The Ghost Writer, 2010, dir. Roman Polanski

Now THIS is a living, breathing, jaw-dropping political thriller, and more! The long awaited new entry in the “Tenant” series seeds the reasons for the great moral conflict of our times right in the all-important beginnings. There, we see a man disconnected from himself, just like the “democratic citizen”, a shadow led into someone else’s footsteps against his better judgement. He goes into a cold political reality, where no one is himself and duplicity rules. The Ghost Writer is as quiet, deceptive and impenetrable as the real world conspiracies behind the scenes and keeps us on our toes all the time. A truly uncompromising, deep and funny tour-de-force show that can only be directed by the great Polanski and his unparalleled mastery of vision, sound… and silence.

Beyond Zabriskie Point

The America of Roman Polanski is a direct continuation of the world of Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point. A pattern of barren wastelands, corporate modernist architecture and shiny cars. While the rebellious youth in the 1970 film went to the end of civilisation out of hopelessness, the fate of the mercantile Ghost Writer is less flashy, moodier and even more tragic. The man, who already is a Ghost, takes the ferry over the river Styx, giving the boatsman $40 (return) and goes into the post-apocalyptic afterlife, that is contemporary America imagined by Polanski, who shows us an intense feeling of disconnection, alienation and suspicion.

IMDb