The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchette, Philip Seymore Hoffman; d. Anthony Minghella; A-

In 1999, one of the biggest movie battles was, and still is, The Talented Mr. Ripley vs. Purple Noon. Two movies, same book. Which is better? Many feel it is Purple Noon, the 1960's French film that was "a lesson in subtility". However, when I rented Purple Noon, I didn't see a masterpeice. I saw, what we'd like to say, the four-letter word standing for "fecies". Having read The Talented Mr. Ripley a number of times, I would expect to know what was going on. However, for the life of me, I couldn't. It was like watching a bad dream. I didn't know who the characters were, and I didn't even know they were in Italy! And there wasn't anything "subtle" about it. There just wasn't anything there. So obviously I'm going to side with The Talented Mr. Ripley on this one, which was one of the best, if not the best, film of 1999.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is the suspensful tale of Tom Ripley, an American living poorly in New York. He has a shabby appartment in Manhattan which faces a dirty alley. The closest he ever gets to a rich lifestyle, the lifestyle he craves for, is at his job at a concert hall, forced to watch the rich and the proud enjoy the quality entertainment money can provide. But all of that starts to become a faded memory when he meets a wealthy buisness man at a party where he is playing the piano. It's almost by fate that he would be there: Tom is filling in for the original piano player whose arm is broken. He's also wearing the man's Princeton jacket. Because of this, the buisness man, Herbert Greenleaf, mistakes him for a Princeton graduate who knew his son, Dickie. Herbert is desperatley trying to get Dickie to come back home from Italy to start helping him out with the shipbuilding buisness, and sees a way with Tom. However, for Herbert, that might be the biggest mistake he's ever made. But for Tom, a free trip to Italy, to expirience the lifestyle he's always dreamed of, is a dream come true.

I, for the life of me, fail to see any flaws in this movie, especially in the second-half. It amazes me that someone would dislike a movie just because a certain character, who is obviously destined to death, is murdered. This has to be one of the most idiotic reasons to dislike a movie. Several of these complaints also come from people who think it's stupid to be surprised that people die at the end of Titanic. I also don't agree with the opinion that the second half "dies" along with Dickie, and mostly because of Matt Damon. Matt Damon gives one of his most brilliant performances in his career, he was indeed perfect for this role. Sure, I can see someone else in the role of Tom Ripley in this movie, however, Matt Damon plays it to perfection. He really shows Tom's emotional delimmas not through his voice but in his superb facial expressions, showing inner torment, joy, shock, and sadness. Matt Damon, though, is not the only shining star in this excellent cast. Philip Seymore Hoffman is probably the second-best actor in this movie, playing the wild, but unremarkably keen Freddie Miles. Also noticable is Jude Law and Cate Blanchette, whose American accents are flawless. However if there was one person to be nominated for an Oscar in this cast, it should've been either Matt Damon or Philip Seymore Hoffman.

It's unfortunate that my favorite director, Alfred Hitchcock, never adapted Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, especially after he adapted her first novel Strangers on a Train. However director Anthony Minghella's adaption is probably as cloas as you are going to get. A fellow friend and review of mine, Brian Jones, said it best, that The Talented Mr. Ripley is Minghella's tribute to Hitchcock. You may not get that impression in the first half of the film, but it comes on strong in the second half. There are so many elements of Hitchcock that are poured into the second half, including the "cool blonde" (Gwyneth Paltrow's character Marge, who becomes colder and colder as she becomes more suspcious of Tom). There are also various scenes remincent of Hitchcock: The opera scene, reminceint of The Man Who Knew Too Much and Torn Curtain; the "nightmare" scene with his spirical camera movvements, remincent of Vertigo; the "sucide note" scene, remincent of Marnie in which Tippi Hedren sheds the evidence of her crime; the intergation scene in Venice which is remincent of several humorous parts in Hitchcock's films, among others. Also noticable is the homosexuality of the book being examined in the movie, something that Hitchcock would've done. Yes, obviously the vision of Minghella is nonexistant in this film, however, it doesn't falter the film in any way.

This is definatley one of the best films of the 90's and should not be missed. You can either love it or hate it, but it's worth checking out.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001