Friday, February 26, 2010
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Friday, February 26, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
The Ghost Writer
Eyes Wide Askance, In
Polanski's Gem
Kim
Cattrall as Amelia Bly in Roman Polanski's superb thriller "The Ghost Writer",
which today expanded its release to Chicago and San Francisco among other U.S.
cities.
Summit Entertainment
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Friday, February 26, 2010
Crafted as both magnificent illusion and icy political thriller, "The Ghost
Writer" is an impressive work by Roman Polanski, who brilliantly directs this
film. Set on Cape Cod, Mr. Polanski's Berlinale-winning film features an
impressive cast, brooding atmosphere and good dialogue, from a script by the
director and Robert Harris, based on the latter's best-selling book The
Ghost.
Retired British Premier Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) has been charged with war
crimes in connection with the Iraq invasion,
with obvious
parallels to Tony Blair's political contretemps. Lang is intelligent
but trivial. Lacking substance, led by vanity and trapped by the
constraints of power, he's essentially an empty suit on auto-pilot. His
wife Ruth (excellent work by Olivia Williams) is cynical and suspicious of him,
a member of the Jenny Sanford school of stand-by-your-man.
Lang is surrounded by his chief of staff Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall) and entourage
of handlers who shuttle him away from political rivals like his former cabinet
secretary Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh), a not-so veiled reference to the
former British foreign
secretary Robin Cook, who was found dead in 2005, shortly after resigning, a
vociferous opponent of the British collaboration to invade Iraq. A writer
(Ewan McGregor) has been hired to ghost write the embattled prime minister's
memoirs, which requires intrepid detective work. (Ah, a writer's dream, to
be self-activated enough to write the missing gaps in history! What
power!) Mr. McGregor brings an everyman's caution to a film where reality
is tinged with doubt and the landscape feels incomplete.
The earthy cinematography by Pawel Edelman blends an at-sea and uncertain
terrain with cold-hearted certitude. There's often a stark contrast in
visuals in a shot, lending eerie disorientation to time and place, especially at
the Cape Cod beach house where strategy is devised. All the drama
percolating within the bowels of each of the film's players -- some dubious,
others deadly -- are reflected exclusively in their eyes. A shiftiness.
A withering stare. A calculated look, glance or rudimentary examination.
The masterful score by Alexandre Desplat heightens the tension lurking within
this cool, noir-like film.
Mr. Polanski styles this mystery superbly, from moment one to the final hurrah.
There's intelligence, deliberation and an adult sensibility in each situation.
There's not a single minute where we're disengaged. The director
punctuates the mood with silences, pauses and spatial perception, each
indispensible to the scene at hand. Each scene is meticulously rendered.
For example: look extremely closely at the books on the shelf located
at the right of the picture above. Note Ms. Cattrall's elbow is resting
between the titles of two black books: Cooking The Microwave Way and
The Occult. That latter title is no doubt a cheeky reference to
the director's own film "Rosemary's Baby".
The director also gives a subtle tip of the hat to Ms. Cattrall's man-eating,
material-hungry Samantha Jones from "Sex And The City".
In the film's latter stages Amelia is seen looking into a make-up mirror.
The symbol on it is unmistakable, even to the casual observer: Chanel.
Riveting, exciting and pulsating, each episode in "The Ghost Writer" is crafted
like a suspenseful page-turning potboiler of a drama. Subtle visual cues
are flashed to the audience. On second viewing they will be glaring.
The screenplay is an A to B straight line, never shortchanging the moviegoer,
even when minor narrative expediencies occur.
"The Ghost Writer" is about being on trial as much as anything, and each
character gets to testify. It's smart filmmaking with a sly sense of humor
that undeniably serves as a parallel to Mr. Polanski's own recent predicament.
With: Timothy Hutton, Robert Hugh, Tom Wilkinson, James Belushi, Eli Wallach.
"The Ghost Writer" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture
Association Of America for language, brief nudity/sexuality, some violence and a
drug reference.
The film's duration is two hours and eight minutes.
FOLLOW
Unscripted review of "The Ghost Writer":
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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