LFP Magazine

An intriguing aroma emanates from this smooth and dark roast (without the acidic bitterness) embedded with a surprising aftertaste

Roman Polanski’s latest film, Ghost Writer, is the story of a ghost-writer (Ewan McGregor) who takes on the assignment of transforming the UK Prime Minister’s (Pierce Brosnan) lifeless chronicles (written by the previous ghost-writer who recently commited suicide) into a bestselling political memoir. He is soon enveloped in the Prime Minister’s dangerous world of political chess play and murderous cover-ups. He finds himself moving away from the assignment and begins to pursue his client through the eyes of an investigative journalist (seemingly motivated not based on political or moral ground, but out of sheer curiosity – which I liked).

This is Polanski’s genre and so he tells the story masterfully and seamlessly, extracting great performances from all his actors including a majestic performance by the Prime Minister’s wife, played by Olivia Williams. There is also an appearance by the always wonderful Eli Wallach! Polanski deals with his typical themes, in a more straightforward way – power and corruption – and he returns to his recurrent use of water. If you are looking for the emotional rawness of his earlier works, such as MacBeth, Chinatown, The Pianist, or Death and The Maiden you might be a bit disappointed, but all the same – another great Polanski film – a Ninth Gate that takes place entirely in the physical realm, where those harvesting political power are the ones who hold the keys to the gates of Hell.