5 out of 5

Director: Roman Polanski

This is amazing film-making. Roman Polanski has directed many great films in many genres, but even the best have slight mis-steps in them. Occasionally, though, he produces something incredibly assured, and while Ghost Writer might not have a timeless feeling to it, it is such confident direction from beginning to end that you know you are in the hands of a team that understands what it means to make a movie. After the introduction – an unexplained scene that nonetheless sets up what is to come – we are introduced to our ghost, Ewan McGregor, hired to ghost write memoirs for the British Prime Minister after the original ghost writer drowns… purposefully or accidentally. Oddities in this process are apparent from the start, and its not too long into the process until McGregor finds things that are pointing him in surprising directions, discovering things about the prime minister that he maybe shouldnt know. What worked best about this movie was its level of respect for its audience. Nothing is explained in a cheating or insulting fashion, nor is anything uninterestingly included just to show the process of ghost-writing. To Polanskis credit, and all of the actors credits, every detail seems worthwhile of our attention, even if its not directly relevant to the plot. There are also several moments that are left for the protagonist and audience to think upon, and we all come to logical decisions at the same time. In a lesser film-makers hands, these moments wouldve required some kind of forced direction or exposition. At the end of the day, this is just such superb direction, writing and acting – without explosions or even any thunderous twists and turns – that it puts many, many thrillers to shame.