The High Price of Research

Say what you will about Roman Polanksi, but the legally embattled director sure knows how to deliver a perfectly moody film.

His latest, The Ghost Writer, about an unnamed writer working on the memoirs of a former prime minister under investigation for committing war crimes, is just that: a terrific nail-biter of a thriller that’s smart and satisfying.

Ewan McGregor plays The Ghost, a modestly successful British writer who agrees – somewhat enthusiastically at first, and, soon, rather regretfully – to take a final pass at the memoirs of the Tony Blairesque Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), a project that seems doomed from the start.

Firstly, because The Ghost is taking over the work of a dead man, a longtime Lang aide whose drowning is shrouded in mystery. And secondly, because right before he is to fly out to work on the project, in the middle of winter in a beautiful oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. eastern seaboard (which gives The Ghost Writer the perfect setting of intrigue and secrecy and danger), the news breaks that a former British cabinet minister has accused Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handover for torture by the CIA.

This, of course, makes Lang super-difficult to work with: The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the compound where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams, playing the role of a hurt woman with the most perfect, delicious sneer), and his very personal assistant Amelia (Kim Cattrall, reclaiming her native British accent for the part), so, naturally, the entire thing takes a toll on everybody.

As The Ghost works, though, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA, and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind.

The Ghost Writer was a delight to watch. It was clever and attention-grabbing and quite surprising until the very end. The twist that arrives shortly before the credits roll was delivered expertly – a lesser film would’ve chronicled it to death, so when the truth comes out, it’s tragically illuminating.

My Rating ****

Photo: Summit Entertainment.