Ghotlight is a drama based American movie that is expected to be released in 2024 and is directed by Kelly O’Sullivan along with Alex Thompson while the script writer was only Kelly O’Sullivan. This film is made with a strong supporting cast of Keith Kupferer, Dolly de Leon, Katherine May Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Hana Dworkin, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Alma Washington, H.B. Ward, Dexter Zollicoffer, Deanna Dunagan, and Francis Guinan. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival held on January 18, 2024 and was released by IFC Films and Sapan Studio on June 14, 2024, forms a perfect mixture of intense feeling and excellent acting.

Plot Summary
The plot of *Ghostlight* revolves around Dan Mueller, a construction laborer dealing with many problems in his life. Dan is currently struggling to discipline his rebellious teen age daughter, Daisy; all the while attempting to sue Christine Hawthorne, the former girlfriend of his deceased son, Brian for wrongful death. The pressure which comes from these problems cumulatively leads to a provoking event: Dan initiates physical violence against a motorist who has been impolite on the road and at his workplace. This act of violence is seen by Rita, an actor of the community theater opposite to Dan’s location, who then asks him to come and read for the part of Lord Capulet for their play *Romeo and Juliet*.

The inexperienced Dan starts consult with Daisy, whom he meets at the theatre, a former actor who has gone through her passionless tragedy. The disturbance is rise at home when Sharon, Dan’s wife and teacher as well as theater director, tries to lay a garden on the spot where Brian committed suicide in their compound, thus forcing Dan to yell at Daisy. Jessing frustrated, Dan goes back to the theater only to find Rita playing the lady of Juliet wielding a stick and hits a male actor who is playing the role of Romeo during the rehearsal. This outburst of feeling makes Dan taking the initiative to tell the story of Brian’s death to the cast; this results into a touching scene when members of the cast have to bare their hearts on an issue.

Taking into consideration Dan’s avarice and talent, Sharon permits the community theater bring their production in the school’s gym and Daisy ends up being cast as Mercutio. In one of the performance scenes, Dan is finding it extremely difficult to handle the emotions connected with Romeo’s suicide and its connection to Brian. In the deposition where the Hawthornes are present Dan discloses that due to Christine’s move, Brian and Christine had tried to commit suicide on the night of Daisy’s last play. This realization makes Dan let Christine off the hook, which means that the case is dismissed, adding more tension between her and Sharon.

The finale of this tightly strung *Romeo and Juliet* is profoundly liberating for Dan and his kin. Laying down on the stage and imitating Romeo’s death, Dan, of course, sees Brian in the shadow on the stage, which means that there is a ray of hope. He takes her to watch a performance one night, which makes Sharon cry, although they hug at the end suggesting that the family has made the first step of reconciliation.

Cast
Dan Mueller is played by Keith Kupferer
Schizophrenic correlation between the widening gap, Dolly de Leon as Rita
Katherine May Kupferer in the role of Daisy
Tara Mallen as Sharon
Hanna Dworkin as Lanora
Tommy Rivera-Vega as Lucian
Alma Washington as Moira
H. B. Ward as Jonah
Dexter Zollicoffer as Greg
Deanna Dunagan as herself
Francis Guinan as Murray McRae; Janitor Fran
Charin Alvarez as Principal Santos

Release and Reception
Ghostlight was first presented on January 18, 2024, at the Sundance Film Festival; the movie attracted a lot of positive reviews. IFC Films and Sapan Studio picked up distribution later in the week and the film was shown at South by Southwest on March 10, 2024. It was commercially launched in United States, on 14 th June 2024. The reviews to the movie have been very positive, with a score of 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes website and 83 collected critic reviews, resulting in an average of 8. 1/10. The site’s consensus is ‘It is a small film that makes a gigantic emotional impact, Ghostlight is a poignant and excellently acted drama about mourning.’ The score given by Metacritic for the movie was 83 out of a hundred, the status of which is universal acclaim mainly from twenty-one critics.

Chicago Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper few years later also had some great things to say even though his rating of the movie falls far from the A-range: “A simply excellent snapshot of teenage life which provokingly demonstrates reconciliation through theater .” Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert. com remarked that the movie is “almost intolerable for the first half an hour but goes on getting more powerful as it progresses” ; thus, elements that turn out to be odd are potentially sources of strength for the drama.

Thus, *Ghostlight* received the first runner-up position in the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival. Co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson were awarded the audience’s choice of Best Directors Award; likewise, Keith Kupferer, the winner of the Best Performance.

Conclusion
Ghostlight is an emotional drama about coping with loss, regret, and the ability to recover through art; it gives its audience a sincere message supported by the talented Keith Kupferer who plays one of the film’s main characters. The recognition this play got further underlines its importance and places this work in the key categories of the modern American drama.