by Lisa Nystrom
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen and Dolly de Leon
Intro:
A complicated, emotionally honest film with a lot of heart …
Tender, moving, and surprisingly funny given the serious themes, Ghostlight is the story of Dan (Keith Kupferer), a devoted husband and father who is doing everything he can to maintain a sense of normalcy while grieving an unimaginable loss. His marriage is strained, his daughter is rebelling to the point of destruction, and his career as a construction worker is in jeopardy after Dan reaches breaking point on the job. Wildly, the only place offering a sense of calm and belonging is the local amateur theatre company who invite Dan to join their production of Romeo and Juliet, with Dan taking the role of Romeo alongside their charming, charismatic, and very much middle-aged Juliet, Rita (Dolly de Leon, Triangle of Sadness).
While contrived at times, the plot is still affecting, thanks largely to the solid acting from the cast. Dan, his wife Sharon (Tara Mallen), and their teenage daughter, Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) are in fact a real-life family, and that depth of connection is evident in the way the three interact on screen. Mallen Kupferer as Daisy is a force of nature, her vibrant enthusiasm the perfect foil to Dan’s stoic introspection, while they both share the same propensity for emotional outbursts when the feelings get too big.
The supporting cast of characters that make up Dan’s fellow acting troupe, while not given quite as much to work with, still feel decently fleshed out. Thanks to their strong performances there’s an authentic sense of camaraderie amongst the bunch, and each of their quirks feel natural rather than forced. Dolly de Leon shines as the acerbic Rita, a breath of fresh air for Dan and a pocket-sized powerhouse who has more than earned her chance to stand in the spotlight as Juliet.
Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, having previously worked together on the 2019 film Saint Frances, have once again excelled at depicting characters at their most open, vulnerable and deeply human. A complicated, emotionally honest film with a lot of heart, and one which notably does something different with one of Shakespeare’s most widely performed plays, which in and of itself is a triumph.
