Credit Where it's Due: A Review of "GHOSTWRITTEN"
Though the genre has been around for only 20 years, mumblecore films have common signifiers. They’re low-budget, mostly single-location films with few characters and naturalistic dialogue. Mark and Jay Duplass made a cottage industry of these films (my personal favorite is “You Sister’s Sister”) before each of them branched out into more “mainstream” projects, including horror. Mark made the “Creep” films and now Jay stars in “Ghostwritten,” a ghost story that still keeps one foot planted firmly in the mumblecore world.
Duplass plays Guy, an author who wrote a hit debut novel eight years ago. He’s battling writer’s block and struggling to care for his mentally ill mother (the great Deirdre O’Connell, who is somehow memorable but underused in just about all her films). Hoping to avoid the sophomore slump, he secludes himself on an island off the coast of Massachusetts during the winter, and stares at his laptop screen, hoping for a miracle. He finds one in the form of a written manuscript underneath the floorboards of his rental house. The author doesn’t make themselves known, so it looks like Guy’s problems are solved. Until he starts to hear odd noises in the cabin and see things, like silhouettes of people who aren’t there. The people he does interact with, like the townies at the local bar, look at him strangely and laugh.
Could he just be a paranoid tourist in a small town? Or is something more sinister at work?
Jay Duplass doing what all writers do at some point: wishing they did anything else for a hot second.
Written and directed by Thomas Matthews, “Ghostwritten” unfolds slowly, yet with an urgent style. Matthew shoots in black and white, except for some startling instances of color, much like this month’s “She Is Conann.” He loves a good close-up and shoots mostly handheld. This creates an immediacy that makes us invested in Guy’s story while keeping the truth at a distance. It can be a frustrating exercise, but thankfully Matthews has a stellar cast to back him up. Maria Dizzia is a local who helps Guy research the possible cause of his visions and Kate Lyn Sheil plays an ethereal bartender, who seems to know more than she lets on. Or maybe she’s the pilot who flew him to town. Or maybe she doesn’t exist. Thomas Jay Ryan plays an enigmatic author who lives in the town, and acts as a foil of sorts to a meandering Guy. Matthews wants to keep you off-balance until the very end, somewhat to the detriment of the finished film.
There are also video clips of talking heads interspersed throughout, as well as an omniscient narrator, who makes Guy’s story feel like a novel being written.
The opening narration talks of “the value of stories,” but “Ghostwritten” is ultimately so full of so many moving pieces, it almost trips over itself. Matthews lands at a satisfying conclusion, but it’s a breathless head scratcher until we get there.
“Ghostwritten” is available on demand February 9th.
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