The Ghost Writer (2010)

Hitchcock was a director who could give just the right amount of tension to each scene in a build-up way so that the climax was the expiation of all those emotions. Polanski, on the other hand, works with a ball of string which he slowly, very slowly, unfolds, taking its time, and giving just a few hiatus of tension which often appear to be lame. But the structure of his films and the way he conveys the characters are excellent. "The Ghost Writer" is a fine example of this art. Ewan McGregor is a writer hired to re-write the memoirs of ex-Prime Minister of England Pierce Brosnan, who is involved in a political scandal and now lives in a sea side house in the States. His secretary/mistress is Kim Cattrall and his wife is played by Olivia Williams in the best performance of the picture. McGregor comes to replace the former writer who died in mysterious circumstances. The plot is simple enough. As he tries to work on the book he discovers that what is written may not be the truth and the pages may hold political secrets of the past. He tries to follow the leads left by the dead writer, at the same time as he tries to find out more about his death. Meanwhile other factions are trying to get hold of the manuscript and Brosnan is under attack of the press and mobs of protesters against his alleged crimes and CIA connections. But all this is given at a very slow pace, with McGregor sinking in all the atmosphere, all the strange characters, all the connections to the past, very slowly, while he also tries to escape the almost invisible threats over him. Unfortunately, after a somewhat surprising twist, the ending, although happening off screen and open to various interpretations, is somewhat unworthy of the tension created and may have some sort of hidden moral of Polanski's own. His own personal court case in the States can also be read in the undertones of this picture. All in all the movie is worth it for the top notch performances (also appearances by Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson, James Belushi and Eli Wallach), by the tragicomical characters and the consistency of the directing, although sometimes it seems to drag on more than it should. Slow but building consistently, yet failing to grab the viewer all the steps of the way. A slow paced political thriller with a brain, for Polanki's fans and for those who enjoy the more european approach to a simple story with some interesting twists.