“The Ghost Writer” (2010)
One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the incredibly compelling thriller “The Ghost Writer” is why, exactly, it wasn’t a bigger hit, both commercially and critically. Part of this had to do with the fact that Polanski was nabbed by authorities at a film festival around the time the film was being put together, and so the film strangely suffers from a kind of guilt by association. Not only that , but the prolonged saga that ensued was probably much more salaciously interesting to most people than the topline here: it’s story of a nameless ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) hired by a shamed, Tony Blair-ish former Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) to help write his memoir, albeit one riddled with potentially dangerous secrets. The poor reception is a huge shame given that “The Ghost Writer,” with its chilly cinematography by Pawel Edelman, and alternately haunting and playful score by Alexandre Desplat, was a rousing return to form, arguably just as good a thriller as anything in Polanski’s famed “apartment trilogy.” McGregor, after being embalmed in the “Star Wars” prequels, was showing the first signs of life in years and his performance was brittle, knowing, and truly funny. (His relationship with Olivia Williams, as Brosnan’s dissatisfied and possibly duplicitous wife, gives the movie a kicky, sexy emotional core.) Some found “The Ghost Writer” too stately and buttoned-up, emphasizing a slow burn over the powerful shocks Polanski was once known for, and while the running time could have been trimmed (it clocks in at a leisurely 128 minutes), its impact remains, right down to its deliciously black-hearted ending. It’s a genuinely strange, hilarious and unnerving late-in-the-game masterpiece. So deeply impressive was “The Ghost Writer” that “Carnage,” with all its measured propriety, feels like much more of a letdown. [A-]
— Kevin Jagernauth, Drew Taylor, Rodrigo Perez, Oliver Lyttelton, Erik McLanahan, Sam Chater, Gabe Toro
