“Write up on Unforgiven is gonna wait til during the commercials during the Academy Awards. Partly cause Im still hoping for a chance to re-watch the last 30 min that I totally spaced on. I woulda waited on The Ghost Writer til then as well, but one of the advantages to going to a theater that’s a 30 min walk away is that the trek back is prime for thinking on what I wanna write. So while its still all fresh…
Waiting for the movie to start, one of the things running through my head is how much I love Boston. The impetus for that thought this time around is that I love how accesible movies are. True, its not as rocking for that as LA or NY would be, but just two weeks ago those were the only two cities even showing this movie. If I were still back home, there’s no way I woulda ever seen this one, and no way I coulda seen all the major players in the Oscars this year.
Kinda ironic I was having that thought before diving into a film which was set in New England. Yeah it was a very fake New England, but hey whatcha gonna do when your director isn’t allowed to set foot on US soil? Ah yes, now that we’ve made that segue–Roman Polanski. He might be considered a cowardly creep of a person, but as a director that man \m/ knows his shit. There were some times when I thought the pacing was a bit slow, but I just let myself trust his expertise and went with it.
The movie was suspenseful, but a very slow suspense. I can best liken it to my hazy memory of Michael Clayton (although that may just be due to Tom Wilkinson appearing in both), but at least The Ghost Writer made more sense to me. As far as the mystery of it, cause we all know how much I like solving those, it was kinda strange. I picked up on some things very early and essentially figured out the who (and also guessed how our hero would come to that same conclusion), but could hardly grasp actual concept of what the mystery was. That meant I had no clue on the why, and didnt even realize I’d solved most of it. Strangely, that did end up being rather satisfying, far more than I would have expected. And I wont go into any detail, but the last 30 seconds was probably one of the best executed endings I’ve ever seen. It seriously took less than a minute to take me from feeling “”meh”” about the film to “”that was awesome!””
Great great cast. I love Ewan McGregor and all his charm. Happily, there was quite a bit of that. From his reaction to reading the first draft of the manuscript, to the line he delivered buying his ferry ticket (Im being cryptic, I know), I was with him all the way. Also adore Pierce Brosnan, and his perfect mix of arrogance and grace.
Ultimately, quite a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Given that there aren’t many viable options at the mainstream theaters (in my head Alice in Wonderland doesnt open til next week, cause thats when Im going…IMAX 3D, baby!) I’d definitely give this one a recommendation. My only word of caution is to be prepared for the slow suspense style. It can be a bit of a letdown if you’re expecting a faster pace.
The Ghost Writer – \m/ \m/ \m/