- Director:
Sara Driver - AMG Rating:
- Genre: Comedy
- Movie Type: Heavenly Comedy
- Themes: Out For Revenge, Ghosts
- Main Cast: Alfred Molina, Marianne Faithfull, Maggie O'Neill, Seymour Cassel, Rachael Bella
- Release Year: 1993
- Country: US/DE/JP/NL
- Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
Marty (Alfred Molina) is a down-and-out jazz musician with colorful dreams of making it big, but right now he's living on the edge and making small money by giving music lessons to people who don't seem to want them. His sometimes girlfriend, Sheila (Maggie O'Neill), is a barmaid at the Rose of Sharon, a local pub owned by the hot-tempered Frank (Seymour Cassel). One day Sheila takes an old rocking chair out of the pub's storage and gives it to Marty; he then discovers that the chair is haunted by two ghosts, a middle-aged woman named Lilly (Marianne Faithfull) and a precocious little girl named Ruthie (Rachel Bella). Ruthie seems to be from the turn of the century, but Lilly is contemporary. These easygoing souls appear to Marty and enliven his life with non-threatening pranks, but things turn serious when Marty discovers Lilly was Frank's wife, who killed her in a fit of rage. With the help of the mortal, the ghosts plan revenge.~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Review
This perfectly charming light comedy, which played at only a few film festivals before vanishing like the ghosts in the movie, was directed with deft, artistic touches by Jim Jarmusch protégé Sara Driver. Driver's film, casually paced and breezily plotted, boasts the airy, thought-provoking quality of her mentor's work, and while this very human ghost story won't give horror fans what they're looking for, it would make a good double-feature with The Sixth Sense, which is also about understanding ghosts. The special effects are refreshingly tasteful and low-tech, extremely appropriate for a fanciful fable. Clash guitarist Joe Strummer provides a dense, atmospheric score. Alfred Molina, so good years later as the conniving mayor in Chocolat, is splendidly sympathetic here, and Marianne Faithfull resonates inner strength as the ghost who deserves pity but refuses it. Wide-eyed, pasty-faced Rachel Bella is a charmer as the little girl who never got a chance to grow up in this beautiful, artistically told story.~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Cast
- Alfred Molina - Marty
- Marianne Faithfull - Lilly
Maggie O'Neill - Sheil- Seymour Cassel - Frank
Rachael Bella - Ruthie
