Films and Feelings

    In the long, storied history of ghost movies, one must face the question of how to present said specter. Are they like Casper the Friendly Ghost, or are they more in the vein of the spirits from Poltergeist ? The best thing that can be said about Netflix's new film, We Have a Ghost , is that the spook at the center of an otherwise confused film is consistently endearing.      Ernest tries the more sinister act on the Presley family when they move in to his haunt of fifty years, but their youngest, Kevin, is non-plussed. "That probably worked on everyone else before," Kevin explains, "but my life is like 1,000 times scarier than this." We have no idea what he means when he says this, of course. Aside from some non-specific comments about the family having needed an undisclosed number of "fresh starts," we know nothing at this point about this mystery trauma plaguing Kevin. Even now I am struggling to remember. It may have had something to do with hi...

In a landscape where the court of public opinion is ruled by sensationalism, where there is a reward for snap judgments and “thumbs down” reactions, it is imperative that we continue to train ourselves in the art of nuance and ambiguity. Some things aren’t easily classified as one thing or another, as good or bad, and they reveal limitations within our individual and collective perspective. When we choose to accept contradictions, we give ourselves an advantage over the part of us that might shirk from complexity and peculiarity.  Which brings me today’s subject,  Lamb, a film that dives head-first into controversial waters. Based on the novel by Bonnie Nadzam, and directed by Ross Partridge, the film finds a despondent 47-year-old man, David Lamb (played by Partridge himself), who strikes up a friendship with a neglected 11-year-old girl named Tommie. Their relationship is a sort of act of defiance in a world abounding with indifference, but when Lamb invites Tommie to co...