The Ghost Writer
2010
****
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, James Belushi, Eli Wallach,
Jon Bernthal, David Rintoul, Robert Pugh
A gripping and enjoyable conspiracy thriller about a ghost writer who agrees to finish the memoirs of a controversial former British Prime Minister, who has just been indicted for war crimes. The writer's predecessor drowned mysteriously and he begins to suspect that it may not have been an accident. The story, which is adapted from Robert Harris' 2007 novel The Ghost, alludes to Tony Blair's term as PM and to Polanski's own long-running legal troubles. This old-fashioned no-frills thriller is sharply written and strongly acted, and it runs like a well-oiled machine.
