Ghostlight (2024) review

Family dysfunction "cured" ... by community theatre: blue collar Dan (Keith Kupferer) can't emotionally recover from the loss of his only son Brian, his daughter Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) keeps getting in trouble at school and he and his wife Sharon (Tara Mallen) have become distant, so when he's invited by Rita (Dolly de Leon) to join a small production of Romeo & Juliet, he starts spending time in rehearsal without telling anyone.  It's admittedly endearing that the three main performers are related in real-life, but this CODA-esque indie out of the Sundance Factory is shamelessly mechanical and desperate for pity points: it plays coy with what happened to Brian, Dan intentionally withholds information about his "side gig" as an actor (so Sharon and Daisy naturally suspect he's having an affair) and then "playing out" the Bard's tragic scenario of teenage lovers magically "triggers" memories of the past (Brian and his ex-girlfriend supposedly had a "suicide pact" but she "woke up").  I'm not entirely sure, but I strongly doubt many actual professional actors and actresses would agree that the stage should be used as a personal therapy session....