Ordinarily,
psychics and “paranormal investigators” are con artists by definition, because
obviously. However, Sheila is different. For one thing, she does not accept any
fees for her services. Furthermore, she readily admits she is not even sure she
has any psychic abilities. Nevertheless, she will try to help a grieving
widower find some closure, perhaps by contacting his deceased wife’s ghost in Paul
Harrill’s Light from Light, which
screens during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Sheila’s
real job is working behind the counter of an airport car rental agency. She has
some experience investigating hauntings, but all the gear belonged to her very
ex-boyfriend. Nevertheless, she agrees to get back into the game when asked by
the kindly Father Martin. He heard her on the radio discussing the possibly
predictive dreams she had during childhood and concluded she might be able to help
the recently widowed Richard.
After
begging and borrowing sensors and cameras, Sheila presses her son Owen into
duty as her assistant, but she gets his not-quite-girlfriend Lucy as a bonus
volunteer. Together they wire up Richard’s converted country house on edge of
the Smoky Mountains, where odd things have been afoot, like flickering lights and
objects moving of their own accord. The three not-really-Ghostbusters genuinely
hope they can help the earnest fishery warden, but the initial findings will be
ambiguous—and complicated.
Frankly,
Light is not exactly a supernatural
genre film, at least not in a conventional sense, but the ghostly plot points ultimately
give it a powerful, bittersweet kick. Yet, minute-by-minute and
scene-for-scene, Harrill’s main focus are the fleeting connections humans
manage to forge. Every flesh-and-blood character in Light is a good person, whom we come to care about quite a bit.
That very definitely includes Father Martin, possibly the most sympathetic man
of the cloth to appear on-screen in years. Harrill also penned one of the most
touching, yet realistic and grounded mother-son relationships you will see on
film in many a blood moon.
Marin
Ireland invests the working-class Sheila with genuine grace and dignity. She
forges ambiguously poignant chemistry with Richard, played by Jim Gaffigan in
what might be his career-best work. It is a quiet and restrained performance,
but he makes the widower’s pain and confusion immediately palpable. Atheena Frizzell
is shockingly touching as lovesick Lucy, while David Cale gives it all a tinge
of compassionate gravitas as Father Martin.
Light is a big, muddy
river of a film. It is quiet, but it runs deep. It also looks terrific, thanks to
Greta Zozula’s striking cinematography, which captures the mysterious lushness
of the Smokies. It is sort of like a rural Personal Shopper, but it is subtler and more humanistic. Very highly recommended, Light from Light screens again this
afternoon (1/31) and tomorrow (2/1) in Park City and Saturday (2/2) in Salt Lake,
as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
