Ghosts Never Sleep

I just saw this film at the Rome Internaional Film Festival in Rome, Ga -- mainly because of Faye Dunaway, and because the majority of these festival films never make it onto disc. From the start you know it's low budget: the lighting and cinematography aren't, shall we say, top flight. But what a story -- clearly autobiographical at some level, when you consider it's told from the perspective of a struggling screenwriter -- and the pacing,, which is erratic at first, begins to approach Pakula or Friedkin level. The vanity common among aging actresses doesn't prevent Dunaway from turning in a weirdly compelling performance as the Irishman's damage-controlling widow, despite her erratic brogue. Sean Young has seldom been so sympathetic --and never looked sexier, IMHO. Tony Goldwyn looks like Aidan Quinn and does a convincing paranoid. But I couldn't take my eyes off Shea Alexander as the pathetic, coke-driven, sex-obsessed producer Melissa Weiss: her performance leaves a lot to be desired, but one gets the sense of someone who's been there, or at least seen it with her own eyes. I'm looking forward to Steve Freedman's next film. I'm sure it will be worth watching -- and that a bigger budget will have nothing to do with it.

Ghosts Never Sleep is a movie about a writer's life gone wrong. Jared Dolan (Goldwyn) is a writer whose life takes some tremendous swings before the end of the film. The acting is wonderful in this simple plot about a man still feeling the woes of a childhood tragedy that haunts him so much he can only pretend to function. An emotion filled ride that lets you feel the characters, rather then just hear a story. You have to give credit to everyone involved in making something moving out of a depressing and sad storyline that could have been dark and dreary. The editing is almost perfect and the screenplay is masterful. I'm glad to see Goldwyn in more leading roles as he gets older.