The cinema of Bas Devos is particularly attentive to imperceptible movements and overshadowed identities. Ghost Tropic, shot in just 15 days, follows the night journey of Khadija, a 58-year-old woman that realises she lost her last subway and has to walk home. This is a minimalist portrait and a humane adventure that looks at the night of the homeless, the securities, the night as a space for discovery, vulnerability and bonds between people
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An evening light floods a room in an old house. Twilight is an indicator of change, of something that may not be right. And it is in this unstable atmosphere that the Belgian Bas Devos presents his character. An Arab woman who is unable to return home at the end of a working day. Our senses are immediately alert because something is going to go wrong. These thoughts that assault us that are part of the narrative but are not written or filmed. Together with the film, they allow the establishment of new codes and this is where originality takes over the film. The attentive and active spectator is in the film, by its main character, with her pains and illnesses, in short, with her life. That is why it is so beautiful to go back to that first room and feel an emerging light, so clear that almost blinds us. It is our heart beating. Devos (from whom IndieLisboa had already shown the short film We Know) is clearly a filmmaker to follow. (Miguel Valverde)
An evening light floods a room in an old house. Twilight is an indicator of change, of something that may not be right. And it is in this unstable atmosphere that the Belgian Bas Devos presents his character. An Arab woman who is unable to return home at the end of a working day. Our senses are immediately alert because something is going to go wrong. These thoughts that assault us that are part of the narrative but are not written or filmed. Together with the film, they allow the establishment of new codes and this is where originality takes over the film. The attentive and active spectator is in the film, by its main character, with her pains and illnesses, in short, with her life. That is why it is so beautiful to go back to that first room and feel an emerging light, so clear that almost blinds us. It is our heart beating. Devos (from whom IndieLisboa had already shown the short film We Know) is clearly a filmmaker to follow. (Miguel Valverde)
