Posts Marked “24″

  • The Ghost Writer Review by Tim Hayes

    May 7th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    The Ghost Writer (2010) dir. Roman Polanski

    Studio: Summit Entertainment
    Director: Roman Polanski
    Screenwriter: Roman Polanski, Robert Harris
    Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach
    Genre: Thriller
    MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for language, brief nudity, violence & a drug reference)
    Official Website: TheGhost-RomanPolanski.com

    Echoes from real life crop up all over the place in “The Ghost Writer” (or “The Ghost”, depending where you live). As well as Pierce Brosnan’s portrayal of an exiled British Prime Minister who seems a lot like Tony Blair, there’s director Roman Polanski and his own exile from the law to factor in as well.

    If your taste in political thrillers requires a car chase and Kiefer Sutherland headbutting a neutron bomb, then “The Ghost Writer” will not make you happy. This is the other kind. It’s all about atmosphere, stoic characters, infidelity, and Polanski returning to his favorite theme of small groups stuck in chilly isolation. Plus it has the wildcard of black satire, thanks to a recognizable world statesman made to look simultaneously noble and a complete dope.

    Ex-PM and professional smiling-person Adam Lang, hounded by accusations of collusion in CIA extraordinary renditions and torture, is marooned in the US while international war crimes lawyers sharpen their pencils. At the same time an unnamed ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is in residence, working on Lang’s memoirs. The previous ghost writer washed up dead on a beach, so the new one has every reason to be nervous.

    Actors love making films with Polanski since they get to play fallible and wicked at the same time. This one has rare sights like Kim Cattrall acting her age and McGregor being quite witty, but Olivia Williams outclasses the rest as the complex Mrs Lang and gets all the best lines.

    It’s all very moody and windswept and filled with Polanski paranoia. Set in a barren part of Massachusetts, but actually filmed with plenty of obvious green-screen in a corner of Germany from which all life seems to have fled, the film makes it seem as if Lang is mired in a limbo of his own creation.

    Which could go for the director too. If Polanski was making a point about the legacy of misunderstood men under the media spotlight, he could have done with hammering it a bit harder. But by “The Ghost Writer’s” memorable last shot, it’s clear he still deserves the label of an uncommon film maker. What to do about all his other labels remains the problem.

    READ TIM HAYES’ EXTENSIVE REVIEW OF “THE GHOST WRITER” OVER AT
    CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK.

    May 7th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments