Ghost from the Machine (or Phasma Ex Machina) is writer/director Matt Osterman’s feature film debut. It had a budget of $25,000. If my review doesn’t give you a clue how good the film is, maybe this will: Universal Pictures is remaking it already.
Cody (Sasha Andreev) and his younger brother James (Max Hauser) lost their parents due to a car accident. Cody is riddled with guilt as he blames himself. He dropped out of college, does not have a job and is living off of the insurance money from the accident. He becomes obsessed with the thought of getting his parents back and spends most of his time and money constructing an electrical device. In a nutshell, Cody basically believes that there is a shortage of a certain type of energy between our world and the other side. He believes that if he can supply this energy there would be no separation and he can then be reunited with his parents. This has caused him to in effect neglect James, whom he is supposed to be taking care of. James spends most of his time wrapped up in first person shooters and causing mischief at school. Because Cody is so obsessed, he has repeatedly caused James to be late to school so often that the Principal questions his ability to be a legal guardian and calls CPS. CPS gives Cody simple instructions: Get James to school on time everyday and he must behave while there. Otherwise, James will be removed from the home. As Cody gets further along with his machine, odd things start to occur in their house as well as in others.
Andreev is excellent as Cody. His Cody is teetering on the edge of madness. His sanity is still harnessed due to his firm belief that what he is doing will work. He gets excited about things that would terrify you and me. He is simply not able to properly supervise his brother and may even see it as a distraction. When threatened with legal action, he makes small attempts to be a guardian but the closer he comes to completion of his device, his obsession overtakes him. Andreev plays this superbly with well delivered dialogue and relaxed realism. I keep using words like “obsession,” and “madness,” which are accurate, but he is not moving at a hundred miles an hour and completely irrational like most caricatures of insane people are. He’s just plagued by guilt and the desire to quell it.
Matthew Feeney turns in a pretty decent performance as Tom, another electronics wizard that gets pulled into the project before he even knows it exists.
This film has no special effects. In fact, there is never any “supernatural” feeling in the film at all. No deformed ghosts scaring the hell out of house cats and children, there are no “hauntings.” This may not be the first use of this story, but it was refreshing to see it treated in this fashion.
The film felt a little slow for a short while, but once the stranger events start to occur, it becomes clear that this slow pace was necessary. By the end of the film the progression makes sense as a whole. Then you are smacked in the face with the disheartening unhappy ending. The ending may upset some people, but it makes logical sense and evokes the strong emotions felt through the rest of the film already.
This film is seriously impressive. Osterman has shown that he is a great director and writer. I very much await more work from him.
Comments
Post a Comment