Chicago Critics Film Fest 2024 Review: Ghostlight

✰✰✰✰​ (out of five)

Synopsis: When melancholic construction worker Dan finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter, he discovers community and purpose in a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. As the drama onstage start to mirror his own life, he and his family are forced to confront a personal loss​.

Review: If this year's Chicago Critics Film Festival has taught me anything, it is the bookended films for opening and closing night are sending the message, "Trust the process." Even if some of the motions of each of these films are nothing new and commonplace in their settings' type of movies, the process of the overall final product from beginning to end still makes it earn said ending. Both of these films center around the theater. For the CCFF's closing night film "Ghostlight," the results are not as great as the opening night of "Sing Sing." Both have a predictable feel to where things are going and will end up, but "Ghostlight" does not have as much 'oomph' in it's payoff. Performances from it's relatively unknown cast (including the core family all being actually married and their children in real life) are the anchors that keep things bright in a warm, cathartic drama.