Underplayed Gems

The Mezzotint (2021)

The Mezzotint poster
Original title
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Mezzotint
Country
United Kingdom
Rating
6.9 of 10 from 9 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A curator at a small museum in 1922 receives an old mezzotint print that keeps changing in subtle ways each time he looks at it. As he investigates, the changes reveal a hidden tragedy tied to his own family history.

eerieslow-burnatmosphericmelancholicunsettlingmysterioussubtlehaunting

What happens

The Mezzotint is a short film which is part of the British supernatural anthology series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Isibeal Ballance and written and directed by Mark Gatiss, it is based on the ghost story of the same name by M. R. James, first published in the collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), and first aired on BBC Two on 24 December 2021. Set in 1922, it stars Rory Kinnear as Edward Williams, a curator of a small university museum who receives a seemingly-innocuous 19th century mezzotint whose details appear to change whenever it is viewed, hinting at an old tragedy which has connections with Williams' attempts to uncover his family history. "The Mezzotint" was chosen for adaptation as a replacement for an original story written by Gatiss, The Night Wedding, which had been intended to air in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Gatiss shelved the story due to concerns about the subject matter. "The Mezzotint" was picked as it was well-suited to the limited budget and shooting time and the need to follow COVID restrictions. It was well-received by critics. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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