Fantasia Fest 2021
Ghosting Gloria
Directed by Marcela Matta and Mauro Sarser
Written by Mauro Sarser
Starring Stefania Tortorella, Mauro Sarser, Nenan Pelenur, Federico Guerra
Running time 1 hour and 53 minutes
Currently unrated but contains frank sexual discussions and language, supernatural sexual acts, and adult situations
By Hunter Bush
Not unlike what drew me to another Fantasia Fest pick, Indemnity (insert article link HERE), I thought that something about Ghosting Gloria seemed very much like a movie that should have been released in the 1990s. Something about the romcom-meets-supernatural angle of the premise seemed to me like it would have starred someone like Andie MacDowell. I would have seen it dozens of times on basic cable and it would pop up occasionally on listicles of that decade’s cinematic obsession with the supernatural somewhere between Practical Magic and Phenomenon.
Gloria (Stefania Tortorella) works in a bookstore with her best pal, party gal Sandra (Nenan Pelenur), but she’s been having some trouble sleeping because her amorous upstairs neighbors are a bit too loud with the dirty talk a bit too late. When nothing else works, she sublets her apartment and begins staying in a recently depopulated bungalow which she unknowingly shares with the ghost of the former inhabitant, and he’s ...horny!
His otherworldly affections awaken Gloria’s long-dormant libido and encourage her to finally really live life. Think of it as How Stella Got Her Groove Back ...from Beyond the Grave! Written by Mauro Sarser who plays stuffy bookstore boss Gustavo, Ghosting Gloria is tightly written, quirky, and much of the humor works despite the language gap because it’s all either inherently relatable (annoying customers) or largely visual (book cover gags). The direction, by Marcela Matta as well as Sarser, walks that horror/comedy/romcom line extremely well. It’s not really very “horror” - it has more in common with Defending Your Life than, say, Paranormal Activity - but it’s still lensed that way, which actually really works. Most of the movie has a smokey, gauzy light that, depending on the scene, reads as either “romantic” or “spooky” which I think is an inspired choice. The editing deserves no small acclaim (AgustÃn Fagetti, credited as “assistant editor” is the only person I could find listed to praise), tipping moments that could be either “spooky” or “funny” firmly into the latter category, letting the audience know we’re supposed to be having fun here.
There’s a creative streak that runs through Ghosting Gloria that’s just entirely charming. The way Gloria and her b/f (boo-friend) interact is sweet and clever - she uses his spectral energies to power her juicer in the morning for instance - and the larger way the afterlife is handled is just delightfully unique! The cast overall is slim but, in a decision that earned the movie brownie points with me, every person with a speaking part gets their own solo credit with a clip of their performance, all underneath a spanish language cover of the Them song “Gloria”!
It’s just so fun and knows just how far to push things. There’s depictions of sex acts with the ghost including a cunnilingus scene (more brownie points) with some perfectly utilized special effects of invisible fingers pressing against Gloria’s inner thighs! That’s just the right amount of dirty-yet-also-creepy! Small content warning - there is some business involving suicide as the film goes on and while it isn’t exactly glossed over, it isn’t capital-D Dealt With, much the same way issues of consent aren’t when Gloria initially encounters the ghost. I don’t think these are a failing of the film or the filmmakers so much as a stylistic or tonal decision. They’ve managed to craft a very delicately-balanced film in Ghosting Gloria and fully addressing these issues with the weight they would warrant in a real-life discussion would upset that balance dramatically and potentially irrevocably.
Ultimately Ghosting Gloria is incredibly sweet and cute, a perfect date movie if you and your date are fans of things like So I Married An Axe Murderer. I’m really loving seeing these echoes of 1990s film in this year’s Fantasia Fest offerings and seeing what elements these other countries’ filmmakers are latching on to from that era is genuinely fascinating
Ghosting Gloria is screening as part of Fantasia Fest 2021. Check for availability.
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