A musician decides to go off the grid after the sudden passing of his girlfriend. To do so, he moves into a vacant house and plans to take his own life until a ghost interferes.
“I'm Just a Ghost” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
As a whole, “I'm Just a Ghost” works as a fine display of technical craft but little else. Director Lee crafts a rather appealing visual story here, using the setting to tell what's happening without much dialog. With the majority of the focus here simply on being in the house alone, the sense of isolation and loneliness present in the camerawork is quite appropriate. Creating scenes where he's alone in the hallways, leaning against door frames or lying on the bed, staring at his phone looking at their pictures together, the main theme taken away here is loneliness and solitary confinement. Combined with the stylistic black-and-white photography which completes the minimalist approach, there's little wrong with this part of the short.
Beyond the technical prowess, “I'm Just a Ghost” doesn't have much going on. The lack of backstory is a major issue, where there's no clue about the relationship between them or anything about their past history. Their connection as for why he would need to retreat to that house specifically or why she appears to haunt it goes by pretty much without much being explained. Moreover, with no physical interaction that would seem to be hinted at, with the way she's always hanging around yet doesn't do anything to draw attention or indicate her presence as she just does nothing on-screen. It makes the girl out as a nothing role with no connection involved here, leaving this one pretty disappointing.
