The Ghost (Karen Oganesyan, 2008): Russia

Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

After seeing the 2004 thriller Night Watch I became a fan of modern Russian cinema. I enjoy the similarities to western styles mixed with some things that still seem a little “far out” to mainstream American audiences. With that in mind, I decided the first film I would watch after opening night of the Santa Barbara Film Festival would be Karen Oganesyan’s psychological thriller The Ghost. This proved to be a worthwhile film on multiple levels.

Pulp fiction novelist Anton Prachenko (Konstantin Khabenskiy) is in a rut. He can’t finish his new novel, he’s relapsed into a life of alcoholism and his girlfriend Vika (Chulpan Khamatova) is walking all over him. At a signing for his previous book, Anton meets a mysterious man shrouded in shadows. After Anton signs a copy for him, the man walks outside the bookstore and murders two people in cold blood. Though Anton is initially terrified, he soon sees the man–a trained hit man known as “The Ghost”–as his muse, and begins writing his next novel using The Ghost’s life story. The Ghost’s inspiration allows Anton to regain control over his life, but with their lives entangled, Anton must figure out whether he is still writing fiction, or if his stories are becoming real.

I really enjoyed this film. I particularly enjoyed the use of shallow focus on so many shots. Oganesyan and Cinematographer Zaur Bolotayev know what they want you to look at, and they don’t give you a chance to let your eyes wander. I felt that most of the action sequences in the film were similar to the Jason Bourne series, with their use of quick cuts and all hand-held cameras. My only technical criticism of the film is that the English subtitles were very poorly written and many typos can be seen throughout the film. Aside from that, this was a great film to get entangled in.

Although the film belongs to Konstantin Khabenskiy and his tormented character, I felt like Vladamir Mashkov really stole the show. His lack of emotion make his character so intriguing that you want to see even deeper into his soul, but when you finally do, it terrifies you and you take a step back. Though no one can match Anthony Hopkin’s prolific performance, I would draw a comparison with “The Ghost” to Hannibal Lector.

Overall, this film was a great start to what appears to be a great film festival. This marks the U.S. premiere of The Ghost but I’m sure it will be seen elsewhere in the future. It was well praised at the Toronto Film Festival and had a successful run in its native Russia late last year. The Ghost is an edge-of-your-seat thriller and will keep your heart pounding until the last shot and when I say shot, you have to guess if I mean screenshot or gunshot.