i liked it a lot, but i got a bit confused, i may have to see it again to understand better...
share[deleted]
Yes, it stands on its own, and cannot be compared to Ripley's Game. They are in my opinion, two different films with a thin thread connecting. Wenders made many adaptations. However I preferred John Malkovich as Ripley. Dennis Hopper just didn't get Ripley.
sharethere are many ripleys!
alain delone, john malkovich, dennis hopper, matt dilon
andrea
In my opinion John Malkovich was a much more sinister, menacing Ripley . . . Alain Delon was fabulous and gorgeous to see, Hopper was . . . well, weird as always, and Matt Dilon never played Ripley, it was Matt Damon. Ugh
shareAlthough many people seem to think positive about this movie, I did not think it was that great. Maybe I have seen "The Talented Mr. Ripley (Matt Damon)" and "Ripley's Game (John Malkovich)" prior to seeing this one. In this movie, I did not think Ripley's pathology was well illustrated. But I assume how it ended must have been very traumatic for Ripley, and it would only made him pathology worse...
share WOW! I think Matt Dillon would make a great Ripley! Thanx.
I agree that Ripley's complexities weren't examined well in this film. I saw it about 20 years ago & simply saw him as a manipulative criminal.
Now--let me point some thing out, tho. I haven't read Highsmith's stories, but, from what I've read on these boards, she gave Ripley homoerotic 'undertones'--not overt acts. Correct me if I'm mistaken. What I'm getting @ is that, if Minghella & Damon chose to show him being overtly homosexual or bisexual, but Highsmith never did--you can't blame Wenders or Hopper--or anyone else, for NOT delving into it.
Carpe Noctem
I think also from memory that Ripley was not the main character of this film. It was explored more from the Picture Framers POV. Ripleys psychology was hardly touched on while the Picture Framer was framed in a very empathetic way. His story was very much in the foreground.
shareRight. It was Bruno Ganz--as the framer.
Carpe Noctem
The framer got framed...
my vote history:
http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27424531
If you get the chance, read the books. All the 3 of them.
Only 'Purple Noon' captures some of the spirit that makes the novels so outstanding. I'm saying that although I adore Malkovich and although I don't like Alain Delon very much. And I keep thinking that in 1962 Polanski did the truest Ripley up to now: Nóż w wodzie (The Knife in the Water)
far too dark to capture the spirit of the ripliad: while i do think that this film captured an important, if not sordid, part of the ripley character, one never feels the oppressive darkness when reading the highsmith novels as one does here. at no point in this film did we genuinely like tom ripley and in the novels, one of the most fascinating aspects remains how highsmith managed to make a serial killer like tom ripley not only sympathetic, but entirely likeable. the three other released films illustrate this far more creatively than this film even attempted -- "purple noon" captured this using a worldwise and languid ripley, "the talented mr. ripley" conjured this using a naive and emotive ripley, and "ripley's game" went even further than both those by using a brooding and laconic ripley -- and further, this film somehow relegated ripley to soemthing of an supporting castmemeber when ripley's by far the more compelling character.
shareSome of the plot points are confusing (and would have been more so had I not read the novel and seen "Ripley's Game" with John Malkovich). And I'm not sure what writer-director Wim Wenders and Hopper were going for in this strange incarnation of Patricia Highsmith's character, Tom Ripley. He wears a cowboy hat, is full of self-doubt and strange behaviors (such as taking Polaroids of himself lying on a pool table while his head is surrounded by other Polaroids), and is, for me, utterly inscrutable.
But this isn't really his movie. It's Ganz's as the picture framer. Ganz and Wenders make his character like and unlike Highsmith. He's as morally dubious as all her leading characters, but he seems far less beset by guilt and fear. Though he considers suicide at one point, the whole business gives him a tremendous high.
Wenders gives his film many long, silent sequences that are suspenseful and fascinating. Robby Müller's cinematography brings out all possible emotional power to sordid or banal settings. It's a beautiful job, and may be the best thing about this fine film.
... Justin
i sometimes wonder whether or not they gleaned the cowboy ripley idea from patricia highsmith's own biographical details seeing as she's from texas and settled in europe...
shareIt was funny to get this reply right now. I'm in the middle of watching "Purple Noon," which is of course another Ripley story.
I didn't know Highsmith was from Texas. I wish I had listened to the commentary on that DVD before I returned it. I'd really like to know what Hopper and Wenders were going for.
... Justin
i think this is the best ripley film. "purple noon" is decent. "talente mr. ripley" is ok. "ripley's game" is nowhere near as good as "american friend" and hopper's performance is more original then any of the other actors who've played the character.
shareI don't like the movie much, but then I've never been a Wenders fan.
The film tried to combine a gangster film with an art house film (in Godard fashion) but ended up succeeding as neither. Wenders' direction of dialogue scenes feels wooden and clumsy, as does the editing. The pacing is too slow, way too much time is wasted in the first half on establishing Jonathan as a family man. The film would have benefited from being 30 minutes shorter.
The film does have its moments: the scenes on the train, certain shots of Hamburg and Paris (thanks to Robby Müller), the mysterious ambulance gang. But it's not enough to make the film worthwhile as a whole.