The Ghost Writer

Even when someone has a well-regarded public image, they're still bound to have a few skeletons in their closet. (More than often it'll be someone in politics.) At some point, their private lives will seep into the tabloids.

Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer is such a film that's willing to deconstruct a person's image. (Bear in mind the director is no stranger to controversy himself.) Former Prime Minister Adam Lang (a Tony Blair caricature in the form of a smug Pierce Brosnan) is working on his memoirs and has hired a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) to help finish it. But the ghost writer becomes curious about the fate of the writer hired before him...

Like Polanski's earlier film Chinatown, The Ghost Writer is a film with a slow burn, the kind that builds up to the big reveal. .Unlike Chinatown, however, this film moves at a slower pace and it shows in spots. Still, it pays off in the end.

And the cast is what makes the film radiate. Olivia Williams shows a mix of rage and sorrow in her role. Brosnan displays a cocky attitude while keeping up a serious demeanor. But the star is McGregor, who should really have a nomination or two by now.

The Ghost Writer is a good recent entry from Polanski though I wouldn't rank it amongst, say, The Pianist. (It does get close though.) It's really worthy of a look.

My Rating: ****1/2

Repulsion

With Roman Polanski's work, we get glimpses of different locales. Such locations include New York City (Rosemary's Baby), Los Angeles (Chinatown) and Poland (The Pianist). With Repulsion, we see London.

Catherine Deneuve plays Carol, a young woman appalled at the mere thought of physical contact. She has to listen to her sister's constant lovemaking. Carol is so disgusted by intimacy, she will brush her teeth after being kissed.

A notable symbol of Repulsion are cracks. Carol finds herself fixated upon them because they represent her state of mind. As the movie progresses, the cracks (literal and metaphorical) get deeper. Deneuve's performance and Polanski's direction ensure that Carol isn't the only one going mad. So is the audience.

Throughout Carol's slow descent into madness, many of the shots used reminded me of the nightmare sequence in Rosemary's Baby. The claustrophobic feeling in the movie practically engulfs you. It will scare the daylights out of you if you're not careful.

My Rating: *****

The Pianist

I find movies on the Holocaust more believable if the director was either alive during that time and/or survived it. Yes, Steven Spielberg experienced neither, I know, but he's an exception with Schindler's List. Anyway, Roman Polanski's The Pianist shows his views on the event.

Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a Polish Jew who is an accomplished piano player. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he becomes subject to the anti-Jewish laws imposed by the conquering Germans. By the start of the 1940s, Szpilman has seen his world go from piano concert halls to the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw and then must suffer the tragedy of his family deported to German concentration camps, while he is conscripted into a forced German labor compound. At last, he decides to escape. For years, he struggles to survive as the Germans take over.

Schindler's List is in the German's point of view; The Pianist is in the Jew's pointof view. The fact that Polanski based some of the scenes off of his own experiences of the Holocaust gives it a more stunning feel. Brody gives a marvelous performance as Szpilman. The feeling of isolation throughout the second half makes the movie feel more absorbing as though we have been through that. Along with Schindler's List, The Pianist is one of the best movies on the Holocaust and the German occupation.

My Rating: *****

Chinatown

Boy, 1974 was a helluva year for movies. I mean, Francis Ford Coppola had The Godfather Part II and The Conversation, Sidney Lumet had Murder on the Orient Express, Mel Brooks had Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Martin Scorsese had Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Bob Fosse had Lenny, and Roman Polanski had Chinatown, the latter I'll be reviewing.

Jake "J.J." Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects that her husband Hollis (Darrell Zwerling), builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator (Diane Ladd) and not the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply.

Having seen Rosemary's Baby before Chinatown, I knew that Roman Polanski was an expert on creating suspense. Nicholson delivers one of his best performances, while Dunaway executes the perfect femme fatale. Robert Towne's screenplay has many twists and turns that'll keep you on edge until the very end.

My Rating: *****

BOOK VS MOVIE: Rosemary's Baby

Like what I mentioned in the previous post, it takes a lot for a horror movie to scare the crap out of me. Like Psycho, Rosemary's Baby (mostly the movie) did just that.

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are a young couple who just moved into the Bramford apartment building. Guy is a struggling actor who gets his big break after the original actor goes blind. Soon after this, Rosemary becomes pregnant. But Guy's behavior, along with the behavior of their neighbors the Castevets, makes Rosemary suspicious.

Rosemary's Baby marks one of the few times where the book and the movie are great. Kudos to Roman Polanski for being true to the book. Compared to what Stanley Kubrick did with The Shining, Polanski actually followed what happened in the book. Mia Farrow was good as the title character.

There's also a weird connection Rosemary's Baby has with two infamous murders. A year after its release in theaters, Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's gang. And in 1980, John Lennon was shot outside of the Dakota, where most of the movie was filmed.

What's worth checking out?: Both are worth checking out.