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I wasn’t too sure I would like this film. The introduction to lead character Keith Bennet (played by Mark Thompson) wasn’t inspiring: he’s in a restaurant drinking too much scotch, being tight-lipped with a long-time friend and business partner.
He’s not much fun at home either. Removed, isolated and self-absorbed, Keith’s idea of an intimate conversation with wife Karen (Dana Delany) is joking about everything – his lack of interest in their son, his lack of interest in her, his lack of interest in life. Not surprisingly, in the first 15 minutes of the film, Karen gives him the ultimate ultimatum: He’s been acting strangely ever since his mother died a year ago, and it’s time to shape up or ship out. Get help or get going. He doesn’t seem to much care either way.
But don’t let first impressions fool you as they did me. Yes, Keith is under the weather. But it’s more than that. He’s actually under the impression that his mother is making visits. Her weddings rings - the jewelry she was buried in - show up at the side of his bathroom sink. He hears her whispering unintelligibly, and at times, even though he drinks to blot the visions out, he sees her. It’s always brief glimpses – a figure walking down the street, a woman sitting in a bar in an old-fashioned 1950s dress. It’s disconcerting, but somehow you get the feeling Keith is almost relieved to see her.
Meanwhile across town, once famous psychiatrist Dr. John Norris has a radio show that’s going south. Nobody interesting ever calls for his on-the-air head-shrinking. His peers avoid him, his reputation is sliding, and station management has given him notice his show will be discontinued unless ratings go up. A true healer, Dr. Norris cares about ratings, fame, and his show about as much as Keith cares about his own life. Inevitably the two men collide.Driving around aimlessly from cemetery to bar, Keith tunes into Norris’s show and calls just to heckle him. But Norris isn’t a world famous shrink for nothing. His low-key wit and vulnerability provide just the space for Keith to start to unwind his unusual story. While wife Karen, the station staff, and some of the rest of Keith’s family tune in, he haltingly reveals family secrets long withheld, and with the help of Dr.Norris, begins his healing journey.
Surprisingly well acted and scripted, Mother Ghost is a beautiful depiction of human relationship and the wounds we all carry. The simple story line of a conversation between two men, open to the world on-air, is incredibly poignant. Both Keith and Dr. Norris are utterly heroic – one man valiantly struggling to ignore pain to the point of losing everything finally decides to give healing – and feeling - a chance; the other man quietly waits to be of service. Their coming together for one, brief, on-air hour changes them both, and the lives around them forever.
