The Ghost Writer (2010)

My only observation on the Roman Polanski controversy has always been, that he would have done far better to take the consequences of his actions early. Evading that has given the matter a ghastly forty-year life that is much longer than the sentence he might have served.

But I will say this: The man is one of our giant film-makers. I watched The Ghost Writer last night and thought it was one of the best films in the paranoid thriller line since the glory days of The Parallax View and The Conversation. The artistry is complete across the board: direction, writing, acting, art direction, cinematography, music (an amazing score by Alexandre Desplat). It is interesting to note that the film cleaned up at the European Film Awards (Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Score, and very welcomely, Actor for Ewan McGregor). It got no Oscar nods at all, but I think that is a function of its being an early 2010 release (and perhaps of having an inept publicist). If it had been released in December, I think that it would have been right in the mix; Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Williams would have deserved looks in the supporting acting categories.

The McGregor and Williams roles were originally slated for Nicholas Cage and Tilda Swinton. I think McGregor is more apt, more naive, than Cage would have been. Swinton would have been just as good as Williams; the role is in her wheelhouse. However, it is exciting for Williams's career that she got to play it; I'll bet she has received lots of calls from directors and casting specialists since the movie came out.

The twilight atmosphere of the film, with the bleak German North Sea island Sylt standing in for Martha's Vineyard, is perfectly matched to the unnerving aspects of the story (or in one word: Creepy!). Although, as with almost any movie thriller, I do have a few plot questions (which Robert Harris's source novel might answer), the story stays on target, culminating in a genuine surprise in the last scene, and one of the greatest final shots ever, an image that both Hitchcock and Antonioni might have admired.