The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Directed by Anthony Minghella
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
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The director adapted the script from the 1955 novel by Patricia Highsmith -- whose "Strangers On a Train" became one of Hitchcock's most disquieting classics.
I saw The Talented Mr. Ripley with a friend who had read the book (by Patricia Highsmith, who also wrote Strangers on a Train).
Ripley and his chilling adventures are the subject of five novels by the late Patricia High-smith, whose first book, "Strangers on a Train," was turned into the memorable Alfred Hitchcock film.
Alfred Hitchcock made "Strangers on a Train" (1951), based on one of her books.
And in a performance that should put him solidly in the running for this year's Best Actor Oscar, he not only penetrates to the core of Highsmith's vision (also seen in other excellent films such as Strangers on a Train and Wim Wenders' The American Friend) but adds inspired new strokes to her monstrously beguiling creation.
This time in a grander and more elaborate version, as Tom Ripley (Damon) is made into a closet homosexual and someone capable of killing anyone who interferes with his plans to assume someone else's identity -- which makes the crime thriller take on a slightly different meaning from the way Highsmith intended it (she also wrote the novel for the great Hitchcock film, "Strangers on a Train").
It has echoes of Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).
"Ripley," which is obsessed with Hitchcock, alludes repeatedly to "Vertigo" and "Psycho," most obviously.
This is sorta kinda like in Hitchcock' overrated "Psycho", or more precisely like in one of my all-time favorites, Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", in which you also get into the mind of a violent sociopath.
It has echoes of Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).
"Ripley," which is obsessed with Hitchcock, alludes repeatedly to "Vertigo" and "Psycho," most obviously.
It has echoes of Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).
There's a lot of latter-day Hitch on display here, To Catch a Thief and Frenzy, and even a touch of Ren� Cl�ment, who last adapted the Highsmith novel and called it Plein soleil (Purple Noon).
There's a lot of latter-day Hitch on display here, To Catch a Thief and Frenzy, and even a touch of Ren� Cl�ment, who last adapted the Highsmith novel and called it Plein soleil (Purple Noon).
Not since Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now has a film used the patina'd beauty of Italy to such intense psychological effect.
Then there was Wim Wenders better version, "The American Friend (77)," where Dennis Hopper got into the sinister con man's character and showed how his criminal guilt was related to Germany's postwar guilt.
The impish xylophone riff that plays when Tom tells his lies, the extras whose clothes and postures make them look like escapees from La Dolce Vita, the million little verbal stratagems by which Tom manipulates everyone around him all work together to create a cunning little machine of a movie.
The ever resourceful Tom enjoys la dolce vita to such a great extent that when it looks like the good times will finally end, he masterminds a convoluted plot that he hopes will place him permanently on top.
The carefully selected locations and scenery evoke the mood of La Dolce Vita in the 1950s, the film composition and editing are tight and effective, and the acting performances from Damon and the supporting cast are outstanding.
The impish xylophone riff that plays when Tom tells his lies, the extras whose clothes and postures make them look like escapees from La Dolce Vita, the million little verbal stratagems by which Tom manipulates everyone around him ?
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Murch's credits include The Godfather trilogy (1972, 74, 90), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), and The English Patient (1996).
Rene Clement filmed Highsmith's novel in 1960 as Purple Noon; that version was more conventional and derivative of Hitchcock, but at least it didn't inflate the story, as Minghella does, to the proportions of Ben-Hur.
This is sorta kinda like in Hitchcock' overrated "Psycho", or more precisely like in one of my all-time favorites, Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", in which you also get into the mind of a violent sociopath.
Mr. Minghella, who also wrote the script, aptly captures the spooky mood of Patricia Highsmith�s truly frightening novel, which was also the basis of Rene Clement�s 1960 thriller Purple Noon with Alain Delon.
However, I can say for sure that renting North By Northwest (or the The Talented Mr. Ripley's original incarnation, Rene Clement's Purple Noon) would be much more satisfying.
Minghella jettisons the thrilling narcissism in Rene Clement's 1960 version of "Ripley," "Purple Noon," in which Alain Delon was forced to be luxuriously obsessed with himself.
Filmed before in 1960 as France's Purple Noon, this newer version tells the story of Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), a kid of lower standing who, through unusual circumstances, finds himself hanging out in Italy with a wealthy American slacker (Jude Law) and the latter's big-hearted girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Rene Clement filmed Highsmith's novel in 1960 as Purple Noon; that version was more conventional and derivative of Hitchcock, but at least it didn't inflate the story, as Minghella does, to the proportions of Ben-Hur.
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Murch's credits include The Godfather trilogy (1972, 74, 90), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), and The English Patient (1996).
(Theres more life and heat in any one of their scenes together than there is in all of The English Patient.)
Writer/director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) has crafted a dark thriller based on the novel by the late Patricia Highsmith about spoiled, wealthy socialites, identity-stealing, and homosexuality.
Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient") should be recognized as a quality director.
Far superior to Minghella's last, much-touted effort, The English Patient, Ripley doesn't flinch for a minute at the unsavory implications of the aforementioned question, and that makes this movie about as discomfiting a "prestige film" as one could imagine.
Directed by Oscar winner Anthony Minghella ( "The English Patient" ) with many nods to the master of subtle, upscale thrillers, this picture boasts gorgeous, Italian seaside locations; layers of romantic Machiavellian intrigue; honest-to-goodness surprises that unfold before your eyes; a goose-pimply, Bernard Herrman-inspired score (by "Patient" composer Gabriel Yared); and a glamorous, talented cast that could give Hitchcock's favorite players a run for their money.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is directed by Anthony Minghella who helmed the wonderful ghost-romance Truly Madly Deeply (1991) and the bloated and boring The English Patient (1996).