The Ghost Writer – Directed by Roman Polanski, starring Ewan McGregor & Pierce Brosnan

The Ghost Writer (2010)  Directed by Roman Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Chinatown (1974), The Pianist (2002)), starring Ewan McGregor (Cassandra’s Dream (2007), The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)), Pierce Brosnan (The Tailor of Panama (2001), The Matador (2005)), Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams with Eli Wallach, Timothy Hutton and others.   In this very good political thriller, where the central question is ‘What is fact, what is fiction?’, Ewan McGregor is the amateur sleuthing ghost for the memoirs of a  popular contemporary, rather morally questionable, British ex-prime minister, portrayed extraordinarily well by a charming, brooding Pierce Brosnan.  Polanski works with a menacing palette of greys and almost blacks, a threatening sea, and desolate weather to heighten the mood of tension and intrigue, yet nevertheless offers a distinctly amusing dose of humour mocking much, perhaps even the entire endeavour.  Smoothly executed, sharp, sophisticated, The Ghost Writer, is, most definitely, a must-see film. (PR)

See our post on the novel The Ghost (The Ghost Writer, in the U.S.) by Robert Harris, on which the film is based. (Harris also co-wrote the screenplay with Polanski.)  And see our posts on the films The Island, with Ewan McGregor, The Misfits, with Eli Wallach and City of Industry, with Timothy Hutton.

We recommend that you buy your DVDs and Blu-ray Disks.  Have a great personal film library..  Here are links to amazon.com:

top image: Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr

As Good as It Gets – Starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear

As Good as It Gets (1997)(DVD)  Directed by James L. Brooks, starring  Jack Nicholson (Chinatown (1974), Terms of Endearment (1983), Ironweed (1987), About Schmidt (2002), The Departed (2006), and many other films), Helen Hunt (Pay It Forward (2000), Then She Found Me (2008)), Greg Kinnear (Nurse Betty (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Flash of Genius (2008)) and Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Boyz n the Hood (1991), Jerry Maguire (1996), American Gangster (2007)).  In this  thoroughly amusing romantic comedy, Jack Nicholson is magnificent as Melvin Udall, a misanthropic romantic novelist with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a role for which he deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Actor (1998) and  Helen Hunt, winning the Oscar for Best Actress (1998), is really very good as Carol, a waitress, and over-protective single mother.  Greg Kinnear is great as Simon Bishop, a dog-owning gay artist and Melvin’s (Nicholson) next door neighbor.  As Good as It Gets, classic nasty Nicholson, a critical and box-office success, though flirting with the difficult subjects of homophobia, psychological disorders and the difficulties of being a single parent, nevertheless succeeds in being an enjoyable, if somewhat sentimental, comedy. (PR)

We recommend that you buy your DVDs.  Have a great personal film library…  Here is a link to amazon.com:

top image: Wikipedia

nothingisinvisible@live.fr

Director Roman Polanski Arrested After 31 Years

Here’s a link to The Daily Beast’s coverage of an article from the Associated Press (AP article link in The Daily Beast) on the arrest of Roman Polanski in Switzerland, 31 years after being considered a fugitive by the U.S., stemming from charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13 year old girl to which Polanski pleaded guilty.

Of course, Polanski’s films (“Chinatown”, “The Pianist”, and many others) are widely known and justly so and it seems that in fact he was in Switzerland to receive a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the cinema.  Unfortunately this episode gives us another opportunity to consider the subject of individual dysfunction as well as the grim realities of personal/professional schisms.

One may be tempted to speculate that after 31 years some sort of statute of limitations, if not legal then ethical would come into consideration.  It doesn’t take much to imagine, however, that the victim feels very differently indeed.

One may ask if, aside from Polanski’s status as a filmmaker, the news of his arrest could be considered as any sort of cultural news.  The answer may be quite simple.  Criminality (even alleged), legality, justice and the passage of time are conceived of, and lived, through a cultural filter and once again, sadly or otherwise, we are given the opportunity to review these concepts and their ethical foundations and to evaluate the implications in a situation that is all too clearly “real life”.

One can also ask how Polanski found the strength to continue, let alone create award-winning art, after the horrors he himself has known in his life.  And, in the next breath, ask how anyone could treat a child as Polanski admitted he did in pleading guilty to the charges in 1978.

Comments?

nothingisinvisible@live.fr