Ghost (2020) Film Review
Filmed entirely on an iPhone, Ghost is an intimate father-son character drama masquerading as an ex cons fight against the past in which the punches hit the gut and the drama comes from character rather than fist bashing.
Spawning from writer-director Anthony Z James’ short Day One, which followed the same protagonist seen here in Tony, Ghost etches out a bigger story from the shorts premise. In Ghost, Tony (Anthony Mark Streeter’s gruff convict) is a newly freed man navigating his first day released back into a world he lacks familiarity with. Conflictingly, familiar faces ae still prying and threatening to damage his aim to overcome his violent nature. At the forefront of the drama is the reunion between Tony and his son Conor, played by Nathan Hamilton with a brilliantly bruised and impulsive youthful freshness that pairs marvellously with Streeters newly wisened persona. It is this relationship of a father and son whose relationship has been tested and broken that the drama explores.
Ideas which have a genesis from shorts often disappoint and lead one to perhaps expect a narrative with little substance. In the case of Ghost this is wrong. Admittedly, there is not much happening. Action is sparse and true drama rarely shines but it is laid beneath. Caged in a cell that lets little loose in what feels like an unforgiving world which predatorily snaps at any sense of emotional attachment.
Entwined in a classic father and son dynamic is a road trip ethos as Tony takes a tour of London. In the camera movement, Ghost finds a submerging, voyeuristic aesthetic that is involving in totality.
Through Tony’s perspective of an isolating and unrecognizable world James finds a contemporary resonance, aided by the world’s current landscape. Tony’s embodiment of dissonance with a changed world is easy to identify and empathize with. Ghost approaches a reflective look at change during a time when we feel it as much as Tony.
Both Streeter and Hamilton bring an icy crackle to the relationship. You sense they want a bond but struggle to overcome the disconnect that 10 years apart has conceived. For this reason Ghost is by no means a heart-warming tale of a father and son bonding. It gets ugly between them.
The main promotional gambit is the eye catching fact that it was shot on an iPhone. This is by no means a landmark (Sean Baker’s cult favourite Tangerine and Steven Soderbergh in Unsane) but remains a sensational achievement. It is no soulless gambit either. Watching Ghost it would be difficult to imagine any other way of shooting something which is intrinsically urban. What better way to present that than through technology that is available on mass in that locale?
James has managed to capture some remarkable images, aided by informed composition which is always looking to distance itself and manifest the defensive emotional barriers everyone in the film seems to hold in captivating fashion. The director knows this as he takes a long take, slow cut approach which allows a natural quality to seep through. 
Authenticity can be hard for films to grasp, especially something with as gritty and ambitiously honest as Ghost is attempting to be. The heart, soul and truthful base which Ghost builds from can all be found in James’ writing. Broadly speaking the dialogue is gritty, down to earth but retaining a hearty authenticity should it ever feel like it is getting ugly. But it is in the attempted witty comebacks where the reality feels most evident. There is a wry self awareness in the knowingly comic presented war of words where characters make tortured jokes reflective of how real people act when they are not in Hollywood fantasy dialogue land.
Despite all the praise I’ve heaped on Anthony Z James his true masterstroke is taking a genre and downplaying every aspect of it until it arrives at something akin to real life. We have seen plenty of London crime or gangster films but none lean into a character and are as quiet as this.
Ghost is a sorrowful and oddly timely tale of disconnect with a pulsing heart and affinity with genre that dissuades itself from mindless action and instead concentrates on tangible personal relationships.
Ghost is now available on Amazon Prime here
