Overview
A haunting exploration of love and loss that transcends time and space.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Glacial
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- eerie
- austere
- quiet evening
- reflective viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly praised its poetic meditation on time, memory, grief, and spiritual connection, while recognizing its deliberately opaque and extremely slow experimental form.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Extended static shots, including the prolonged pie-eating scene, turn ordinary waiting into the film's central experiential device.
C's sheet-covered ghost silently watches M, later occupants, and changing generations while remaining unable to intervene.
The old house connects C to shared memories and remains the anchor through which relationships and eras pass.
The phantom persists while M, strangers, buildings, and social worlds change around him over decades.
Films like A Ghost Story, and why
The Tree of Life
shared poetic supernatural premise, meditative pacing, grief, and reflection on time and mortality
The Fountain
shared intimate romance, spiritual melancholy, nontraditional fantasy, and contemplation of memory
The Falls
shared ghostly perspective, emotional isolation, long silences, and elegiac meditation on impermanence
Personal Shopper
shared house-centered supernatural drama, unresolved grief, and experimental treatment of time
Movie Details
- Director
- David Lowery
- Release Date
- 2017-04-24
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (2579)
Cast
- Casey Affleck
- Rooney Mara
- McColm Cephas Jr.
- Kenneisha Thompson
- Grover Coulson
- Liz Cardenas
- Barlow Jacobs
- Richard Krause
- Dagger Salazar
- Sonia Acevedo
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is A Ghost Story about?
- A grieving composer’s ghost remains tethered to his home, watching love, memory, and human lives dissolve across the passage of time.
- What is A Ghost Story like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of A Ghost Story as glacial, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is A Ghost Story violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in A Ghost Story as mild.
- What did critics think of A Ghost Story?
- Critics broadly praised its poetic meditation on time, memory, grief, and spiritual connection, while recognizing its deliberately opaque and extremely slow experimental form.
- Which films are like A Ghost Story?
- Films with a similar feel include The Tree of Life, The Fountain, The Falls, and Personal Shopper.
- How long is A Ghost Story?
- A Ghost Story runs 93 minutes.
- Where can I watch A Ghost Story?
- In United States, A Ghost Story is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand.
