The following Blu-rays and DVDs are being released on Tuesday, Oct. 3, unless otherwise noted: A Ghost Story (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet) Details: 2017, Lionsgate Home Entertainment Rated: R, disturbing images, language The lowdown: “A Ghost Story” may haunt you, but not in the way you would expect. Admittedly, you have to admire writer-director David Lowery’s conceit of having star Casey Affleck spending the bulk of the movie walking around silently covered by a sheet with eye holes that make it look like a Halloween costume thrown together five minutes before the start of trick-or-treating. Unlike such genre diverse films as the 1946 Abbott and Costello comedy, “The Time of Their Lives,” the 1947 supernatural romance, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” and more recent features as the two versions of “Ghostbusters” and the Patrick Swayze-Demi Moore weeper “Ghost,” spirits and humans do not interact in this story. In fact, the movie’s main conceit is that Affleck’s ghostly character is primarily an observer rather than a participant. Yet, the manner in which Affleck is framed and his subtle body shifts under the sheet allow audience members to interpret his emotional state. The movie is a treatise on permanence — in life, in art and in society. Affleck and Rooney Mara portray a nameless young married couple. They live in a nice suburban home and seem to have a solid, ordinary life, despite hints of some tensions in their relationship. Things change when the husband is killed in a car accident. At the hospital morgue, his wife identifies his body, then leaves. The camera lingers on the corpse on the slab for several moments, until it rises and begins a journey from the hospital to its familiar house. Though rooted in the same space, the ghost begins a rushed journey through times from the future, back to pioneer days and then full circle to a surprise and touching conclusion. “A Ghost Story” is about insubstantiality. Everything is a slave to time that keeps its own pace and cares nothing for manmade or natural creations. The movie was well received critically, earning a 92 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
New to View: Oct. 3
New to View: Oct. 3
New to View: Oct. 3
The following Blu-rays and DVDs are being released on Tuesday, Oct. 3, unless otherwise noted: A Ghost Story (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet) Details: 2017, Lionsgate Home Entertainment Rated: R, disturbing images, language The lowdown: “A Ghost Story” may haunt you, but not in the way you would expect. Admittedly, you have to admire writer-director David Lowery’s conceit of having star Casey Affleck spending the bulk of the movie walking around silently covered by a sheet with eye holes that make it look like a Halloween costume thrown together five minutes before the start of trick-or-treating. Unlike such genre diverse films as the 1946 Abbott and Costello comedy, “The Time of Their Lives,” the 1947 supernatural romance, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” and more recent features as the two versions of “Ghostbusters” and the Patrick Swayze-Demi Moore weeper “Ghost,” spirits and humans do not interact in this story. In fact, the movie’s main conceit is that Affleck’s ghostly character is primarily an observer rather than a participant. Yet, the manner in which Affleck is framed and his subtle body shifts under the sheet allow audience members to interpret his emotional state. The movie is a treatise on permanence — in life, in art and in society. Affleck and Rooney Mara portray a nameless young married couple. They live in a nice suburban home and seem to have a solid, ordinary life, despite hints of some tensions in their relationship. Things change when the husband is killed in a car accident. At the hospital morgue, his wife identifies his body, then leaves. The camera lingers on the corpse on the slab for several moments, until it rises and begins a journey from the hospital to its familiar house. Though rooted in the same space, the ghost begins a rushed journey through times from the future, back to pioneer days and then full circle to a surprise and touching conclusion. “A Ghost Story” is about insubstantiality. Everything is a slave to time that keeps its own pace and cares nothing for manmade or natural creations. The movie was well received critically, earning a 92 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.