About a year ago, I had a few comments on The Ghost, a book by Robert Harris. You can find them here. Now I've watched The Ghost Writer, the movie based on the book. I suppose the changed the title a bit so nobody would think this was a remake of a movie with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze. Anyway, the plot of the movie follows that of the book almost exactly, so you can just click on the link just above and read all about it if you care to. The ending is slightly different, and a character is eliminated, but that's about all.The movie stuff? Well, the performances are uniformly good. Yes, even Jim Belushi in a minor role. And Eli Wallach at age 95? Hey, I wish he'd had a bigger part. The stars are Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, and Tom Wilkinson. Excellent work all around. Roman Polanski is the director, and while he may be a terrible person, he knows what he's doing behind the camera. The score's not Bernard Herman, but it's close enough.
If you like suspense without car chases and explosions, check this one out. You won't be disappointed.
4 comments:
I liked the book a lot too and I'm looking forward to seeing this when it hits HBO or Showtime.
I hadn't realized until the publicity for the movie that Kim Cattrall was actually born in England and has British as well as Canadian and American citizenship.
/end daily trivia
Jeff
Watched this one last night and really liked it. (I haven't read the novel, so the unfolding plot was nicely suspenseful.) I kept saying all the way through how much it reminded me of a good Hitchcock film - the pacing and the camera work. I can't remember if there's a single scene without Ewan McGregor. You have to stick it out with him, never knowing any more than he knows, and living through the suspense with him.
And Eli Wallach is a marvel. I just saw him in THE MISFITS, a film I'd always missed. He looks his age, but the spirit and energy are still there. You're right. It would have been good to see more of him.
The last five minutes of this movie are sensational. Beautiful, purely cinematic storytelling. And wickedly funny into the bargain.
I loved the book and the movie (with the slightly different ending--it works).
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