Roman Polanski (Producer, Director, Screenplay), 2010:
Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Amelia Bly, Olivia Williams, Ruth Lang, Pierce Brosnan, Adam Lang.
Robert Harris (Screenplay), Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Timothy Burrill, Henning Molfenter (Producers), Daniel Champagnon (Production Supervisor), Michael Schaefer (Studio Executive).
Anyone who wonders why the USA continues to pursue Roman Polanski with such bitter determination might go and see “The Ghost Writer” to find the answer. The film stands resolutely on a political base which is refreshingly reactionary after what seemed like the dark ages of the disgraceful Bush administration in which many of the world’s governments behaved as if they knew no better. First and foremost among them was the now busily-reconstructed Tony Blair’s government at Whitehall to whom it must be said any resemblance in this film is purely coincidental. So, in essence, the plot is banal but enjoyable given the murderous rubbish to which we were subjected in reality.
The most essential point about this film is that it is everything “A Single Man” is not. Both films overcome mediocre scripts and staging (if not to say indifferent acting) by conveying an elementary plotline through the hypnotic effect of superb cinematography. In both films the camera and direction create tableaux of such crisp, beautifully lit perfection that all senses are suspended beyond the visual. Tom Ford’s film more or less stops with this extraordinary achievement, after which one leaves the theatre feeling satisfied but capable of wanting more. Polanski’s film goes further. His ability to infuse his brilliant shots with visual clues and hidden meaning, and to coordinate them with what intriguing nuances the threadbare script provides, adds so much more to the experience of seeing this film that one remains trapped in its mood and under its spell for some time afterwards.
This is an amazing accomplishment considering the average standards of acting. Ewan McGregor steadfastly occupies the role he has always occupied throughout his career of being entirely himself. Ditto Pierce Brosnan, who seems to be miscast until the denouement which I will not give away declares him to be entirely right for the part, but even this jarring effect casts doubt on his suitability. Kim Cattrall’s screen image sucks up Polanski’s superb treatment of the femme fatale and she is amazing, as always, until she opens her mouth.
At that point all her hard work is wasted because the worst and most puzzling lapse in this film is the old problem of Americans trying to do English accents. They can’t, and they should stop trying because they all sound like Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins” (a performance which remains one of the most appalling cinematic vandalisms of all time).
Even Pierce Brosnan, a lapsed Irishman, is incapable of adopting a certain Prime Minister’s regrettable command of English, no matter how coincidental the likeness is intended to be. At the beginning of the film he sounds like Ian Carmichael in “What Would I Do Without Jeeves?” and by the end of the movie he is no other than a half ga-ga Harold Macmillan giving the “Winds of Change” speech. In the middle he simply reverts to the Malibu argot as do all the other non - English actors who must have realized, correctly, that Polanski’s direction and cinematography would outweigh all negative distractions.
Watch the trailer:
Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Amelia Bly, Olivia Williams, Ruth Lang, Pierce Brosnan, Adam Lang.
Robert Harris (Screenplay), Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Timothy Burrill, Henning Molfenter (Producers), Daniel Champagnon (Production Supervisor), Michael Schaefer (Studio Executive).
The most essential point about this film is that it is everything “A Single Man” is not. Both films overcome mediocre scripts and staging (if not to say indifferent acting) by conveying an elementary plotline through the hypnotic effect of superb cinematography. In both films the camera and direction create tableaux of such crisp, beautifully lit perfection that all senses are suspended beyond the visual. Tom Ford’s film more or less stops with this extraordinary achievement, after which one leaves the theatre feeling satisfied but capable of wanting more. Polanski’s film goes further. His ability to infuse his brilliant shots with visual clues and hidden meaning, and to coordinate them with what intriguing nuances the threadbare script provides, adds so much more to the experience of seeing this film that one remains trapped in its mood and under its spell for some time afterwards.
This is an amazing accomplishment considering the average standards of acting. Ewan McGregor steadfastly occupies the role he has always occupied throughout his career of being entirely himself. Ditto Pierce Brosnan, who seems to be miscast until the denouement which I will not give away declares him to be entirely right for the part, but even this jarring effect casts doubt on his suitability. Kim Cattrall’s screen image sucks up Polanski’s superb treatment of the femme fatale and she is amazing, as always, until she opens her mouth.
At that point all her hard work is wasted because the worst and most puzzling lapse in this film is the old problem of Americans trying to do English accents. They can’t, and they should stop trying because they all sound like Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins” (a performance which remains one of the most appalling cinematic vandalisms of all time).
Even Pierce Brosnan, a lapsed Irishman, is incapable of adopting a certain Prime Minister’s regrettable command of English, no matter how coincidental the likeness is intended to be. At the beginning of the film he sounds like Ian Carmichael in “What Would I Do Without Jeeves?” and by the end of the movie he is no other than a half ga-ga Harold Macmillan giving the “Winds of Change” speech. In the middle he simply reverts to the Malibu argot as do all the other non - English actors who must have realized, correctly, that Polanski’s direction and cinematography would outweigh all negative distractions.
Watch the trailer:
No comments:
Post a Comment