The Ghost Writer

The irony in The Ghost Writer is thicker than molasses in Vermont in February. It’s revealed at one point that former Prime Minister Alan Lang (Pierce Brosnan totally acquitting himself after that Mama Mia debacle) is being indicting for crimes against humanity by the ICC (International Criminal Court) and he considers traveling. His lawyers warn him to stay put in his United States East Coast island retreat.
If you fly to London you can be arrested, he’s advised. The countries that don’t have an extradition treaty with the World Court include China, Iran, India, Russia, North Korea and the United States. Any attempt at subliminal humor at this point in the film is compounded by the fact that the director is Roman Polanski. The Ghost Writer stands among the best films Polanski has ever done, but the effect travels further. There hasn’t been an exciting political thriller like this since the 1970s. At the end of The Three Days of the Condor Robert Redford can just carry his manuscript over to the New York Times. But we live in such different times. At the end of The Ghost Writer there’s no place for Ewan McGregor, as The Ghost the titular ghost writer, to relay his manuscript. If one puts the truth on the internet will anybody possibly believe it?
Mcgregor stars with able assistance from Brosnan and Olivia Williams as Brosnan’s wife Ruth Lang. Kim Catrell (it’s so good to see her actually acting and not performing like in SATC) and Tom Wilkerson provide alert support.
All throughout the movie the sky plays a part in the composition and it’s always stormy or about to rain. In reality Polanski has only done three films in the last ten years, The Pianist, Oliver Twist (totally under-seen and underrated) and now The Ghost Writer. For those that can put the reputation of the artist aside from the artist this is one of the best films you will see this year.