out characters experiencing their grief and their triumph. We laugh, we cry, and we remember what it is like when we let others into our lives, when we stop just existing and learn how to live again.
Not enough can be written or said about Ghostlight. It’s a film that goes beyond what you think a film like it can be. It’s perfectly paced, superbly acted, and it is one of the best written films of the decade. There is nothing else like it on screens now and it must be seen.
