Ghost Dance (1983)
Through the experiences of two women in Paris and London, Ghost Dance offers an analysis of the complexity of our conceptions of ghosts, memory and the past. The film focuses on the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, who observes, 'I think cinema, when it's not boring, is the art of letting ghosts come back.' He also says that 'memory is the past that has never had the form of the present.'
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It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
This is a wonderful and sadly not very well known movie. I first saw this film 20 years ago and loved it, then again just as much watching it more recently. Pascale Ogier and Leonie Mellinger play two young women who actually represent two contrasting sides of the same character. The movie's exploration of the way we are influenced by 'ghosts' from the past is made more poignant since the tragic early death of beautiful Pascale Ogier, only a year after Ghost Dance was made (The DVD has an interesting interview with Leonie Mellinger who shares her thoughts on this and other aspects of the movie). Ken McMullen directs in an art-house style that is grainy and down at heel in London and Paris. The experimental soundtrack also adds to the striking visuals. This is one that can be watched again and again, opening up new meaning with each viewing. Thought provoking and hauntingly surreal.
Best use of cinema's technical means to fantasize about magic and "ghosts" in everyday's world; where things begin to live, people change without reason and voices speak from outside. I guess the reason for the voices is a lyrical one, where you don't have to explain. Certainly a most personal work, capturing the magic of waves on the shore, adding a sense of marxism and melancholy. This movie changed my world.