The Ghost Writer

2010 thriller

Rating: 14/20

Plot: After one ghost writer dies, another writer is hired to finish up the memoirs of a former English prime minister. While working on the project, controversy about that prime minister's legacy comes out, and the writer finds himself in for more than he bargained for.

This doesn't feel that much different than your typical Hollywood thriller, but Polanski does know how to direct a suspenseful scene. I liked almost all of the main performances here, especially Pierce Brosnan's, but three things really stood out to make this worth watching.

1) Eli Wallach's brief performance as "old man who has been around for a long time"
2) All the shots of the perpetually-sweeping guy right outside the home Brosnan's characer was i
3) Alexandre Desplait's score

I kept expecting Ewan McGregor's head to catch fire when he was riding that bicycle around on the beach.