Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s lovely drama Ghostlight tells a familiar tale with refreshing honesty
Courtesy of IFC films
On the surface, Ghostlight sounds trite: A construction worker who has trouble expressing his feelings gets recruited into a community theater troupe where a bunch of colorful characters help him open up and reconnect with his troubled family.
You’ve seen variations on this story before in The Full Monty, Calendar Girls, Brassed Off—you know, the kinds of movies your mom likes that might have made you cry at one time in your life, but offer diminishing returns the more you see them.
Trust me, though, you haven’t seen it done quite like this.
Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s lovely drama is more Ken Loach than 90s Miramax prestige picture (it feels weird that most of the references I’m making are British when the film is set and shot in Chicago, but hopefully you get what I mean), with a sense of scale that feels personal and appropriate for the story it’s telling.
What results is a movie about relationships, grief and the way art speaks to us that feels honest, not saccharine.
Dan (Keith Kupferer), a Chicago construction worker, has anger issues that come exploding out at exactly the wrong moments. His daughter Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer), suffers similarly—early on, Dan and his wife Sharon (Tara Mallen) are called into Daisy’s school because she’s gotten in trouble for shoving a teacher. There’s clearly something going on here beyond mere anger management issues; everyone in this family is struggling with a significant emotional weight they won’t name. The actual cause of their strife is something we’ll only learn in pieces.
Courtesy of IFC films
Rita (Dolly De Leon), a member of a community theater troupe across the street from Dan’s construction site, notices Dan’s intensity and when a member of their cast for Romeo & Juliet drops out, she recruits him as a last resort. Dan insists he’s only hanging around to help out with the read-through, but the play becomes a useful outlet to deal with his suppressed emotions, and eventually a way to reconnect with his theater-kid daughter. As rehearsals continue, it becomes increasingly clear that Romeo & Juliet has some thorny parallels to Dan and his family’s own lives, lending his and Daisy’s work on the show added catharsis.
Much of Ghostlight’s emotional mileage comes from the dynamic of its central family trio, a real-life theatrical family from Chicago. Kupferer expresses mounting frustration as a working-class guy whose typical stoicism no longer serves himself or his family. Mallen slowly reveals just how fed up she is with carrying her family on her shoulders. As Daisy, Mallen Kupferer is the showiest of the bunch, an outgoing kid who is all outward expression, angry at her family for refusing to discuss their trauma, while still desperately hoping they can make it through.
Courtesy of IFC films
While Ghostlight’s characters aren’t patient with each other, O’Sullivan and Thompson are extremely patient with them, helping us at every moment to understand where Dan, Daisy and Sharon are coming from, even when their actions get them in trouble. This is a movie that deeply loves its entire cast; the theater troupe’s final production is by no means a work of great art, but it’s a moment that feels important for everyone involved. The movie is always more interested in their journey, and celebrating where they’re at, not in judging them for what they’ve failed to accomplish.
From its characters and their low-stakes dreams to its real-life locations, Little about Ghostlight feels polished, and that’s the point. It’s a story about people working their way out from the middle of their issues, and starting a much longer journey of healing, not about neat closure. The story may look unremarkable from the outset, but its honest, empathetic approach makes it sing.
