Rating: 3.5/5
Nina has recently lost Jamie, the love of her life. In her heart, she talks to him as though he is still there, but the ache of absence still stings
I'm going to cry, and it's not going to make any sense, and I'm sorry
Then, one evening, while playing the piano, she feels like Jamie has picked up his cello and is playing beside her. And he is — he has returned as a ghost, having “not died properly.”
Death shall have no dominion — we know that, you and me
As her home life reshapes to accommodate Jamie, she begins remembering all the annoyances and fights that ross-colored memories couldn’t remember. As if that weren’t enough, she begins to develop feelings for a living person
Coming out the same year as Ghost and sharing a common plot point of a dead lover returning set this movie up for unnecessary comparisons because those two points are their only similarities
The pacing of the movie is strange and quiet, and it took me most of the runtime to adjust to it — it begins where many movies might climax: the recognition of loss and all the pain that follows
We get droplets of her life, but nothing is moving in any particular direction — just the constant remembering of Jamie interrupting her life. Then, when he returns, there isn’t any triumph — they play music together and have idle conversations, playing those “I love you more” games
I don’t remember a film shifting from annoying me to moving me the way this movie did. Maybe because it found its way into my memories and experiences and helped me reflect on the grief I have been experiencing for a while now. It reminded me that I don’t have to be in any particular place with grief — I only need to keep going
My feet will march to where you are sleeping, but I will go on living