The Ghost Writer

The “Desired and Wanted”, Roman Polanski latest’s work; The Ghost Writer is very much a shadow of his 1974’s masterpiece, Chinatown.

In Chinatown, featuring Jack Nicolson who is about a private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water.

In Ghost Writer, featuring Ewan McGregor who’s a gifted ghostwrite is hired to write the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), he quickly find himself trapped in a web of political and sexual intrigue. Lang is implicated in a scandal over his administration’s harsh tactics, and as the ghostwriter digs into the politician’s past, he discovers secrets that threaten to jeopardize international relations forever.

They were simple stories concept but complicated structure. That is what Polanski is famous for. When I sat down and watch this films, at the start of the story, I understand what is the protagonist is tasked to, in Chinatown is about a private detective task to look for a man, who was later found dead, similarly, the writer was hired to write the memoirs for the former British Prime Minister. However, as the story progress, I slowly realized it’s more than just looking for a man (Chinatown) or writing the memoirs (The Ghost Writer). The truths slowly surface and always we have to expect the unexpected when nearing to the end of the films.

Polanski made used of death to as a start of everything or the truth; the death of the mayor in Chinatown and the death of the former ghostwriter in The Ghostwriter. Both dead men had no reveal in the show, they never appear on the screen, but what appears are the things they leave behind, and that’s what Polanski is good at; using the traces of the dead to carry on with the stories.

The way both films end is the most unexpected ways and yet they have a similarity in it. Chinatown ends it with his partner saying, “Forget it Jack, it’s Chinatown.” Which imply that, that’s nothing he can do about it, this is how things runs in Chinatown. The shot went up with a car leaving, the crane slowly rise up and….THE END. In The Ghost Writer, the protagonist walks out with the stack of papers, and BANG!, he got knock down. It was a still shot, pan from the moment he walk out of the building, to the road, hiring a cab, looking lost, he walks out of frame, later a car dashes by the frame towards the direction where the protagonist walks……BANG! We know that the car hit him, we got even more confirm when pieces of paper fly pass. It was the stack of paper he’s carrying. And that’s what a Polanski’s films.

If you have no idea who Roman Polanski, go google.