Betsy Sharkey’s film pick of the week: Eddie O’Keefe’s ‘The Ghosts’

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Now for something a little different.

About a year ago, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s annual Young Directors Night -- which screens short films of emerging artists whom the museum’s curators believe have the ‘it’ factor -- I met Eddie O’Keefe. I was part of the host panel; he was one of the five live wires featured that night. He said he loved Americana, favored making films about delinquent teens and that he currently was ‘completely lost.’ Only some of that was true. His ‘Sun Sessions’ about a teenage Elvis fanatic going through a bad breakup made everyone smile.

Earlier this week, I got a look at O’Keefe’s latest ironic twist of film and fate in his new short ‘The Ghosts.’ It’s a modern-day retro take on young love and class conflicts set to a cool contemporary track. Echoes of ‘Rumble Fish,’ but not exactly, because O’Keefe’s offcenter sensibility is distinctly his. That’s not surprising, given that he writes, directs, acts, shoots, edits and occasionally makes sandwiches.

So for a little taste of the up-and-coming, head to a computer near you, where ‘The Ghosts’ is playing at www.theghostsfilm.com.

As for Eddie, he’s just another Midwestern kid who came to Hollywood with big dreams. If that’s not the stuff of movies, I don’t know what is.

–- Betsy Sharkey