the ghostwriter.
ewan mcgregor is <3
this film did not particulary spark my interest the first time i heard about it. i thought it would just be another one of those boring thrillers. but late one night, i saw the dvd being sold near the bus stop and thought...well what the heck. it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.
and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. the ghostwriter had the right elements of what a thriller should be. the entire movie felt like an agatha christie book brought to life. i really felt scared for ewan's character as he tries to piece together the mess he got himself in. and the plot twist was just delicious. 4/5 stars
on a kind of off-topic note:
i must admit, this film left me so much more intrigued about the ghostwriting profession. i knew about the existence of ghostwriters, mostly on collaborating with politicians who can't put together words for their speeches and students who are too lazy to come up with research/term papers or celebrities who thought that maybe publishing a book would make them look hotter. but i never knew that they have extended their services to well-known authors (tom clancy and james patterson) and even music artists (whan a pop artist say they "co-wrote" the album, that should be your first clue). it is sad because i always thought...i don't know. for me writing is a form or art. i have always had the utmost respect for authors because they have this ability to paint a picture with their words. this requires powerful imagination, discipline and style. maybe i can forgive the pop artists for using ghostwriters, most recording companies package them anyway. i can even forgive the celebrities with their names splattered on a cover of a 'How To ' book or whatever confession(s) they may have. that's show business. they need to sell themselves so they can get more endorsement deals, sell concert tickets, make cute appearances on the red carpet. it's all about the "image", never about being an artist.
but writing novels? seriously? i always thought that the literary world will never penetrate the shallowness of "ze biz". sure, the from-book-to-movie sort of crosses that line, but i thought there is still some dignity left since it's still their words originally. i have always regarded writers as intellectuals, since i myself have had difficulties with making my ideas coherent to others. its quite a daunting task and i have no patience for it so i don't consider myself a writer. i never thought that intelligence is something that you can fake. or fake to that extent.
it can be said that this is a result of pressure from publishers since a writer's productivity may vary depending on their current mood (a lot suffer from writer's block every now and then). and if an author is already famous, they can produce an instant best-seller by hiring several ghostwriters that would produce work in a similar style and just plaster the well-known author's name on the cover. i can understand the publishers on this one. all they ever want is to make money. but for a well-known author to let this happen AND take credit for a book they never wrote left a bad taste in my mouth. even if they say that it was your plot, and your characters, if you never had the passion to write it yourself, then it's nothing. if you allow this, in essence you lose your credibility as a writer and more so as a true artist.
hay ang dami ko nasabi.
and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. the ghostwriter had the right elements of what a thriller should be. the entire movie felt like an agatha christie book brought to life. i really felt scared for ewan's character as he tries to piece together the mess he got himself in. and the plot twist was just delicious. 4/5 stars
on a kind of off-topic note:
i must admit, this film left me so much more intrigued about the ghostwriting profession. i knew about the existence of ghostwriters, mostly on collaborating with politicians who can't put together words for their speeches and students who are too lazy to come up with research/term papers or celebrities who thought that maybe publishing a book would make them look hotter. but i never knew that they have extended their services to well-known authors (tom clancy and james patterson) and even music artists (whan a pop artist say they "co-wrote" the album, that should be your first clue). it is sad because i always thought...i don't know. for me writing is a form or art. i have always had the utmost respect for authors because they have this ability to paint a picture with their words. this requires powerful imagination, discipline and style. maybe i can forgive the pop artists for using ghostwriters, most recording companies package them anyway. i can even forgive the celebrities with their names splattered on a cover of a 'How To ' book or whatever confession(s) they may have. that's show business. they need to sell themselves so they can get more endorsement deals, sell concert tickets, make cute appearances on the red carpet. it's all about the "image", never about being an artist.
but writing novels? seriously? i always thought that the literary world will never penetrate the shallowness of "ze biz". sure, the from-book-to-movie sort of crosses that line, but i thought there is still some dignity left since it's still their words originally. i have always regarded writers as intellectuals, since i myself have had difficulties with making my ideas coherent to others. its quite a daunting task and i have no patience for it so i don't consider myself a writer. i never thought that intelligence is something that you can fake. or fake to that extent.
it can be said that this is a result of pressure from publishers since a writer's productivity may vary depending on their current mood (a lot suffer from writer's block every now and then). and if an author is already famous, they can produce an instant best-seller by hiring several ghostwriters that would produce work in a similar style and just plaster the well-known author's name on the cover. i can understand the publishers on this one. all they ever want is to make money. but for a well-known author to let this happen AND take credit for a book they never wrote left a bad taste in my mouth. even if they say that it was your plot, and your characters, if you never had the passion to write it yourself, then it's nothing. if you allow this, in essence you lose your credibility as a writer and more so as a true artist.
hay ang dami ko nasabi.
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