The Ghost Writer (2010)
Directed by Roman Polanski
A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident.
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Interrogating a retired academic ( Tom Wilkinson , superb) reminiscent of Hitchcock 's tweedy professors in " The 39 Steps " and " North by Northwest ," McGregor's every attempt to unravel a decades-old political plot is checkmated by the kind of politesse that's hardened by an impenetrable, unflappable sense of self.
Still, it's a pleasure to see Ewan McGregor act again after a series of misfires ("The Men Who Star at Goats," "Amelia") and although the film's locations are suspect, the overall production, capped by an Alexander Desplat score that recalls "North by Northwest," has Hitchcockian pleasures.
It's a set-up reminiscent of Hitchcock, say, in North by Northwest.
Interrogating a retired academic ( Tom Wilkinson , superb) reminiscent of Hitchcock 's tweedy professors in " The 39 Steps " and " North by Northwest ," McGregor's every attempt to unravel a decades-old political plot is checkmated by the kind of politesse that's hardened by an impenetrable, unflappable sense of self.
There is a sequence in the Hitchcock classic Foreign Correspondent when Joel McCrea and his comrades, in a car pursuing another car bearing a man who just carried out a very public assassination in the city they’ve left behind, round a curve and see … an empty road and miles of windmills (it’s Holland).
The Ghost Writer starts with an ominous scene on a ferry at night—one that recalls the moment in Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1932) where cars in traffic have to go around a car that is at a stand-still because its driver has been murdered.
The closest parallel in Polanski's past movies is to "Chinatown," another mystery about a little guy who finds solving the crime easier than challenging powerful interests.
Unlike Polanski's troubling, sordid and passionate Chinatown, The Ghost Writer is more elegant exercise than inspiration.
Here, as in the cruel ending of " Chinatown ," a character may die off-screen, out of frame, but traffic -- the motion that fools us into believing we are headed somewhere -- rolls on.
That’s the juicy question buried in the depths of Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer,” an extraordinarily precise and well-made political thriller—the best thing Polanski has done since the seventies, when he brought out the incomparable “Chinatown” and the very fine “Tess.”
Survival in a wolfish world has been the career-long theme of the sardonic director of Knife in the Water , Rosemary�s Baby and Chinatown, and people sniff for parallels between the auteur�s personal traumas and foibles and those of his characters.
While many will point to “Chinatown” as Polanski’s masterpiece, I found this was to be as intriguing and interesting to watch.
Its isolated setting is reminiscent of Cul-de-Sac (1966)—a fact that offers some hint to the shape of the story the film finally pieces together.
Polanski co-wrote the strangely unsettling screenplay with Gérard Brach, with whom he subsequently collaborated on Cul-de-sac (66).
Its emphasis on a central setting is cinematic and atmospheric, rather than the theatrical pressure-cooker rationale of Death and the Maiden; indeed, the new film harkens back to that other island movie, Cul-de-sac (in contention with Chinatown as the director’s masterpiece).
The director of “Repulsion,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” and “Macbeth” long ago put away his knives.
Although “The Ghost Writer” is more traditional in its storytelling than his early masterpieces like “Rosemary’s Baby” or”Knife in the Water,” the man hasn’t lost any of his ability to keep an audience on the edge of its seat.
Once acclaimed as one of Hollywood’s finest directors for “The Pianist,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown,” Roman Polanski is a Holocaust survivor whose first wife, Sharon Tate, and their unborn child were brutally murdered by Charles Manson’s clan.
Once again, Polanski is exploring the dangers underneath the smiling surfaces of civil life, the way he did a generation ago in "The Tenant" (1976), "Chinatown" (1974) and "Rosemary's Baby" (1968).
And it's important to remember that Polanski's earlier films -- much like Fritz Lang's during his Hollywood period -- were mostly dime-store thrillers of a similar nature ( Knife in the Water , Repulsion , Rosemary's Baby , The Tenant , etc.); it's just that time has turned them into classics.
That way lies the madness of " Repulsion " and " The Tenant ."
Once again, Polanski is exploring the dangers underneath the smiling surfaces of civil life, the way he did a generation ago in "The Tenant" (1976), "Chinatown" (1974) and "Rosemary's Baby" (1968).
And it's important to remember that Polanski's earlier films -- much like Fritz Lang's during his Hollywood period -- were mostly dime-store thrillers of a similar nature ( Knife in the Water , Repulsion , Rosemary's Baby , The Tenant , etc.); it's just that time has turned them into classics.
The film’s overriding theme of the loss of personal identity—or of your identity being swallowed up by that of another—is straight out of The Tenant (1976).
Sure, he sullied it along the way, be it with admissions of statutory rape, or movies like Pirates, but when you carry a canon that contains the likes of Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and The Tenant, we can forgive a few Bitter Moons along the way.
It’s easy because Polanski remains a consummate craftsman, just as capable of making swift, witty, precisely stylized diversions now as when he made Knife In The Water nearly 50 years ago.
Although “The Ghost Writer” is more traditional in its storytelling than his early masterpieces like “Rosemary’s Baby” or”Knife in the Water,” the man hasn’t lost any of his ability to keep an audience on the edge of its seat.
And it's important to remember that Polanski's earlier films -- much like Fritz Lang's during his Hollywood period -- were mostly dime-store thrillers of a similar nature ( Knife in the Water , Repulsion , Rosemary's Baby , The Tenant , etc.); it's just that time has turned them into classics.
And Polanski, in films like Repulsion, Knife In The Water and Chinatown, was a director who understood sinister and understood evil.
As Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer putt-putt-putted along, I found myself reacting very similarly to his highly-regarded debut, Knife in the Water.
That way lies the madness of " Repulsion " and " The Tenant ."
The director of “Repulsion,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” and “Macbeth” long ago put away his knives.
Nor should “The Ghost Writer” be confused with the unrelated Philip Roth novel — or, perhaps, with previous Polanski masterpieces like “Repulsion” or “The Pianist.”
And it's important to remember that Polanski's earlier films -- much like Fritz Lang's during his Hollywood period -- were mostly dime-store thrillers of a similar nature ( Knife in the Water , Repulsion , Rosemary's Baby , The Tenant , etc.); it's just that time has turned them into classics.
Sure, he sullied it along the way, be it with admissions of statutory rape, or movies like Pirates, but when you carry a canon that contains the likes of Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and The Tenant, we can forgive a few Bitter Moons along the way.
Its emphasis on a central setting is cinematic and atmospheric, rather than the theatrical pressure-cooker rationale of Death and the Maiden; indeed, the new film harkens back to that other island movie, Cul-de-sac (in contention with Chinatown as the director’s masterpiece).
The director of “Repulsion,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” and “Macbeth” long ago put away his knives.
Tonally, I was reminded of Polanski’s own MacBeth (1971), a film whose settings and actors are similarly soaked through with driving rain and oozing muck.
Even when Polanski has adapted literary classics by Shakespeare (Macbeth, 71) and Thomas Hardy (Tess, 79), he has managed, for better or worse, to achieve a level of visual and emotional virtuosity that reflects his personal demons.
That’s the juicy question buried in the depths of Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer,” an extraordinarily precise and well-made political thriller—the best thing Polanski has done since the seventies, when he brought out the incomparable “Chinatown” and the very fine “Tess.”
Even when Polanski has adapted literary classics by Shakespeare (Macbeth, 71) and Thomas Hardy (Tess, 79), he has managed, for better or worse, to achieve a level of visual and emotional virtuosity that reflects his personal demons.
The prevalent drear and damp of the film's outdoor environs -- Germany standing in for Martha's Vineyard -- comes courtesy of painterly lensing by Pawel Edelman, who shot Polanski's " The Pianist " and " Oliver Twist ."
Still, this movie clearly grabbed Polanski's attention in a way most of his late-career projects (excepting his 2002 Oscar winner, "The Pianist") simply haven't.
He’s been off vacationing inside of his youthful trauma during the last decade (“The Pianist,” “Oliver Twist”), which makes his new film a cunning achievement, steered by one of the filmdom’s sharpest minds.
It’s only the second time that Polanski has collaborated with the Oscar-nominated cinematographer (the first being 2002’s “The Pianist”), but his work here will certainly be remembered come awards time.
Sure, he sullied it along the way, be it with admissions of statutory rape, or movies like Pirates, but when you carry a canon that contains the likes of Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and The Tenant, we can forgive a few Bitter Moons along the way.
(His infamous 1986 flop “Pirates” may be his worst film but I would take its freakish charms over the entire “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy in a heartbeat.)
And speaking of whisking, a moment that might have come from one of Polanski’s early, experimental short films (Two Men and a Wardrobe, The Fat and the Lean): The Ghost sits in the room working.
If this movie had been released a year ago, it would likely have been received as Polanski's best work since "The Pianist," and his best shot at an international commercial success since at least "Frantic" in 1988.
This effort joins the director's Frantic in the "jet-lag" category where mind and body can never quite catch up with a new, deeply problematic – and probably dangerous – environment.
It’s a Hitchcockian sort of setup, but one also like those in “Chinatown” and “Frantic,” with a confused man who thinks he knows things realizing gradually how much bigger and graver his situation is than he first suspected: the proverbial man who knew too little and too much at once.
This political thriller is a return to the more straightforward genre filmmaking that director Roman Polanski has previously indulged in with successful films like Frantic and less successful films such as The Ninth Gate.
The Ghost Writer marks a return to form—not Chinatown class (what would be?), but a much more satisfying thriller than Frantic or The Ninth Gate.
In still another collaboration with Brach, Polanski wrote, directed, and acted in The Fearless Vampire Killers (67), part chilling horror and part uneven send-up of the genre, including an awkwardly self-conscious joke about a Jewish vampire who scoffs at the power of the Christian cross to exorcise vampires of his own religious persuasion.
Before watching the film, the notion of Polanski working on something so seemingly anonymous and formulaic struck me as an odd way for him to utilize his considerable talents but after only a few minutes, those apprehensions were quickly erased because not only is “The Ghost Writer” a smart and efficient political thriller, it is also a Roman Polanski film through and through--not only that, it is, with the exception of “The Pianist,” easily the best thing he has done since “Bitter Moon” and possibly since “Tess.”
Sure, he sullied it along the way, be it with admissions of statutory rape, or movies like Pirates, but when you carry a canon that contains the likes of Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and The Tenant, we can forgive a few Bitter Moons along the way.
The prevalent drear and damp of the film's outdoor environs -- Germany standing in for Martha's Vineyard -- comes courtesy of painterly lensing by Pawel Edelman, who shot Polanski's " The Pianist " and " Oliver Twist ."
Polanski has been playing too nice as of late, lingering over his post-Pirates choices with more misses (The Ninth Gate, Oliver Twist) than hits (an Oscar for The Pianist).
He’s been off vacationing inside of his youthful trauma during the last decade (“The Pianist,” “Oliver Twist”), which makes his new film a cunning achievement, steered by one of the filmdom’s sharpest minds.
Cinematographer Pawel Edelman, who worked with Polanski on “The Pianist” and “Oliver Twist,” does a masterful job of capturing the sodden and swampy atmosphere of Lang’s beach retreat and lends a slick and stylish edge to the extended scenes of cat-and-mouse that make up much of the second half of the film.
And speaking of whisking, a moment that might have come from one of Polanski’s early, experimental short films (Two Men and a Wardrobe, The Fat and the Lean): The Ghost sits in the room working.
All the while, intrigue and invaluable old-fashioned suspense mount, the film sparking to life under the helm of writer-director Roman Polanski (1999's " The Ninth Gate ") and co-writer Robert Harris (adapting from his own novel, "The Ghost").
Polanski has been playing too nice as of late, lingering over his post-Pirates choices with more misses (The Ninth Gate, Oliver Twist) than hits (an Oscar for The Pianist).
It has more in common with Frantic and The Ninth Gate, thrillers in which Polanski treats his protagonists with calculated cruelty – to the delight of the viewer, or of this one at least.
Unlike many of Polanski’s earlier exercises in the mystery, thriller and horror genres, from Chinatown to The Ninth Gate, The Ghost Writer isn’t much interested in well-placed shock tactics.
This political thriller is a return to the more straightforward genre filmmaking that director Roman Polanski has previously indulged in with successful films like Frantic and less successful films such as The Ninth Gate.
It is a plot point that Polanski has excelled at throughout his career, with Chinatown through to The Ninth Gate featuring disinterested men turned obsessive sleuths, and for his part McGregor delivers a fine performance, filled with the charm and humour missing in so many of his Hollywood vehicles.
"The Ghost Writer" is more specifically meant to evoke a combination of Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" and a Cold War-era John le Carré political spellbinder.
The movie’s most inspired choice — one that solves a plotting problem in the “Sunset Boulevard”-inspired structure — is the film’s final moment, a scene that wasn’t in the script but “ad libbed” late in production.
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Indeed, there are hauntings aplenty in this sleek, masterful thriller that recalls such classics as "All the President's Men" and the more recent "Michael Clayton" in its pared-down, paranoid style.
This may not be on quite on the level of that political intrigue benchmark All The President's Men, but it has a certain charm and style to it that shows Polanski's film-making skills can't even be contained by house arrest.
But that's merely the jumping off point for Harris, and the story here is really just a good, old-fashioned, whip-smart paranoid political thriller in the mold of The Manchurian Candidate or The Parallax View, blended with classic detective noir.
Adapted by the director from Robert Harris’s 2007 novel “The Ghost,’’ the movie concerns a hack writer played by Ewan McGregor - tellingly, we never learn the character’s name; like the heroine in “Rebecca,’’ he’s in thrall to people bigger than he - who’s hired to ghost-write the memoirs of Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), Britain’s newly ex-prime minister.
Working with the British writer Robert Harris, whose 2007 novel, “The Ghost,” serves as the basis of the movie, Polanski fed the political material—troubling stuff about rendition and C.I.A. collaboration—into the mazy convolutions of a neo-Hitchcock story.
Polanski made the classic Chinatown (1974) and Scorsese made the classic Taxi Driver (1976) during that glorious time.
Because I don't revere Scorsese films such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver the way others do, I don't hold Shutter Island to the impossible standard some others are doing.
But once Scorsese decided to give up on his need to make “prestige” pictures – like his Gangs of New York, which lost to Polanski’s The Pianist for the Best Director prize – he settled into some of the most vital work of his later years: The Departed, Shine a Light and now Shutter’s Island.
In the last decade both directors won their first Oscar for direction -- Polanski for The Pianist (2002) and Scorsese for The Departed (2006).
But once Scorsese decided to give up on his need to make “prestige” pictures – like his Gangs of New York, which lost to Polanski’s The Pianist for the Best Director prize – he settled into some of the most vital work of his later years: The Departed, Shine a Light and now Shutter’s Island.
But once Scorsese decided to give up on his need to make “prestige” pictures – like his Gangs of New York, which lost to Polanski’s The Pianist for the Best Director prize – he settled into some of the most vital work of his later years: The Departed, Shine a Light and now Shutter’s Island.
Because I don't revere Scorsese films such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver the way others do, I don't hold Shutter Island to the impossible standard some others are doing.
A shockingly bald James Belushi registers immediately as a no nonsense book publisher, Kim Cattrall reminds you that she once played other roles besides Samantha, Eli Wallach still seems as vibrant as he was in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Tom Wilkinson nearly takes over the movie in his 5 minutes onscreen.
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Wily and wise, The Ghost Writer is in a way Polanski�s A King in New York, an acid love-letter to America (shot in Europe, natch), full of shadowy trails and people who can�t resist following them into the woods.
Among the other leads, Brosnan is also quite good as the ersatz Tony Blair and Olivia Williams pretty much steals the film outright with a sexy and sinister turn that is perhaps the best thing she has done since “Rushmore.”
The acting is mostly solid: Ewan McGregor is a nice fit as ghost writer, and Rushmore‘s Olivia Williams is outstanding as the cold, to-the-point wife of former Prime Minister Adam Lang (a less impressive, slightly goofy Pierce Brosnan).