'Ghost Story" Offers the Weirdest Trailer of the Year So Far 

Ghost stories are typically meant to inspire fear, but David Lowery’s A Ghost Story is Oscar Award-winning Casey Affleck as a sad ghost looking to comfort his grieving wife, played by Rooney Mara. The first official trailer, full of cool tones and long, somber shots of fields and an empty house, arrived on Tuesday.

“We build our legacy piece by piece, and maybe the whole world will remember you, or maybe just a couple of people, but you do what you can to make sure you’re still around after you’re gone,” a disembodied voice says toward the end of the trailer.

Not only will this artsy Sundance project from Lowery be filled with big names and plenty of discussion about death, it will also contemplate the viability of a person’s life, and the legacy any ordinary individual leaves behind. In addition to comforting his widow, Affleck’s ghost will also encounter a new family in his beloved house. Early reviews from Sundance Film Festival this past January generated a 92 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “A poetic meditation on time, memory and spiritual connection that is utterly true to its title,” writes David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter. Not everybody likes it though: “I found A Ghost Story mostly alienating, at times even annoying,” writes Bilge Elbri of the Village Voice.

The film’s simple official synopsis is this:

In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try and reconnect with his bereft wife.

A Ghost Story opens to the public in theaters on July 7.