This review contains spoilers for “Ghostlight” and brief mentions of suicide.
“Let us know if you laugh and if you cry,” said writer and co-director, Kelly O’Sullivan, on the Sundance Film Festival’s red carpet of the “Ghostlight” premiere. “Gotta be both,” added co-director Alex Thompson.
Laugh and cry I did. Often, both at the same time.
“Ghostlight,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, follows Dan, a construction worker as he joins a community theater production of “Romeo and Juliet.” At first a form of escape, the production becomes increasingly intertwined with his own reality and forces him to face the recent death of his son by suicide.
The film’s emotional flip-flop is a true testament to its masterful, and impressively fast, editing. In an incredible turnaround, the production wrapped on October 31 and was submitted to Sundance just four days later. The quality of the film and the depth of the emotional journey it takes its audience on is near unbelievable given this timeline.
At the height of humorous scenes, the film will cut to heart-wrenchingly tender moments. These paradoxical shifts leave both sentiments bubbling under the surface ready to be pulled right back up by another powerful scene. This settles the audience straight into the layered history of this story and the cycle of emotions that are so poignantly part of the human experience.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the film’s fictitious leads Dan, Sharon and their daughter Daisy are played by the real-life family of Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen and Katherine Mallen Kupferer, who depict the complexities of hurt and healing within a family dynamic.
“I would say there was very little reaching that went to create the character. We pretty much brought what we are and put it on camera,” said Mallen on how their real-life family informed the characters. “But I also have to say in this case, Kelly wrote a screenplay that fit on us like a glove.”
The ability to depict the essence of live theater within the film medium was one of the most impressive aspects of the film. The actors seamlessly transitioned between their performances within the play and the rest of the film.
Mallen stated the process was like a PhD course in filmmaking and great ensemble theater. For co-directors O’Sullivan and Thompson, the mix of mediums didn’t largely change their directorial approach.
“You know, I think there’s sort of this idea that on-camera has to be smaller,” said O’Sullivan. “But all of the actors we worked with are both great theater actors and on-camera actors. And so it was really just about capturing them.”
O’Sullivan herself comes from a theater background, alongside much of the esteemed cast from the Chicago theater scene of Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre and Writers Theatre, among others. O’Sullivan likened the environment on set to that of summer camp.
“We got to just delight in their presence and so it was the best. I’m doubtful we will ever have another experience that’s quite so fun,” O’Sullivan said.
This set experience translated on-screen to the fictitious set of amateur actors preparing for their own production of the Shakespearean classic. We see playful Dan attempt to “dance like no one’s watching” and the actors adapt to their middle-aged version of the teen romance. While at first resistant, Dan is quickly enveloped in the family that comes from live-theater ensembles.
O’Sullivan said she hopes people take away that “it’s okay to be silly with a group of people, and that can really help lighten the load of what it means to be alive.” This depiction full of warmth and kindness received esteemed praise from cast member Brad Smith at the post-screening Q&A, who called it the “best film about theater I’ve ever seen.”
Throughout the story, the large through line between Dan’s theater and home lives is his experience with grief after the loss of his son to suicide. The Sundance synopsis states, “the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.” This is taken to a much more literal extent than anticipated when the “Romeo and Juliet” depiction of suicide becomes increasingly intertwined with the story of his own son.
The vague film description provides a shock value as the story slowly reveals just how closely Dan’s life follows that of the production. However, for the audience this vagueness of the film’s description doesn’t adequately prepare them for its content. Sundance screenings are unrated and oftentimes, provide limited information before premiering, but with such sensitive subjects, the audience is owed a content or subject warning.
The feature was bought by IFC Films and Sapan Studios, proving to be a successful Sundance debut for the dynamic duo of O’Sullivan and Thompson, who found similar success at SXSW with their indie feature “Saint Frances” (2019).