The Ghost Writer (2010)

Brilliant and touching

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A Disappointing Continuation

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I was really looking forward to this film given the cast and director. Two hours of my life I will never get back. Pedestrian plot with no real tension. Direction which came close to being a parody. And the most wooden and uncomfortable acting imaginable. Nobody involved can have been happy with the outcome.

Say what you like about Roman Polanski's apparent predilection for statutory rape, the man certainly knows how to direct a film, particularly thrillers. he conjures states of paranoia and extreme anxiety effortlessly, and his pacing is near-perfect, with scarcely a lull in the attention of the viewer. There's a wonderful twist which I never came close to spotting before the big reveal. In my view, The Ghost Writer is right up there with The Apartment in these terms. The down-side of films like these is that, to a certain extent, they are candy floss, a mirage, designed to connect on an immediately satisfying basis, but delve down below the surface and the intrinsic substance isn't there. This, I think, is a fundamental flaw in the genre. One reviewer I noted pointed out that Hollywood doesn't make enough films like this; sadly, I'm not sure it's capable of doing so. After all, Roman Polanski is not a product of the Hollywood system, and in fact is obliged to remain outside it. There's possibly a debate to be had regarding the value of being free to create art versus the moral responsibility to face justice, but I'm not inclined to involve myself in that. The acting performances were mostly note-perfect, particularly the leads, with a memorable cameo from Tom Wilkinson, but the one bum note was Kim Cattrall's supposed English accent, which was mostly pretty unconvincing. My disappointment stems from the fact that her origins are British, albeit when she was very young; maybe nobody on the production dared to tell her she needed a dialogue coach. Having said that, her performance as the slightly over-protective personal assistant to Pierce Brosnan's ex-Prime Minister was convincing. Overall, as an example of the genre, it's hard to beat.

A ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) and uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.Well directed and very well acted by everyone, the film moves at a steady pace towards the surprising conclusion (I did guess the twist) Pierce Brosnan, one of the most under rated actors in my opinion and the best James Bond there has ever been, plays his part very well and although there are clearly parallels to Tony Blair, he never tries to mimic him or anyone else.Ewan McGregor is as good as he always is (does that guy ever age?) although I did find his attempt at an English accent odd, much worse than Kim Cattrall's.Olivia Williams is very good as the wife with a secret past, but the bedroom scene with McGregor didn't seem to fit in with her character.Good to see Eli Wallach in what must was one of his last films, I believe he only made two more after this one.Over all a good thriller and well worth a watch.

Ewan MacGregor is recruited as memoir ghost writer to the ex-Prime Minister of the UK, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), who will soon be facing a war crimes trial. Ewan's predecessor was mysteriously lost from a ferry to the island in Maine that Adam Lang is holidaying in, in the stormy season.Luckily, Ewan has all of the previous writer's stuff to go through, and it contains many clues to solving the mystery of um... whatever the mystery is. Why the previous guy was killed, I suppose. He also gets the help of a very old Eli Wallach, who puts beyond it reasonable movie-goer doubt that the guy Ewan has taken over from was murdered. Well we kind of gathered that already, but thanks Eli.Pierce Brosnan always gives good baddie, but while Ewan MacGregor is very good at appearing ordinary, he has never managed to make me believe a character, apart from in Trainspotting. If he's supposed to be an alcoholic in this, he's a kind of weekend alcoholic. And while there's mystery in this movie, IE wondering what secrets are being covered up, there's very little suspense, because you have no idea what or who Ewan is supposed to be scared of. Apart from Adam Lang's wife.Terrible, terrible ending, too. It's like they gave up trying to explain anything because the plot is so inconsequential. The ex-Prime Minister's wife was a CIA plant, OK? (Oh! THAT'S why Lang was so pro-US foreign policy!). This message is 'hidden' in the first words of each chapter of the memoir manuscript. And Ewan figures it out, just in time for publication date, shortly afterwards being hit by a car in a neatly directed but letdown final scene.We never know for sure why the first dead ghostwriter thought 'hiding' his revelation in this way had any point whatsoever. And this isn't even a spoiler because it's a plot turn that has no consequences or relation to the conclusion of the story. All you end up with is, "The CIA are very bad". But you knew that already.Undemanding. Silly. Watchable, just, for Pierce Brosnan's class turn, digging at A. Blair, Esq. Spoiled the book (and any Robert Harris in future) for me.