The Ghost Writer

I almost want to give it more stars, because I haven't seen such a seemingly peaceful, yet every minute more incredibly dramatic and suspenseful film in a long time. Apart from Brosnan and McGregor and the precise direction of Master P., worth highlighting is the truly good music by Alexandre Desplat, the role of Eli Wallach (how does an old man still do that?), the slowly escalating atmosphere and the final quarter of an hour. I'm giving it four and a bit. (09/08/2010)

Stylish comeback. Inscrutably mysterious plot in an indistinctly attractive environment with an atmosphere of subtle absorption - I expected many things, but definitely not such a self-assured exploration of paranoid moods or political intrigues. That tangible feeling of tightening loops I still can't shake off. (08/21/2010)

If I wanted to be a completely arrogant bitch, I'd throw in something about The Ghost Writer being a completely useless and anachronistic artifact with Tony Gilroy's film on the scene. Its obsolescence stands out precisely in comparison to Michael Clayton, which The Ghost Writer reminded me of a lot through how it was made (and Tom Wilkinson). Polanski tries to move with the times – technology plays a strong role in the film, a major discovery is made through GPS navigation, etc. – but in an age of societies within companies, projects hidden within other projects, corporate mergers, and covert connections between the spheres of state and commerce, The Ghost Writer is simply a step backwards. Not to mention the haphazard logic of crawling in uniform with a gun like a moron to the roof of an airport where one of the world's most watched politicians is about to arrive... sorry. Polanski dominates in the respect he's always mastered. The work with space (I could have easily drawn a detailed floor plan for the mansion where the first half of the film takes place, complete with water and electrical wiring), the pervasive paranoia of the protagonist (the departure of the ferry from which the protagonist has escaped and the visit of a security guard to the hotel room are particularly brilliant scenes), and the exemplary work with actors and mise-en-scene. Fine, except that Polanski really sticks to what he knows and I don't think we'll see anything more from him. PS: Olivia Williams is heavily stylized here à la Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton (compare the last scene of both characters in those films) and I confess I don't know much about her comic book/video game acting -) (10/27/2011)

It is almost admirable how Polanski managed to create a small cinematic treat out of a seemingly dull, shabby and not very exciting premise. Everything from the actors to the pleasantly old-fashioned direction works like a Swiss watch, the tension is not created by flashy moments, strained dialogue or, God forbid, action, but by an omnipresent paranoid atmosphere, the distant setting and the eternally cloudy weather. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised by the final twist (although the film doesn't stand on it) and I applaud Polanski for the ironic slap to the unprepared viewer at the very end. 4,5*. (07/26/2010)

After Polanski's arrest in Switzerland, several articles about him and his work naturally appeared, and at that time, among journalists, there was often the opinion that Polanski's crucial films were in the first half of his career and that he was no longer coming close to the quality of his early films today. I get the feeling that it is exactly the opposite. Although Polanski's work is very balanced, if I had to talk about weaker films, I would name, for example, the famous The Fearless Vampire Killers, which today seems desperately worn out to me, while on the contrary, his later films inspire me much more than the familiar classics. I consider The Ghost Writer to be a top-notch political thriller that, in my opinion, even defeats classics like Three Days of the Condor, and it significantly surpasses films like The Parallax View. This film is a precise work that has returned the sound to the classic methods of building tension, which were introduced, for example, by Hitchcock. By the way, Polanski's work seems much more Hitchcockian to me than any of the old master's films because, unlike Polanski, Hitchcock had quite large fluctuations in the quality of his productions and has dozens of mediocre films to his credit. In addition, Hitchcock's work has been noticeably affected by the passage of time in most cases. Polanski not only creates an excellent atmosphere but also relies on an excellent screenplay that, in its simplicity, is unpredictable and leads the viewer along by the nose for a long time. And finally, the acting performances of Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, and Olivia Williams complete the feeling of a top-notch spectacle. The Ghost Writer does not rely on chases, fights, or high-tech gadgets; its qualities lie in precise dialogues - I consider the clash between McGregor and Tom Wilkinson, with many subtleties and hidden threats, to be a treat - in the interplay of music, camera work, well-chosen pacing, and the screenplay. It's just a shame that new films have a much harder time than old classics, which are aided on one hand by nostalgia but on the other hand don't have to face the criticism and evaluation of viewers who are much more removed from this genre. Overall impression: 95%. (02/26/2012)