Best of times, worst of times.
The Academy Awards sucked so bad that, for the first three hours, the liveliest segment was James Taylor singing "In My Life" while we watched pictures of the recently departed. In the tedium, I found myself snapping to attention during the commercials and wondering: Why does the CEO of Sprint wear a t-shirt under his dress shirt? Will the people who rack the toilet paper so it rolls from the bottom refuse to buy that roll-top tissue? And, of course, how can I survive until the iPad goes on sale?
Directed as if there hasn't been a single technical innovation since the split screen, featuring unfunny jokes and a tone-deaf script -- but wait, wait: Perhaps a bad show seemed worse because, just a day earlier, my wife and I saw the Roman Polanski thriller, The Ghost Writer.
This movie is the exact opposite of the Academy Awards -- and of all the contemporary films that equate suspense with bombs going off, cars launched off elevated highways, vampires sinking their fangs into teen virgins and slaughter by the hundreds. The Ghost Writer is brisk, sophisticated, with snappy dialogue, recognizable adult emotions, flavored with a healthy dollop of cynicism, beautifully photographed and framed; as Polanski films go, it's in the near suburbs of Chinatown. Which is -- no need to take my word on this, it's a common view -- one of the twenty five best movies of the last half century. Which makes The Ghost Writer a safe bet for many "best of 2010" lists.
The film is playing in only 137 theaters, so you may not even have heard of it. Or, if you have, it's because you may have read some pundit arguing that it's wrong to support a director who, in 1977, drugged a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's house and then had several kinds of illegal sex with her. The aftermath of that appalling event is also ugly: Polanski plead guilty, but, fearing jail, fled the country. He's lived without incident in Europe for three decades, starting a new family and directing films. Then the Los Angeles authorities had him jailed as a fugitive; he finished editing The Ghost Writer in a Swiss cell.
I'm not in the Hollywood crowd that argues Polanski is a changed man and has been sufficiently penalized. Do the crime, do the time, I say; equal justice for all. But if I start grading culture by assessing the moral character of the people who create it, I'm going to be spending a lot of time sitting in a quiet room. I'm not, for example, fond of Mel Gibson's understanding of Christianity; at the same time, I wept at his performance in We Were Soldiers.
On the assumption that you too can handle a schizy reality -- Polanski did a bad thing and hasn't quite resolved it; he's made a magnificent movie -- let's press on to the film itself. Adapted from a novel by Robert Harris, it's the story of a writer who's never named. That's appropriate; his skill is writing the memoirs of celebrities. He's fast. And good: The last book he ghosted --- He Came, He Sawed, He Conquered, the memoirs of a magician -- raced to the top of the best-seller list. Now he's called in to complete the memoirs of Adam Lang, former British Prime Minister. He has just a month to turn the manuscript in.
Consider how Harris and Polanski launch the story. The book and movie begin on the ferry, crossing to Martha's Vineyard on a blustery winter's day. The ferry reaches the dock, empties. Except for one car, which doesn't move. Where is the driver? It's a mystery. It's also great moviemaking.
We quickly learn about that car and its driver. Lang has been holed up in a beach house on the Vineyard. And, coming across on the ferry one night, Michael McAra -- his drunken ghostwriter and long-time aide -- went overboard and drowned. A suicide? Or something worse? Interesting questions. But there's no time to think about them; the manuscript beckons.
Let's not be coy here. The Prime Minister, played by Pierce Brosnan, is a stand-in for Tony Blair. His attractive, chilly wife is a version of Cherie Blair. And the fresh trouble Adam Lang is in -- allegations that he helped the CIA kidnap four Pakistani terrorists, the sort of thing that The Hague might consider a war crime -- isn't unbelievable, at least in England, where many citizens regard Blair as a lapdog for George Bush.
For the ghostwriter, these charges couldn't come at a worse time. Lang is angry and distracted; instead of working on the book, he races down to Washington for a photo op with the American Secretary of State, a woman who just happens to be African-American. Slowly, painfully, the ghost begins to make connections between Lang's new problems and McAra's death. And the tension mounts...
If you are seeing parallels between The Ghost Writer and Polanski's own situation -- a man accused of terrible crimes, living in exile, trying to clear his name -- give yourself ten easy points. If you see a connection to Chinatown -- a less than professional detective, way over his head, stumbles into a conspiracy so corrupt he's unprepared even to recognize it -- give yourself ten more. (Extra-point question: The Asian man sweeping the decks at Lang's beach house -- what's his equivalent in Chinatown?)
The filmmaking is confident, organic, efficient at the highest level. And why not? Although Polanski is now 77, the director who made Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist still has his A-game. In an interview, Pierce Brosnan expresses his admiration:
The lens was never far from his hand. I sat on the back of the camera one day...His viewfinder was burnished with time, the numbers were worn away and they were all penciled in on bits of gaffer tape...He'd be setting the camera up and having a private conversation with himself. You'd be going for the take and he'd be, 'No, no, stop, no,' and then, 'Give me the camera, I want the camera, the f--ng camera.' He could freak some people out. But that was his passion.
You can take the politics seriously or not. We did, leaving the theater convinced -- with no more evidence than the way this fictional plot works out -- that The Fix is always in. Later, we revisited that conclusion. But it's the ultimate praise, isn't it, when a movie becomes so real that we take it seriously?
The Ghost Writer is fun and provocative. It's a reminder that great filmmaking can be made in a living room, that a sharp conversation can be as deadly as a bullet, that music and cinematography don't have to assault the ear or poke you in the eye to be thrilling. It is, simply, an old-fashioned masterpiece.
In our culture, a masterpiece is an endangered species. Yes, The Ghost Writer will be a DVD. But in a theater, with an audience --- there's still no comparison.
Fill the tank, if you must. But get there. And soon.
[Cross-posted from HeadButler.com]
Marshall Fine: Movie Review: Carnage
The answer may lie in this map of the world re: age of consent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Age_of_Consent.png
The real question is this
Is Judicial & Prosecutorial corruption and unfair sentencing against Polanski justified because he had consensual sex with a minor,
Given that:
1. Polanski was from another culture where the age of consent is lower.
2. A plea bargain agreement was struck by all parties which the Judge later wanted to break.
3. Polanski did fully comply with the agreement serving time at Chino prison
4. An American male was not prosecuted for having sex with the same minor.
5. Judge Rittenband was not concerned initially about Polanski or his crime otherwise the Judge would not have let Polanski leave America to make a movie.
6. The Judge falsely stigmatized Polanski publicly prior to trial.
7. There was Judicial & Prosecutorial corruption, staged hearings, the Santa Monica Judge talking to Prosecutors behind closed doors, & illegal coercion to force Roman Polanski to give up his rights to fight deportation.
8. Polanski is being subjected to a double standard, & discriminated against in the Santa Monica Courthouse where in a different case, the Judge and various police covered up, intimidated and used police brutality, & false arrest to silence a European born woman who reported she had been sexually molested from behind in a class by California employee.
Surely I'm not the only person realizing that Polanski was detained in Switzerland on 30+ year old sex charges ... while in post production on this film. The man has traveled around Europe and owned a home in Switzerland for years and years... never stopped, never detained until he had this particular film to complete.
The story line is thinly disguised Bush/Blair/Cheney/Halliburton era politics... all of whom have been implicated in war crimes similar to the ones in this film. Yes, I think someone wanted to punish and discredit Polanski, which is why he was apprehended while entering Switzerland for the umpteenth time to be honored at a dubious film festival. Don't get me wrong, I think Polanski should have faced the legal music like a man decades ago, but come on... how else can the US Govs. suddenly renewed interest in him at this late date be a coincidence? That's not even credible.
The other reason your theory has no credibility is that you offer no evidence, only speculation.
You allege that this movie is so important and threatening that an entire government wants to silence it by reviving an old criminal case against its director. This plays right into the notion that Polanski is such a majestic, heroic figure, and his crime was so trivial, that he is above the law.
As much as I admire Polanski as a talented director, he committed a serious crime that should not be overlooked. That said, the time for justice to be served was about 30 years ago. Now, even the victim wants to see the charges dropped. (Apparently, she received a $500,000 settlement, which she probably felt was adequate compensation - probably more satisfying to her than if he hadn't paid her and had simply done prison time.) Is Polanski - a married man with children - a threat to society? Will he take advantage of other underage girls? If so, where was the outcry when he was dating a 15 year-old Nastassja Kinski shortly after he fled the US? Spare me your moralistic outrage, it's 30 years too late. At this point, DA Steve Cooley is obviously just trying to make a name for himself to further his own ambitions. Who else stands to gain if Polanski serves time in prison? No one.
I won't abuse Jesse's hospitality by arguing Polanski's criminal case any further. Jesse had plenty to say about The Ghost Writer, and I'm sure he'd prefer his commenters to discuss the film, even though he did make one thing clear: "Do the crime, do the time, I say; equal justice for all."
who stands to gain f rom this case? some wanting to gain re-election I say.IT'S ALL POLITICS!
I do find it interesting-- no one was bothering Polanski when that judge was s till alive. what's more-- someone at t he DA's office got all in a lather when that documentary was aired on HBO.. otherwise???
as for the film? this article just reminded me.. I better see it pronto..like today!
Ibet Polanski can do a great film about his own case-- expose all the rubbish & hypocracy.
Besides, I try to save my own white-hot hatred of a million burning suns for the Republican Party.
I plan to see The Ghost Writer this week. And for those so up in arms about Polanski--where was all this outrage 30 years ago? I surely don't remember it.
Thirty years ago, Polanski had yet to file a motion to dismiss that was based almost entirely on an HBO film. And his apologists, absurdly including Woody Allen, hadn't yet circulated a petition defending the sanctity of Film Festivals, and suggesting that Polanski's crimes should be overlooked because of his grand cinematic achievements. With lawyers and friends like this, just begging for public outrage, who needs enemies?
I tell ya, you couldn't make this stuff up.
In fact.. TESS was a huge box office hit!
pOLANSKI & LAWYERS did make a motion to dismiss even before that HBO special. I believe around t he s ame time when he was nominated fOR THE PIANIST even Geimer came on Larry King so he can come to Hollywood to receive--if he wins..
Those with a higher opinion of Polanski's craft should consider that their ticket purchase will help fund his continued avoidance of justice. I'd also suggest that they see through the comparison to Mel Gibson. Gibson's views are extreme and repulsive, but they are not criminal. And, in great contrast to Polanski's cowardice, Gibson has faced the consequences of his actions.
I thought it was a well crafted and intelligent film.
6:10 PM CST
Quote :
..."I've got a problem with Roman Polanski..."
Why ? Do you know him ?
J.B.
3/8/10