Film/TV Mar 4, 2010 at 4:00 am

The Ghost Writer and the Dead Career

Comments

1
This piece is proof that anyone can call themself a reviewer. Readers probably deserve better than this.
Randy Francisco
2
I need some kind of filter where I can turn off viewing the comments on every single film review on the internet that are all like "This heralds the true death of liking or disliking a thing and saying so with words! I AM SO ANGRY THAT THIS REVIEWER DID NOT LIKE OR DISLIKE A THING CORRECTLY BUT IT IS THE READERS THAT ARE TRULY SUFFERING AS THIS REVIEW IS THEIR ONLY POTENTIAL SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT A FILM AND IT LACKS CRITICAL DATA WHICH READERS NEED TO BE ABLE TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION ABOUT WHETHER TO SPEND $9, IT IS THEIR PAIN I'M THINKING OF, REALLY"
3
The excellent and revealing documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired" should be required viewing for everyone before they make "glib assessments" about him.
4
The first TV promo I saw for this movie stunned me. No mention of Brosnan or McGregor, just "from Academy Award Winning Director Roman Polanski"! Whoever the marketing person was that greenlighted that spot should have to do Polanski's time, just for their sheer stupidity.

Polanksi's "Q" rating in America is at Bin Laden levels. Brosnan was James Bond for crying out loud, and McGregor was Obi-Wan fucking Kenobi! That's two huge, bankable stars with very high "Q" ratings. Yet, someone thought, "let's just push the fact a pedophile made this movie and ignore the fan-friendly stars"?!

The only logical explanation for this is that Polanski's ego & agent combined to make a demand that all marketing mentions his name, and before anyone else associated with the film.
5
Fact-checking the painfully flawed and biased "Wanted and Desired" should also be on the to do list of anyone that wants to make an assessment of Polanski's past. And, yes, "The Ghost Writer" is incredibly weak. But, "The Pianist" was excellent, so go figure..
6
hahahaha, he's a child rapist and the movie sux cuz its dumb! if a critic is only as good as his last review, you're a fucking idiot zac.
7
What he did was vile, but Roman Polanski is not a pedophile. Pedophiles desire prepubescent children; Polanski's victim was an adolescent. Repellent as his crime was, drugging and raping a prepubescent child is much, much worse.
8
Oh, good. I wasn't planning to see it, but it's nice to know I can skip it for its own flaws too.

@7 The Suffering Olympics are bad enough without people volunteering as judges, christ.
9
Not condoning, but one thing that's just flat out wrong is that Polanski fled to avoid jail time. In fact, he accepted a plea bargain, served his time, was released early (good behavior/eligible for parole type thing) and only AFTER his release did the judge in the case vacate the plea deal and resentenced without re-trial.

That's not a bias of "Wanted and Desired," that's the actual chronology of Polanski's legal issues.

10
@9

"he accepted a plea bargain, served his time, was released early (good behavior/eligible for parole type thing) and only AFTER his release did the judge in the case vacate the plea deal and resentenced without re-trial."

these aren't the facts of the case. He was never sentenced because he didn't show up for sentencing! Plus:

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/rom…

11
er..

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yhpl5qu
12
was released early (good behavior/eligible for parole type thing)


No, he went to jail for an evaluation. The prosecutor gave him a sweetheart deal which hadn't yet been approved by the judge. The judge rejected it, which was his legal right, and Polanski decided he was too good to go to prison. End of story.
13
The thing that amazes me about Polanski's defenders is that he was trying to use his fame to avoid the consequences of his actions. If his defenders were accused/convicted of any serious crime, they'd serve their time, end of story. Polanski was very much acting the entitled elitist here, someone not deserving of sympathy or defense.
14
"Within minutes, the film's mystery begins to unfold like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon as acted by a series of Tennessee Williams heroines."

That was a fucking awesome description.
15
Indulgent, shrill, uninformative, tiring. Hipster drool. (The film review).
16
Fuck you, from the little prick himself.
17
@8: ??

That was such a failure of an insult I don't even know what to say.
18
Fuck you, from the real prick.
19
@7
Yeah...I'm not sure how going through puberty makes rape any more okay or traumatizing. So...because he raped a girl with budding breasts, that's "much, much [less] worse" than raping a girl with a flat, childlike chest.
Riiight.
20
@19:

So you think there is no difference between a man who wants to have sex with girls with breasts and hips, and a man who wants to have sex with five-year-olds? Seriously?

And where did I say rape was "okay"? I said what Polanski did was "vile" and "repellent". Not sure why you're taking me to be his defender.
21
Wow, what a totally worthless review. I don't mind if the reviewer didn't like the film, but if he wanted to write a good review, he'd at least tell us why he didn't like it.

I saw the movie last night and thought it was pretty good. Yes, Chinatown was better, but The Ghost Writer is far better than 95% of the other dreck out there. It had good pacing, strong acting, a timely plot, and a couple intriguing surprises.
22
I need some kind of filter where I can turn off viewing the comments of EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO TYPES THEIR COMMENTS IN ALL CAPS!!!
23
I found it a dingity-dang good movie, but I was able to set aside my axgrinding and let Polanski lead me along.

Ewan McGregor's got a fine ass, too.
24
clearly not a movie review here. sorry try again. or maybe just quit and let somebody who knows what they are doing take over so we the readers can actually read something worth our time.
25
yeah, please fire this hack. what a lame excuse for a movie review.

i really enjoyed the film, i thought it was one of the best i've seen in awhile.
26
First of all, to call that incident the last notable thing he's ever done shows either a gross ignorance for cinematic history or completely biased ignorance on your part. Secondly, this is not at all a review. It summarizes the film and just says you don't like it. No insight, really? Get over his past and review the damn film.
27
Hack film critic is probably the most accurate part of this review. The film section has sucked ass long enough. Dethrone Queen West and seat someone who actually gives a shit.
28
Why hate on the guy???? He's a great director and while it was a seriously stupid thing to do (which appears to be the norm in the seventies--look at who got elected President in '72 people), let's not be too harsh, fellow World citizens.

I'm gonna see the movie, man, and I hope it's good. This review seems kinda biased based on activities not related to movie making.
29
I must agree with no. 25 - this is a great film, made by one of cinema's finest directors. All performances were outstanding. No, it's not Chinatown - it's something completely different, and yet nearly as intense.

Polanski needs still to go to trial for this crime, albeit 30 some-odd years too late. And, agreeing with most comments - we deserve to read far more intelligently crafted reviews, whether the reviewer loves or detests the film.
30
The movie does indeed suck, and no- we are not going to forget that Polanski is a child-raping scum sack, especially since his movies are so mediocre they can't distract us from this glaring fact.
31
The thing is, film critics who like this movie aren't laying their biases against Polanski aside either. Celebrities' private lives, especially if they are emotionally charged, will color our perception of their work. Reviewing a film isn't journalism, people, it is is judgmental by nature, and it is silly to think that anyone's opinion of any movie is going to be magically "bias free." Film critics who bolster up Polanski's work are defending the right to be a rapist and still be a socially accepted contributor to our culture. Throughout most of human history, and most human cultures, those who commit incest, rape or child molestation are shunned and ostracized. Polanski is no different. Finally, it should be said that any man who thinks it is "normal" for another man to drug and rape a 13-year-old, doesn't want to face up to his own inner creep and should seriously do some deep self-reflection on his own belief systems around women and sex.
32
A youthful error? Yes, perhaps.
But he's been punished for this lapse--
For decades exiled from LA
He knows, as he wakes up each day,
He'll miss the movers and the shakers.
He'll never get to see the Lakers.
For just one old and small mischance,
He has to live in Paris, France.
He's suffered slurs and other stuff.
Has he not suffered quite enough?
How can these people get so riled?
He only raped a single child.

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..Why make him into some Darth Vader
For sodomizing one eighth grader?
This man is brilliant, that's for sure--
Authentically, a film auteur.
He gets awards that are his due.
He knows important people, too--
Important people just like us.
And we know how to make a fuss.
Celebrities would just be fools
To play by little people's rules.
So Roman's banner we unfurl.
He only raped one little girl.

By Calvin Trillin

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