Apologies for the late posting this week, I had a wobble on Wednesday then got sick and spent the whole day yesterday in bed. I’m feeling much better now, and finally feel strong enough to finish this post and hit that PUBLISH button.
Ghosts, potential Nazi spies, interrogation, secrets and lies all form this week’s film – but at what ghost, I wonder?
Brooklyn 45 (2023)
The Ghosts of your past would like to have a word with you.
Director: Ted Geoghegan
Starring: Anne Ramsay, Larry Fessenden, Ron E. Rains
Synopsis:
Five military veterans, best friends since childhood, gather together to support their troubled host, and the metaphoric ghosts of their past become all-too-literal.
TW: Suicide, slurs, homophobic language, not enough ghosts
December 27, 1945 and three old friends, plus a surplus husband, meet at the home of their friend Hock following the recent suicide of his wife, Susie. Unknowingly, the pack have walked into a carefully staged situation that Hock isn’t being 100% honest about.
Wracked with grief, Hock convinces Marla, her husband Bob, Major Archibald Stanton and Major Paul DiFranco to join him in summoning the spirit of his late wife, a troubled woman riddled with paranoia.
Things start off as expected, some of the party are more open to the subject of the afterlife than others, but eventually all are (albeit reluctantly) onboard the ghost train. They manage to contact ‘Susie’ who has a cryptic message for them from beyond, but the conversation is cut short quickly.
Not long afterwards, overwrought with grief, Hock decides to join his wife for good but he’s about to drop them into a moral dilemma of epic proportions – and one that will out them once and for all for who they really are…
I realise I haven’t lead with the most relevant information: all our central characters are recovering from the trauma of WWII – and the acts they’ve committed in the name of war. Marla is a Pentagon officer now but was considered a top notch Nazi interrogator during her career. Veteran Archie is being tried as a war criminal, something he’s keen to play down.
Meanwhile, Paul self-medicates with alcohol to numb the pain and memory of combat. Bob, Marla’s mild-mannered husband, is probably the only balanced soul in the room, bless him.
Anywho. The group are devastated by Hock’s final act but are even more surprised when a German woman falls out of a cupboard. The woman, who is bound and gagged, reveals herself to be next door neighbour Hildegard – and Hock has captured her there as a suspected Nazi spy.
With the friends trapped in the room by supernatural forces and Hock’s corpse now animated by his furious spirit, there’s only one act to be done before they’re freed: kill Hilde.
But is Hilde really a Nazi spy or was it all in paranoid Hock’s head? And what are all these truth bombs being dropped left and right? Will you be able to get through this film without cringing at the horrible slurs and names they call one another?
Only one way to find out!
My thoughts
I didn’t think much to this unfortunately, though that doesn’t make it a bad film. The performances are all very good, particularly Anne Ramsey as Marla – and the set looks great – but I wanted more ghostly hijinks than we got. And I really do mean, there’s hardly any fun had with the supernatural anywhere – where’s all the ectoplasm/accidentally summoned ‘comedy’ relief? Massive missed opportunity.
The whole thing feels and plays out like an actual play, which might be why I didn’t fully warm to it but the subject matter is interesting enough. When the group are faced with working out why Hock and his wife suspect Hilde, it’s intriguing to consider each member’s point of view – and what this says about them as a person.
Well, I say interesting, I mean if you’re into that kind of thing, which I’m not, not really. I was drawn to this with the promise of a damn good séance, rather than the Nazi angle so I was strongly disappointed.
Overall, I didn’t take much from this viewing but maybe it went over my head. I don’t think so though, I just think I need more to keep me engaged.
My rating
2.5 xenophobic slurs out of 5 (AKA 2.5 too many)
Christa Act 
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