Temp job from Hell: The Ghost Writer
Partway through The Ghost Writer, the latest film by Roman Polanski, the title figure (played by Ewan McGregor) stares in a mirror and tells himself not to have sex with the vulnerable woman in the other room. And then he does. Polanski, strangely, plays this as a joke, one of many in a film that works both a superb, traditional thriller and as a grim addition to his oeuvre.
McGregor plays a writer hired to help British politician Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) finish his autobiography. The action largely takes place on a Martha’s Vineyard-type island, where our hero finds himself alternately employee, prisoner, and detective in Lang’s kingdom. He fixates on his predecessor, who washed up on the beach, a supposed suicide.
Suspenseful at time, more deliberate and atmospheric at others, The Ghost Writer evokes some of the director’s past work (specifically Chinatown and The Tenant). The settings of Massachusetts sea-sides and forests, shot in Germany and Denmark, add a surreal quality to the sinister landscape. While the film may not be audacious or apologetic enough to win those who have sworn off Polanski, it should be essential viewing for anyone looking for danger at the Cineplex.
June 13, 2011 at 5:22 pm
[...] disturbing and suspenseful, it is the best thriller in recent history (even trumping the excellent Ghost Writer). Hye-ja Kim, playing the title character, delivers an unforgettable performance in a film that [...]