Rating: R | Runtime: 115 minutes
Release Date: June 14th, 2024 (USA)
Studio: IFC Films
Director(s): Kelly O’Sullivan & Alex Thompson
Writer(s): Kelly O’Sullivan

Oh, God! Is this a threesome?

When Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) exclaims how the Romeo and Juliet movie is “old but good,” I anticipated seeing Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey on-screen—not Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Denis. Making me feel old aside, the reveal cements the lasting power of the play through an uncertainty that only exists when there are too many adaptations to truly know which is being talked about upon being mentioned. Add Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Ghostlight to the mix—not just because it includes a performance of the play put on by the characters within, but also because it adapts Shakespeare’s tragedy through its depiction of grief in the aftermath of its similar horror.

I don’t want to speak too much on the specifics of that fact since the film does well gradually revealing the details of what happened one year ago, but know that someone is missing from this troubled nuclear family—the absence of which has them all unable to get a grip. Daisy is about to get expelled. Dan (Keith Kupferer) has completely shut down emotionally. And Sharon (Tara Mallen) is hanging on by a thread as her daughter becomes a monster and her husband a ghost. Therapy only goes so far if the process seems like a punishment to one over the others. A lawsuit attempt at closure threatens to bring up everything they’ve tried so hard to suppress. And if anyone dares mention the pain, someone will likely be putting a fist through a wall.

It’s precisely that rage that Rita (Dolly De Leon) latches onto when running across Dan one day. He’s working construction and zoning out to the point where he cannot control his emotions anymore. She’s trying to find a replacement actor for her amateur troupe’s show. Will Dan be good in the role? Probably not. But he obviously needs a change and the attempt might just provide the escape he needs. Except, of course, that he should be finding that escape through his family instead. Or, at least, be keeping them aware of his need for one so everyone can be on the same page. Dan’s old school, though. He bottles-up his feelings and hides while the world implodes around him.

I love the juxtaposition of a blue-collar guy stumbling through iambic pentameter with a look of absolute confusion on his face. To see Dan gradually come out of his shell while Rita, Lanora (Hanna Dworkin), and the rest of the gang lead theater exercises is like watching a baby taking its first steps. And the more entrenched he becomes in the activity, the more willing he is to let himself speak about all the things he’s refused to confront. Yes, he’ll eventually need to get his family on-board too, but don’t expect O’Sullivan and Thompson to do so with a convenient bowtie. This is a messy situation made messier by the amount of time their sorrow has festered. One good laugh isn’t going to solve everything … but it will be a start.

Everything is therefore on the table and effective even if it’s not shown to be for Dan as the de facto lead. Therapy starts to work for Daisy in a way that has her trying to get him to join her. Acceptance has begun to set in for Sharon even as he sees it as a slap to the face since he will not allow himself to leave his pain behind. The play is thus a one-stop-shop for Dan to meet them halfway. It’s art therapy to work through his emotions thanks to the subject matter so closely mirroring what occurred in reality—a fact that never feels fake in its presentation due to the lived-in authenticity of Dan’s ignorance towards a love that strong leading to death. By playing the part himself, though, he might finally understand.

De Leon is a great catalyst for change at the narrative’s center, but this is all about Keith Kupferer and his real-life family traversing the heartache weighing upon their characters’ every action. When will the release come? During the play or the deposition? In what form will it arrive? Destructive anger or anguished empathy? The line Dan walks is thin and you can feel that O’Sullivan wrote his trajectory through the character’s voice to discover which side he’ll fall at the same time he does. Every move has the potential to create a seismic shift in their lives, but that doesn’t mean they should stand in place to prevent it. The world has already changed around them. Choosing to ignore the impact creates the biggest rifts.

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Keith Kupferer and Tara Mallen in Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s GHOSTLIGHT. Courtesy of Luke Dyra. An IFC Films release.