I Am a Ghost

 
Melwood Screening Room: May 17 @ 9:30 PM 
Melwood Screening Room: May 19 @ 9:30 PM

Passes not accepted on Opening/Closing Night. Please arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of start time to ensure availability of seating. Film schedule and Q & A's are subject to change.

2012/USA/Director: HP Mendoza/74 min.
Cast: Anna Ishida, Jeannie Barroga (Language: English)

 

Warning: This film contains adult content.
Emily is stuck.  
Stuck in Victorian garb. Stuck alone in a rambling Victorian mansion. Stuck cooking eggs. Stuck in a state of anxiety and confusion and not knowing why in HP Mendoza’s slow-burning, get-under-your-skin spookfest, I am a Ghost. 
Emily (Anna Ishida)  goes about  her “life” in a cycle.  With each repetition of the cycle a little more is revealed. Emily is eventually surprised to learn that she is a ghost. This, however is only the beginning of the mystery.  She develops a relationship with Sylvia (Jeannine Barroga), a medium hired by the house’s current owners.  They team up to discover what has brought Emily to this point.  How long has Emily been dead? How old was she at the time of her death? Who is in the old photographs she keeps returning to?  And lastly, precisely what is the invisible and menacing presence that seems to haunt her?
Mendoza creates a Lynchian atmosphere of normalcy and dread. Each scene peels back another layer of mystery and also yet another subtle layer of horror. The microcosm Emily inhabits has a set of rules and mythology that are intricately woven into the logic of the narrative.  Artful imagery enhances the film’s claustrophobic ambiance and sense of confusion. The unsettling score is, in a word, perfect. Mendoza’s inspired final revelation is, in a word, brilliant.