The Ghost Writer (2010)

From the Hitchcock-inspired music at the opening to the big finish, this is a powerful and entertaining thriller from co-writer/director Roman Polanski, composer Alexandre Desplat, and stars Ewan MacGregor, Pierce Brosnan, and Olivia Wilde. Polanski is both hated for his 1977 criminal record and revered for his filmmaking brilliance (won an Oscar for The Pianist (2002), nominated for Rosemary's Baby (1969), Chinatown (1974), and Tess (1979), I also liked Frantic (1988)), and then there are those of us who feel both emotions (as I do for Woody Allen). The inability of Brosnan's character, former Prime Minister Adam Lang, to return home due to his legal problems is an obvious reference to Polanski's plight, but it is taken directly from the novel, The Ghost (which is a thinly veiled stab at ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair), by co-screenwriter Robert Harris. MacGregor (about whom I wrote a bit in The Men Who Stare at Goats) as "The Ghost," turns in one of his best performances, and Pierce Brosnan, who, I'm sure, would like to forget Mamma Mia just as much as I would, gives us a thoroughly nuanced Lang (I really liked him in The Matador (2005) and Married Life (2007), both twisted tales, as well as his 007 (1995, 97, 99, 2002) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) roles). Olivia Williams (the virginal Miss Stubbs in An Education) is terrific as the cranky Mrs. Lang. I was surprised to read that Kim Cattrall (not just Sex and the City (TV 1998-2004 and film 2008 and later this year) but also I liked The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Mannequin (1987), though her resume is quite long) had studied in England, because her English accent seemed to fade in and out, as did Tom Wilkinson's (see what I wrote in Duplicity, and remember he worked with MacGregor on Cassandra's Dream in 2007) American one. The cameos by Jim Belushi, with a shaved head, and Eli Wallach (he's 94 and has 161 acting credits on imdb) were great, too.

Desplat's music never lets up and I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write. You should listen to the clip from the link in my first sentence. I have enjoyed all of his work and also own the scores to The Painted Veil (2006), Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The bunker, er, house, supposedly on Martha's Vineyard, in which the characters were holed up, was outstanding, but the exteriors were shot on the German island of Sylt, as Polanski would be arrested were he to set foot on American soil at this time, and the interiors were all sets.

Jack and I highly recommend this movie.