A Ghost Story

Melancholy colours each frame of this unusual, supernatural-themed offering from David Lowery (Pete's Dragon), an unapologetically solemn and contemplative film which sees a deceased musician wander unseen among the living. Dressed in a white sheet as if it's Halloween in perpetuity, this forlorn figure endures a long, lonely existence - at first by the side of his grieving, oblivious wife, and then in the company of strangers. The film reunites its writer/director with the stars of Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, who play the doomed lovers with rare delicacy (that's when Affleck isn't under the sheet, although even then there is something tremendously sad about the way he stands). Lowery combines the fluidity of Terrence Malick with shades of Ghost and even Beetle Juice, yet his mildly eccentric, profoundly atmospheric take on the ethereal ultimately feels all its own. Soulfully scored and every bit as powerful in moments of discomforting silence, it's haunting indeed.