Sunday, March 21, 2010

Ghost Writer

Movie name: Ghost Writer
Year of release: 2010
Director: Roman Polanski
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Catrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach, Jon Bernthal, Robert Pugh, John Belushi
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8

Synopsis:After his last directing effort, "Oliver Twist" director Roman Polanski returns to the genre that always gave him great accolades and fame, the suspense thriller (that he did so fantastically well with titles as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" to name but a few). "Ghost Writer" follows the story of a young writer who is hired as a ghost writer for a former English prime minister, Adam Lang, who is writing his memoirs and whose assistant just recently passed away. Since there's a lot of money invested in the book the publishing house presses for a revision of what has been written and a substantial money offer is made upon which the young and talented writer embarks on the assignment. He soon finds out upon arriving at the house, that the manuscript needs a lot of work and he can't take it out without a tight security hold. As the young writer further investigates the life of the prime minister, he slowly starts to unfold a lot more than he expected, not only about the politician, but also about his wife and the death of his predecessor, who as it turns out may not have been a suicide. "Ghost Writer" is obviously an analogy for some very well known politicians of our days, but what is so smartly developed by Roman Polanski, is how the story slowly unfolds, revealing layers upon layers of deceit. The Ghost Writer slowly understands that the story is far more complex than he ever imagined and the clues left behind are almost too cryptic to decipher, but not totally. The film is very well directed and benefits from a great cast, with particular highlights going to Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Williams. A great film from a talented film-maker.

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