Rent A Ghost Story (2017)

Unusual, quirky, interesting, stylised take on the ghost story genre with a great score - A Ghost Story review by PV

Warning to anyone under 30 who wants the usual CGI horror-fest or Japanese style horror movie scares. This film is contemplative and stylish - and some would call it slow (it's obviously influenced by that French director Michel Hahne or something, with several long still shots of a house or something for 20 seconds plus, which can be trying...)

At first it's laugh out loud silly - like the director fell into the dressing up box.

BUT if you are willing to suspend your disbelief, which I was for SOME of the time, it's actually rather fun and enjoyable.

Loads of flashbacks, and a supposed revelation at the end, and some stuff is never adequately explained.

But it's imaginative and different from the usual Hollywood scarefest drivel, and I liked it.

AND I absolutely loved the score and the music in this film.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Artsy Fartsy - A Ghost Story review by JP

A waste of time. As usual, too much middle. I kept wondering if Affleck was under the sheet throughout the deadly dull scenes.

Thought provoking - A Ghost Story review by MR

At the outset I watched this knowing it was going to be quite different and as many have said it is not for everyone. If the basis of the spirit is a rather cartoon depiction of a ghost portrayed under a sheet it enforces the premise that it not about what a ghost looks like. It sidelines this draws the viewer to other aspects or ideas it presents. The production company of 'Scared Sheetless' sums up the humour of the approach.

I found this film more and more fascinating the more it progressed. It left me with some thought provoking concepts about the spiritual side and has a lot to do with how people cope with loss which is beautifully acted by Rooney Mara. There are a couple scenes where film footage is concentrated on the seemingly inconsequential - The obvious being the pie eating! (not a plot spoiler don't worry) It does make you hungry however!

I don't usually care too films with an overuse of non-chronological footage but in this case with the subject matter it is used carefully and meaningfully to powerful effect. This is an artistic film as well, the scenes artfully put together with lovely images and wonderful music. There are some stirring and interesting concepts that the viewer is left with and I found it very rewarding to watch.

If a test of a good film is how much it makes one think and talk about it afterwards this passes.

Watched the bonus features and cut scene as well and intend to listen to the music of Dark Rooms.

Not a big reviewer of films but felt this richly deserved a write-up.

Great acting by Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. Excellent.

Ghostly .... but Mostly Dull. - A Ghost Story review by porky

Its actually a Very Beautiful Movie, rather Charming and Rather Sad....However it is soo slow moving it feels more than a bit Dull .

I actually Loved it but ,as I say its rather Dull, I Never will sit down to see it a second time.

Its Clever, Touching, Funny ,Sad and almost a Silent Movie .

Definitely Worth seeing ,just don't expect to be Fully Entertained by it.... Its an Oddity, Clever and yet Very ,Very Simple .

Don't waste your time on this! - A Ghost Story review by CP Customer

I wish I'd read the reviews before renting this rubbish. I would have only given it half a star but you can't do that with Cinema Paradiso. Big star names can't save a crap film like this. This was a waste of money at all levels.

Tedious - A Ghost Story review by CP Customer

This is a very slow and almost boring film The plot is predictable and acting below par. Affleck mumbles his way through a tedious and tiring script. Personally, I think watching paint dry would be more engaging.

He got away with it. There was no meddling kids. - A Ghost Story review by Strovey

‘C’ and ‘M’ live together in an old house, C is a composer who seems to have an affinity with the house, whereas M is more than happy to leave and move on to another property. Unfortunately, before the couple can resolve their position on the property and C is killed in an accident. His ghost on leaving the mortuary decides to trek back home back to his wife M and stay with her rather than move on to what appears to be another dimension. Unable to affect the real world, invisible to all, C’s ghost must endlessly watch life unfold around him as he stays the same, in the same place, waiting for some intangible event.

Goodness me, this film is the most polarising film I think I have ever seen. There appears to be one group of people who unresolvedly hate the film and another who absolutely love it but nothing in between.

I can see why people would walk-out in cinema showings and hate the movie with a passion. Nothing happens as such, there is little to no story but I maintain that this is the point. When we are gone, life goes on slowly, inexorably, if we could observe it as a ‘ghost’ that is how it would seem. We have no idea but I would guess most of use through some longing would try and connect with those we loved and knew, we would return to places that were familiar to us, similar to the zombies in Romero’s ‘Dead’ films would we gravity to places that meant something to us, were important, in our lives.

There isn’t much dialogue and there are long stretches, 20 minutes or more, where little happens, the pie-eating scene is famous in the annoyance for some, yet for others, it shows the solitude of grief and how it can be dealt with. One real bugbear for me though, when there was some small dialogue, is Casey Affleck’s insistence on the realism of ‘mumblecore’. I could understand little of what he said. I’m old and my hearing is not what it was but it is also okay, I’ve had it tested recently, he mumbles and it’s hard to understand what he says. So annoying. Luckily as a ghost, he says nothing. Rooney Mara has I would less dialogue but skilfully acts emotions with just her face or even how she walks to and from a room or to a door.

This is not a film for the average film-goer and in particular the multiplex ‘action movie-romantic comedy’ crowd but if you are patient prepared for a quiet thoughtful film then you might be able to take something away from it.

I’m somewhere in between the two camps. I can see that the film does drag on and showing the futility of staying in a place where you no longer belong, trying to change something you can’t change and not letting go in glorious slow-time with little dialogue or on-screen stimulation is perhaps, whilst making a valid point, foolhardy. The idea of the ghost being a traditional Halloween sheet is a clever touch and seems to be saying it is a ghost but it doesn’t matter. To be utterly fair to Lowery and his cast I stuck without and overall I enjoyed it more than it rubbed me up the wrong way. I’m not sure about the time-traveling aspect or what it was adding to the story or what it was trying to say, perhaps ‘this goes on forever’ it is truly the circle of life and there is no end or beginning unless you choose to leave it. Only love helps you leave it. Perhaps, maybe?

Then again if you can stand the slow pace and the odd story this is probably the point you make your mind up about the story and what it means. It could mean different to each and every one of use.

Then again you could intensely dislike it, it will not be the first film that will make you feel this way nor the last, you could equally really like it. Who knows?