Reviewed as part of the 27th Leeds International Film Festival (6-21 Nov, 2013)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Dir: Javier Ruiz Caldera, 2012
A brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal…sound familiar? Unlike its central band of spectres, the influences on this supernatural Spanish comedy are plain to see. Opening and closing with a prom scene, Ghost Graduation (‘Promoción fantasma’) revisits the American high-school movies of the Eighties, emerging like a cross between Ghostbusters and The Breakfast Club- with more than just a dance montage as a nod to the latter.
Our humble, hangdog hero is Modesto (Raúl Arévalo), a high school teacher plagued with the ability to see the dead. Rather than realise his gift, he instead begins to worry that he’s losing his mind. Regular visits to a psychiatrist only seem to make matters worse- not least because Modesto is distracted by his...
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Dir: Javier Ruiz Caldera, 2012
A brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal…sound familiar? Unlike its central band of spectres, the influences on this supernatural Spanish comedy are plain to see. Opening and closing with a prom scene, Ghost Graduation (‘Promoción fantasma’) revisits the American high-school movies of the Eighties, emerging like a cross between Ghostbusters and The Breakfast Club- with more than just a dance montage as a nod to the latter.
Our humble, hangdog hero is Modesto (Raúl Arévalo), a high school teacher plagued with the ability to see the dead. Rather than realise his gift, he instead begins to worry that he’s losing his mind. Regular visits to a psychiatrist only seem to make matters worse- not least because Modesto is distracted by his...
- 11/21/2013
- by Dan Wakefield
- Obsessed with Film
One of the most charming, silly and rambunctious films of this year's festival, Ghost Graduation (Promoción fantasma) is an unabashed love letter to the cinema of John Hughes, mixed in with bits of The Frighteners or Ghostbusters for good measure. The film starts, as most should, with the thumping melodrama of Bonnie Tyler's epic "Total Eclipse of the Heart." We see a wallflower boy sitting at the edges of the crowd during a slow dance. Soon the crowd parts, and he sees his dream girl, hair flowing in slow motion driven by some magical breeze. He reaches towards her, the two embrace, their orthodontically-augmented teeth clinking as they kiss. We then cut to see that he's embracing nothing but air, with entire rows of fellow...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/14/2013
- Screen Anarchy
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.