Community theater can be crude and goofy, characterized by amateur actors making do with little preparation and a slim budget. But there’s beauty as well in the form of a collective effort where participants can openly share with one another, forming bonds and allowing for growth. Filmmakers Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson know this and, in Ghostlight, show how a theatrical performance creates empathy for another’s experience and a better understanding of one’s own. It’s a concept that has been done before, but the sincerity and care with which the pair explore emotional truth is rare.
The film centers around Dan Mueller (Keith Kupferer), who, along with his partner, Sharon (Tara Mallen), and teenage daughter, Daisy (Katherine Mellen Kupferer, Keith and Tara’s real-life daughter), is trying to continue on after a family tragedy. Most of the time, he’s quiet, behaving in a specific manner to get through the day with the least amount of trouble possible. When Daisy gets called to the principal’s office, his only thought is to brush the immediate problem away, asking for a suspension in place of expulsion instead of attempting to confront what his daughter is dealing with. When pushed, he erupts in violent outbursts with a volatility that terrifies those around him. No matter how hard he tries to navigate through life unscathed, we see chinks in his armor that conceal a struggle to make sense of the distressing event.
O’Sullivan and Thompson handle the Mueller family’s situation with care, gracefully revealing details in a way that guides viewers along a path to understand the trio. They differentiate each family member’s predicament, treating each character as a fully-realized individual. This means that Dan, Sharon and Daisy grapple with the incident in unique ways. Sharon tries her best to keep the family together, providing for her husband and daughter before focusing on herself, while Daisy vents her frustration at the silence surrounding the tragedy in acts of defiance. Dan bottles up the feelings that he doesn’t comprehend, setting out to go through the rest of his life avoiding them. Daisy puts it best—”When things get hard, you either blow up or bail. It’s a bad habit.”
After witnessing Dan lose his temper, an actor named Rita (Dolly De Leon) invites him to a community theater rehearsal for the play Romeo and Juliet. Without knowing him, she recognizes he needs a break from his routine, an opportunity to pretend to be someone else for an hour or two. Dan is hesitant at first, but perhaps unconsciously, his curiosity is piqued when he feels the group’s warmth and compassion. He begins to attend regularly, finding solace in his time spent with the wacky collection of actors at the theater.
Unfortunately, several predictable story beats follow. Some conflicts feel manufactured to create tension, cheapening a story that contains a strong setup, while others tie up a little too neatly. But the film’s themes are undeniably powerful, full of humanity and reflections on cooperation, kindness and forgiveness. O’Sullivan and Thompson also maintain a delicate balance in tone between light humor and devastating seriousness, granting characters room to make profound realizations in unexpected moments. In this way, Ghostlight shows how, through community, we are able to not only learn about ourselves but also begin to appreciate who we are.
Photo courtesy of IFC Films
The post Ghostlight appeared first on Spectrum Culture.