The Talented Mr. Ripley / School Ties (Double Feature)
by Robert Mandel
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DVD details
Actor: Andrew Lowery, Brendan Fraser, Chris O'Donnell, Matt Damon, Randall BatinkoffDirector: Robert Mandel
Brand: DAMON,MATT
Cinematographer: Freddie Francis
Producer: Danton Rissner
Producer: Michael Tadross
Producer: Sherry Lansing
Producer: Stanley R. Jaffe
Writer: Darryl Ponicsan
Writer: Dick Wolf
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of The Talented Mr. Ripley / School Ties (Double Feature)
DVD Review: Veering A Long Way from The Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautifully crafted movie with fine acting, directing, cinematography, and an artful script. The Italian locations are beautiful and striking. In its own realm of cinema, it is a superb production.
What interests me most, though, is how the film differs from Patricia Highsmith's fine novel. The film medium should not slavishly follow another art form, the novel, but should it veer so far off course as this one? We know that Highsmith was not too happy with film interpretations of her work, but we wonder how she would have reacted to this. She died in 1995; this came out in 1999.
Anthony Minghella, director and screenwriter, took considerable liberties with the source material. In the movie Tom commits three murders rather than the two in the novel. He is gayer in the movie while he is more closeted in the book. The character of Freddie (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is more sinister, nastier, and more important in the movie. Meredith, a key player in the movie, is non-existent, and Tom does not have a love affair with Peter Smyth Kingsley.
In the book Dickie paints rather than plays the saxophone. He has no local girlfriend whom he gets with child. In the book Marge has no accusation scene with Tom and is far more passive. In the movie Dickie's father cedes his son's inheritance to Tom; in the book Tom steals it by forging the son's signature. And so it goes.
Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf steals the movie while a toothy and bespectacled Damon, though he does a fine job, seems more a witness than participant in the first part of movie. Tom is always trying to ingratiate himself with Dickie while Dickie often shows his complete disdain for him, calling him spooky, creepy, and a leech. Tom openly admits to his idol that he forges, lies, and does impersonations. Later, of course, he becomes Dickie for a time. Tom reads too much sexual meaning into some of Dickie's actions.
The movie makes Tom more guilt-ridden than the book in which he jettisons his conscience. A memorable line by Tom from the movie: "I'd always thought it'd be better to be a real somebody than a fake nobody."
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Description of The Talented Mr. Ripley / School Ties (Double Feature)
No Description Available.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 5-FEB-2008
Media Type: DVD
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