“Ghostlight” (dirs. Kelly O’Sullivan & Alex Thompson, 2024)

Kanopy has a few all-time masterpieces coming to its service this month (“Marie Antoinette,” “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation”), along with a couple of beloved gems that are having a moment right now (“Interstellar,” “From Dusk Till Dawn”), and also “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” But I’d love to call some attention to an even more recent under-the-radar favorite around these parts — a movie that flattened most of the people who saw it, and deserves to find a much wider audience in the years to come.

Here’s a little of what IndieWire’s Kate Erbland had to say about “Ghostlight” on one of the many occasions that we celebrated it on the site last year:

“‘Saint Frances’ duo Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson return with another delicate charmer, this one starring real-life acting family Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and Katherine Mallen Kupferer as a family dealing with tragedy in unexpected ways. The cure: community theater Shakespeare. Really!

We know things aren’t right in the Mueller family long before O’Sullivan and Thompson ever-so-delicately dole out the details of a tragedy that still pulls at the trio. It involves a looming lawsuit, the sense the family is incomplete, unsaid feelings, and an ultimate reveal too artfully handled to be spoiled here. O’Sullivan and Thompson are aces at tucking themes, concepts, and ideas into their films that, in other directors’ hands, might feel a bit cheesy or chintzy. Instead, the duo handles them with the utmost respect and care. Audiences may eventually start to see where this is heading and how it will all braid together, but that doesn’t dilute the joy of seeing it actually unfold.

O’Sullivan and Thompson gently fold their story together, finding humor and heart at every turn, leading to the kind of ending that somehow inspired the film’s very first audience at Sundance to laugh and cry. Again, we know how this sounds, but — it’s funny! and good! And a reminder of how bright a light one story can shine on everyone.”

Available to stream May 30.

Other highlights:

– “Interstellar” (5/2)
– “”Last Summer” (5/9)
– “Marie Antoinette” (5/16)