It goes without saying that movies don’t have to be perfect to be emotionally effective, and sometimes filmmakers who trust their instincts make better moves that those who strive for something sublime. This small drama about a middle aged blue collar worker whose outlook is changed significantly after participating in a performance of Romeo & Juliet features a few plot points that are a bit too on-the-nose, but the writer-directors, Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, who were responsible for the equally intelligent 2020 abortion dramedy Saint Frances, focus more on the dramatic contours of grief and self-expression to sell their story. 

It’s obvious from the beginning that Dan Mueller (Keith Kupferer), though materially comfortable in a lower middle class American way, is not happy, but it takes a while before O’Sullivan and Thompson reveal the source of his troubles. His teenage daughter, Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer), is acting out in increasingly aggressive ways, and his relationship with his wife, Sharon (Tara Mallen), seems fraught with tension. Dan and Sharon try to overcome their mutual anxiety by submerging themselves in daily routine, but it doesn’t seem to work. Then, one day, Dan, who supervises a team doing public works projects, stumbles upon a local theatrical troupe that is putting on a production of Romeo & Juliet. It’s difficult to say what it is about the project that piques his curiosity, and the filmmakers don’t force the issue. But the play’s producer-director, a small-time veteran of Broadway named Rita (Dolly De Leon), sees something in Dan that she wants to work with and convinces him to join. As he slowly gets into the production, and incomprehensibly snags the role of the teenage Romeo, the reasons for his despair are revealed, and they dovetail somewhat obviously with Shakespeare’s story. 

What makes Ghostlight work is how O’Sullivan and Thompson contrast the niceties of the rehearsals with Dan’s suffering as he and his family navigate a legal process that doesn’t seem to be doing anybody any good, though it was Dan who initiated it. Dan takes rightful pride in his interpretation of the part he has taken on, and there is absolutely no loss of poetic power when he and the other amateur actors speak their lines. Romeo & Juliet is a tragedy that Dan needs to understand, and it lifts him up in ways the filmmakers let the audience explore for themselves. In the end, not forcing the issue proves to be the best way to achieve the sublime.

Opens June 27 in Tokyo at Bunkamura Le Cinema Shibuya Miyashita (050-6875-5280).

Ghostlight home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2024 Ghostlight LLC