movies: Ghostlight
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| title | country | year | length | director | url | blurb | virtual_screening | programmer_blurb | trailer_url | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghostlight | USA | 2024 | 110 | Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson | https://www.siff.net/festival/ghostlight | A tender and heartwarming drama about a construction worker who is pulled into a local production of “Romeo and Juliet,” only to find community and a way to work through his own family troubles. Co-starring Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness). | 0 | Directors Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson leverage the chemistry of a real-life family in crafting a drama about a working-class Chicago-area household reeling from the aftershocks of an unspecified trauma and the stress of a looming lawsuit. Belligerent daughter Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) faces expulsion from her high school for a bathroom break incident. Exasperated mother Sharon (Tara Mallen) is at her wit’s end, barely holding her grief at bay for the sake of others. Gruff but caring father Dan (Keith Kupferer) has receded into his construction job, jackhammering concrete all day while repressing his turbulent feelings. When his pain erupts through his thick emotional callus in a fit of public rage, he catches the attention of prickly actress Rita (Dolly de Leon). The alchemy of her grounded presence and his barely suppressed desperation convinces him to gingerly dip his toes into a ramshackle community theatre’s production of “Romeo & Juliet.” Dan’s gently comedic entry into the dramatic arts, complete with its array of colorful characters, proves to be an unexpected outlet for catharsis. Filmed with rare intimacy, the mounting parallels between Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy and the real pains of a wounded family culminate in a rousing testament to the enduring and transformative power of treading the boards.—Josh Bis | English |