Friday, September 3, 2010

GHOST WRITER: SUPER FILM NOIR

The Ghost: Did you ever want to be a proper politician in your own right?
Ruth Lang: Of course, didn't you want to be a proper writer?

Roman Polanski is alive and well and still making excellent movies. This time we are brought into the world of a super politico, much like Tony Blair, who is being investigated for some unsavory crimes. Pierce Brosnan is Ex-Prime Minister Andrew Lang who is working on a book with a ghost writer that has come up dead on a beach. Cue Ewan McGregor as Ghost number two who enters softly and is brought up to speed much like a college hazing gone bad about the chaos he has surrounded himself with. What starts off as a slow and reasonable movie whips into a fury with an ending that spins out of control. McGregor is solid as the man whose normal boring life turns upside down. Brosnan is equally on par with McGregor. Who we don't see coming is Ruth Lang (Olivia Williams) the long suffering wife. Kim Cattrall makes an appearance as an actress despite her recent work on the SITC movie. The accent threw me a little, but otherwise she is poised. This was a really well done film and it's shame that Polanski's real life worries get in the way of how his work is viewed. Similarly it is interesting to note the similarities between the exiled ex-Prime Minister and Polanski's issues. Must see film.