Il Fantasma di Mio Padre

A great little gem of a british movie .good acting good story for a low budget drama

Anthony Mark Streeter's performance as Tony reminds me of Paddy Constantine in Dead Man's Shoes, but while Richard is on a revenge mission, Tony is trying to overcome his violent nature and reunite with his son Conor. However, Ghost is not a thriller/slasher or a big budget Hollywood action flick, so don't expect this and you won't be disappointed. The writer/director was not interested in labels of good and evil and doesn't take dramatic liberty. Ghost is a beautifully shot film I would definitely recommend.

You might have heard about this movie because of its selling point: It was shot on an iPhone. This approach of capturing images may impress some, but it does not impress me. What excites me, however, is strong storytelling containing characters worth spending time with and getting to know-which "Ghost," written and directed by Anthony Z. James, offers the viewer should one bother to look just underneath the familiar plot: an ex-con having just been released from prison wishes to reconnect with his family, specifically his son who grew up without a father for ten years. As the ex-con rings the doorbell, his wife chooses not to answer the door. We assume it is out of fear.

It is a quiet drama-certain to be mislabeled by those seeking numbing thrills or noisy action as slow or boring-but lean a little closer and listen with intent. Clearly, the humanistic screenplay aims to make a thoughtful statement about the past, how it can be passed on not just through environment and socioecology but also biology. The father's past involves violence-which is skirted around for more than half the picture. When specifics are finally revealed, it is not entirely surprising yet still quite disarming. Perhaps it is no accident that the occasionally irascible son walks around the neighborhood with something to prove, as if constantly carrying weight on his shoulders. His father wasn't around to take off some of the burden.

At the center of the picture is two naturalistic performances by Anthony Mark Streeter (Tony, the father) and Nathan Hamilton (Conor, the son). Right when the picture ended, I felt compelled to find out if this was their first feature-not because the acting is in any way unconvincing or false. On the contrary, Streeter and Hamilton's performances contain no vanity, just raw interactions of every day people who've been around the block-perhaps one too many times. They look tired, a bit sad, hopeful at times, and when they are surprised, especially when they try to hide it, we cannot help but smile with them. The relationship's rhythm is so curious, I found myself observing the most minute facial details of two men who have just entered a new chapter of their lives.

A standout: when the father and son make eye contact for the first time, not saying a word for what it feels like ages, we are made to believe that these two already have a complicated history; it is exciting because we are dropped right in the middle of it. Acceptance or rejection-we are not given a solid grasp of how the relationship will turn out. Another standout: Tony meeting with a man with whom he used to work for. Dom (Russell Barnett) seems to have the money, the power, the drugs. He wears a nice suit. But really look at him, his habits, his dead eyes. All he has is a nice view from his office window. Tony might be a penniless ex-con but at least he has a purpose. He wants to live again, to be present, to be there.

The final act may come across contrived to some. To me, however, it is a natural destination-not just in a movie of this type but also in terms of what this specific story attempts to communicate about the cycle of violence, how ghosts of the past can haunt and threaten to derail a possible future of contentment and happiness. I admired that it faded to black when it did because it trusts us, after having gotten the chance to know its protagonists, to imagine what might happen next. I found it to be a terrific litmus test of how closely we pay attention to the people around us. Here is a movie that gives people the desire to see.

Impressive not only considering its budget and small production scale, Ghost delivers genuinely gripping drama and poignant emotion in sleek fashion throughout, proving the immense potential of even the smallest films.

Shot entirely on a smartphone, it's really quite incredible just how cinematic and spectacular this film looks. With brilliant cinematography and visual style throughout, Ghost lends a sleek, almost imposing edge to the city of London, heightening the emotional intensity of its story enormously.

Many London crime dramas will use a down-to-earth, gritty portrayal of the city to drive their stories home, but the way that this film avoids that in favour of something a little more poignant is particularly telling of why it's such a powerful and memorable watch.

Uniquely pensive and patient for its genre, the film looks at the nature of a complicated father-son relationship and the vestiges of a troubled past in gripping fashion, fostering challenging, powerful and often strikingly uncomfortable dramatic depth throughout.

The lead performance from Anthony Mark Streeter is fantastic, as he manages to strike a perfect balance between some of the more generic gritty sensibilites of the film's story and something a lot more profound, while Nathan Hamilton, who plays his son, also impresses with a steely and strong-willed turn that more than matches up to Streeter.

Couple those excellent performances with a riveting screenplay and a perfectly pitched atmosphere brought to life by director Anthony Z. James, and Ghost really has a lot to offer on a deep, emotional level - not to mention its profound, almost transcendent musical score that puts you in a trance from the very start of the film.

For a film shot on such a small scale and with such a small budget, I was blown away by how masterful Ghost was. It's a gripping watch that blends more generic sensibilities with profound, challenging drama, while it also delivers deeply poignant emotion through its use of atmosphere, score, cinematography and performances. And with all that considered, it really is an impressive watch.

A really well thought out and considered film, slow but atmospheric with tension building along the way, not least with the father and son relationship. If your looking for a typical British crime / gangster film look elsewhere but if your in the mood for something slower and innovative (shot on an iPhone 8 - really!!!????) then give it a go, I love the usual UK blokey/ crime stuff, however this isn't it, nonetheless I have to say it's the finest hidden gem I've found all year. I don't normally write reviews but really felt this deserved one.