"The Ghost Writer" Leads Nominations For European Awards

I started a thread about Roman Polanski’s film, “The Ghost Writer” awhile back.
I think it was one of the best films of the year and it seems like critics in Europe at least agree.
“The Ghost Writer has been nominated for seven European Film Awards, including best film, best director and best actor for star Ewan McGregor.”

I just convinced my brother to watch it last week (available on Netfilx) and he really liked it as well, so if you haven’t seen the film and have a Netflix account, check it out!

It is a really great mystery/espionage thriller; the kind of film that is perfect for a cold, rainy night. Get into the atmosphere and be swept into a well-crafted story of intrigue and suspense.

Didn’t see the movie, but I really enjoyed the book. Has Harris’ “Fatherland” ever been made into a movie?

I went to see it on the strength of its reviews.

It wasn’t awful, I suppose, but slow, dull, and poorly characterized. It should have been much better.

Thanks for the link DMark. I’ve seen 3 of the 5 nominated films, and I agree with everything you say about The Ghost Writer, it’s a fantastic film, and I would not be surprised if it won in the nominated categories. It’ll be up against the excellent The Secret In Their Eyes though, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film at the last Oscars. Both have a better chance than Lebanon, which was good, but I can’t see it winning. The entire movie, save for the very beginning and very end, is set in a tank. Very claustrophobic. I’m looking forward to the ones I haven’t yet seen.

Man, The Hollywood Reporter is super sloppy. The story says that Soul Kitchen, which is one of my favorite movies of the year, is also nominated, so I got all excited. But if you click on the link to the nominations, it’s not listed. Plus, the HR story says “Gods and Monsters from France’s Xavier Beauvois” is nominated, but the movie is called “Of Gods and Men.” Geez.

Here are the nominees. I put in links to their IMDB pages.

European Film Awards 2010 Nominees

European Film

“The Ghost Writer” dir. Roman Polanski
“Honey” dir. Semih Kaplanoglu
“Of Gods and Men” dir. Xavier Beauvios
“Lebanon” dir. Samuel Maoz
“The Secret in their Eyes” dir. Juan Jose Campanella

European Director

Roman Polanski for “The Ghost Writer”
Olivier Assayas for “Carlos”
Semih Kaplanoglu for “Honey”
Samuel Maoz for “Lebanon”
Paolo Virzi for “The First Beautiful Thing”

European Actress

Zrinka Cvitesic in “On the Path”
Sibel Kekilli in “When We Leave”
Lesley Manville in “Another Year”
Sylvie Testud in “Lourdes”
Lotte Verbeek in “Nothing Personal”

European Actor

Ewan McGregor in “The Ghost Writer”
Jakob Cedergren in “Submarino”
Elio Germano in “Our Life”
George Pistereanu in “If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle”
Luis Tosar in “Cell 311”

European Screenwriter

Robert Harris & Roman Polanski for “The Ghost Writer”
Jorge Guerricaechevarria & Daniel Monzon for “Cell 311”
Samuel Maoz for “Lebanon”
Radu Mihaileanu for “The Concert”

Carlo di Palma Cinematography Award

Giora Bejach for “Lebanon”
Caroline Champetier for “Of Gods and Men”
Pavel Kostomarov for “How I Ended this Summer”
Baris Ozbicer for “Honey”

European Editor

Herve de Luzefor “The Ghost Writer”
Luc Barnier & Marion Monnier for “Carlos”
Arik Lahav-Leibovich for “Lebanon”

European Production Designer

Albrecht Konrad for “The Ghost Writer”
Paola Bizzarri & Luis Ramirez for “I, Don Giovanni” (both are uncredited, very odd)
Markku Patila & Jaagup Roomet for “The Temptation of St. Tony”

European Composer

Alexandre Desplat for “The Ghost Writer”
Ales Brezina for “Kawasaki’s Rose”
Pasquale Catalano for “Loose Cannons”
Gary Yershon for “Another Year”

Besides The Ghost Writer, The Secret In Their Eyes and Lebanon, the only films I’ve seen on the list are If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle which was decent even if I wanted to slap the shit out of the lead character (the Best Actor nomination is very deserved. Some smart casting director should get George Pistereanu in Hollywood to play Ryan Phillipe or Channing Tatum’s brother); The Concert, which had some nice moments but overall I didn’t like; and How I Ended This Summer, which I absolutely hated, HATED! though the acting was excellent and it very much deserves the cinematography nomination and win.

Yes. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I remember that it was quite enjoyable. It stars Rutger Hauer.

And Miranda Richardson! I haven’t seen it or read the book, which I own. It’s always been in my One Of These Days pile.

Oh, great, another prize on the shelf for the acclaimed pedophile and movie director. Gee, between Michael Jackson and Roman Polanski, we just can’t honor our talented pedophiles enough!

The book was great, but I thought the film sucked the big one!
The biggest problem with the film is that they totally changed the ending - not just a bit, but totally changed it! After reading the book, I had recommended all my friends see the film when it was aired (on HBO or whatever?) and afterward, I emailed them all to apologize for making them sit through that crap!
Read the book, “Fatherland”, but avoid that crap film version at all costs!

Oh settle down. He hasn’t won anything. It’s just a nomination. I’m not going to condemn his work because he did a scumbaggy thing 30whatever years ago. He’s a great director who makes great films. And by the way, he’s not a pedophile. To call him one shows ignorance and cheapens the word and meaning. He was an opportunistic rapist.

Ooh, I’m sorry. He had sex with a 13 year old girl. He’s an epebephile! that makes it OH, SO RIGHT!

I did *not *know that.

(But Rutger Hauer isn’t at all like I picture the protagonist! Such is the case so often when I read the book first.)

Please excuse the derail and continue on with European cinema.

Edited to add that I liked the ending of the Harris book–it leaves things unresolved, eh? I likely won’t rent the movie version if that was changed.

stares at Evil Captor

Did I say it was right? No. It was as wrong as wrong could be.

I saw the movie in the theater, and I thought it was a well-made piece of claptrap.

This thread is getting very confusing, with so many hijacks in so few posts - but I am partly at fault for doing this in my own thread.
Savannah, assuming you mean the ending of the book “Fatherland”, that is the HBO film version that butchered the original ending of that book.
Anyway - getting back to The Ghost Writer…I thought it was an excellent film and highly recommend seeing it.

Ahem, Roman Polanski is not a pedophile. He’s a rapist. Do you really think the French would protect someone accused of something so horrible as pedophilia? I mean, what’s a little anal rape among 40 year old man and 15 year old girls?

Ok, I guess you can unsettle now.

Roman Polanski’s ‘Ghost Writer’ Tops European Film Awards

The winners:

European Film Academy Animated Feature Film: "The Illusionist"
European Film Academy Documentary – Prix Arte: “Nostalgia De La Luz” (“Nostalgia for the Light”)
European Director: Roman Polanski, "The Ghost Writer"
European Actor: Ewan McGregor, "The Ghost Writer"
European Actress: Sylvie Testud, "Lourdes"
European Screenwriter: Robert Harris and Roman Polanski, "The Ghost Writer"
European Editor: Luc Barnier and Marioin Monnier, "Carlos"
European Composer: Alexandre Desplat, "The Ghost Writer"
Carlo Di Palma European Cinematographer Award: Giora Bejach, "Lebanon"
European Production Designer: Albrecht Konrad, "The Ghost Writer"
European Discovery – Prix Fipresci: "Lebanon"
The People’s Choice Award for Best European Film: "Mr. Nobody"
European Achievement in World Cinema: Gabriel Yared
European Film Academy Short Film: “Hanoi – Warszawa” (“Hanoi – Warsaw”)
European Co-Production Award – Prix Eurimages: Zeynep Ozbatur Atakan
European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award: Bruno Ganz

Saw it. Didn’t care for it. More “evil America” nonsense from Europe.

Spectacular movie; I’m glad it’s getting the recognition it deserves.

Evil Captor, It’s been fifteen years since Samantha Geimer said she forgave Polanski and didn’t think what happened back then ought to preclude him from being recognized as one of the greatest directors of all time. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone else could manage to get over it?

If you want to talk about Roman Polanski’s sex life, start a new thread.

If you want to talk about the book or the movie Fatherland, start a new thread.

If you want to talk about the movie The Ghost Writer, the book it is based on, or the job that the director did with it, you’re in the right place.

Thanks,

twickster, Cafe Society moderator

Uh, what? It has been over 9 months since I’ve seen it, but I don’t remember what America being evil had to do with it at all. Refresh my memory?