Movie review: Ghost Writer

If you’re looking for a movie with a hitchcockian style hearkening back to a different era, “Ghost Writer” will keep you busy looking for the next clue.

Director Roman Polanski may identify with “Ghost Writer” character Adam Lang, the ex-prime minister whose memoirs require a final edit from a ghostwriter before publishing. Polanski is currently under house arrest in Switzerland for a crime he committed 32 years ago. Fictional character Lang cannot leave the United States after an international court charges him with war crimes. Eventually, the ex-prime minister cannot sit in his living room without the prying eyes of the media upon him. This is not unlike Polanski’s victim, now 45, who has moved on and wishes the courts would drop the case rather than revisit it in the media every time Polanski earns an award or releases a movie, says Telegraph.co.uk.

The confident ghostwriter, played by Ewan McGregor, has one month to make something of the bland memoirs of Pierce Brosnan’s character, Adam Lang. His predecessor, who died under suspicious circumstances, left behind 600-some pages of hard copy. The drab memoirs put The Ghost to sleep, but Lang’s protective assistant, Kim Cattrall as Amelia Bly, keeps them locked up when they are not under construction. Ruth Lang, played by Olivia Williams, wants The Ghost to write her out of her husband’s memoirs altogether. As The Ghost digs deeper, he finds stranger and more complicated details of not only Lang’s past but also the previous writer’s death. It doesn’t take much digging for The Ghost to see the crosshairs of danger now lie upon him.

Depicting a man passionate about his work, his politics and his sense of right and wrong, Pierce Brosnan was authentic as a prime minister. McGregor has always done cocky well, looking back at his role as Frank Churchill in “Emma”, and he transitions his character from self-assured to overwhelmed with ease. Kim Cattrall should consider her performance as cool and professional Amelia Bly as a triumph. She played the role so well that it took me several scenes to recognize her as a “Sex in the City” actress. However, the show-stealer was Olivia Williams playing the moody Ruth Lang. Weeping one moment and seductive the next, Williams embodies a woman in constant competition with all of her husband’s distractions.

Aside from the all-star cast, the movie can boast of other well-known actors. Jim Belushi, Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson, Eli Wallach and Robert Pugh were among the familiar faces gracing the screen.

The film begins quickly and doesn’t waste a single moment. Every scene is relevant, interesting and fast paced. The details require the viewer to pay attention and decipher quickly to discover the mastermind behind this who-done-it mystery. Polanski’s problems may not be resolving quickly but Lang’s come to a head with an ending that is difficult to foresee.