The Ghost Writer

"He can't drown two ghostwriters, for god sake. You're not kittens!" Robert Rycart

☆☆☆☆☆ Classic 


The Ghost Writer (2010) is an elegant and grand political thriller.

Directed by Roman Polanski.

Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Williams among many others.

The Ghost Writer is as much about the craft of filmmaking as it is about the craft of acting. Polanski shows us how to make a Hitchcock style thriller and his cast shows us how to act in an intelligent political drama. Roman adapted Robert Harris novel, The Ghost and helped write the screenplay with Harris.

What is amazing to me is that Polanski was able to finish his film after being put into house arrest by Swiss authorities acting on an arrest warrant in the US dating from 1978. The film takes place mostly in the US, but had to be filmed in Germany's Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, on the island of Sylt in the North Sea, on the ferry MS SyltExpress and on the island of Usedom, in the Baltic Sea to avoid US authorities.

In the scene below I love the way Polanski heightens the drama by having the actors stroll along an empty, cold, windy, cloudy beach, filled with barren sand dunes, while being trailed by an armed guard. I wonder if being under house arrest in his private Swiss Villa, Polanski endured the same kind of confinement the characters in this movie face in their luxurious beachside estate. I'm also drawn to the haunting and eerie music in the scene that Alexandre Desplat crafts.

Film Scene

Trivia - Polanski's daughter Morgane Polanski appears as the hotel clerk at the Inn Ewan is staying at. 

Film Trailer

Film Photos - Posters

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Film Transcript

 

Note - If you would like to view The Ghost Writer to rent or buy please click on the link below the comments. It is sponsored by Google, so it is the safest and most secure way to get a copy for your film library.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

"You're not boring, I'll give you that." Catherine

☆☆☆☆☆ Classic

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) is a sophisticated heist caper.

Directed by John McTiernan.

Starring Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary among many others.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) is a remake of the 1968 version starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. McTiernan's remakes is better than the original. Heist films require great detail and cleverness in the staging and execution of the theft. John's heist is as elaborate and detailed as Jules Dassin's,Rififi (1955).
There are no guns or violence, just a sophisticated cat and mouse mind game between the cops and robbers.

Pierce plays his character with a detachment that works. Gone are the usual Irish passion that he brings to every role he does. One of the most underrated actors of his generation. Like a fine wine Brosnan gets better with age.

Rene is always one of my favorite actresses, because she has the elegance and grace of a model with a dark sense of humor. One of the few actresses that can play with the boys at their level. In this film you can actually see her competitiveness throughout the film.

Denise Leary steals every scene he is in. Leary brings his detective character to life with his acerbic style of comedy to life. Denis lines are delivered with a subtext of irony and pathos that cause you to have empathy for him. In the scene below watch how Rene truly feels for him as much as we the audience feel for him. Great film to watch again and again.

Film Scene

Trivia - In filming Predator, McTiernan had his thermal cameras failing above 90 degrees and John incorporated that into the camera failures in the museum heist scene.

My Version - I would have had Denis get Rene and Pierce run away with the young model.

Film Trailer