Three posters have now been released for “Nine”. This really builds up the suspense of wanting to see this movie even more. I like all three of them, as they are all different, with different pictures of the actors on them.

Anul 2008 a fost un an negru la Hollywood, asta dupa ce lumea filmului a pierdut cateva dintre cele mai mari valori ale sale. Mai trist este faptul ca acesti actori au murit inainte de vreme, lasand in urma roluri memorabile si suflete triste.

Heath Ledger

Stirea din 22 decembrie care ne anunta ca Heath Ledger nu mai este printre noi ne-a lovit pe toti ca un fulger. Chiar daca am sperat sa fie vorba de o greseala si asteptam ca aceste zvonuri sa fie infirmate de Heath, acest lucru nu s-a intamplat. Si mai tragic este faptul ca actorul se afla in plina ascensiune, dupa succesul mare inregistrat cu “Brokeback Mountain” si avea doar 29 de ani. O supradoza accidentala de medicamente a fost suficienta sa ne lase indurerati si sa luam cu asalt ultimul film pe care l-a finalizat: “The Dark Knight” unde l-a interpretat pe nemesis-ul lui Batman – Jokerul. Acest ultim rol pe care l-a dus la bun sfarsit s-a dovedit a fi o interpretare magistrala, care a fost premiata cu un Oscar post-mortem si care va ramane mereu in sufletul nostru.

Brad Renfro

Acest tanar talent a murit cu cateva zile inaintea lui Heath Ledger la varsta de doar 26 de ani, in urma unei supradoze de heroina. Dupa debutul in filmul The Client, Renfro a dovedit ca e un actor bun atat in drame cat si in comedii. Dovada vie a talentului sau stau filmele Apt Pupil sau Ghost World. Ultimul sau film – The Informers – a aparut pe marile ecrane la un an dupa moartea sa si a intrunit o distributie impresionanta formata din actori precum Billy Bob Thorton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder sau Rhys Ifans.

Bernie Mac

La 50 de ani, Bernie Mac era un tanar plin de viata prins intr-un corp de adult. Este trist sa vezi cum o pneumonie poate sa rapeasca unul dintre cele mai mari valori de pe scena comediei americane. The Original Kings of Comedy, aparut in 2000, a fost productia care a atintit toate luminile asupra acestui stand-up comedian foarte talentat, care a plecat dintre noi mult prea devreme. Ce a urmat mai apoi in 2001, avea sa fie rampa lui de lansare spre succes. Serialul The Bernie Mac Show a vrajit din prima publicul, inregistrand un succes fantastic si fiind nominalizat atat la premiile Emmy cat si la Golden Globes. De aici a inceput pentru Bernie un ultim deceniu de viata cu aparitii in filme de referinta precum Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Bad Santa, Guess Who, Soul Men sau, ultimul film in care il putem vedea, Old Dogs.

Isaac Lee Hayes

Cu toate ca s-a facut remarcat mai mult pe scena muzicala in calitate de compozitor si cantaret, Isaac Lee Hayes o sa ramana cunoscut mereu pentru insufletirea personajului Chef, din celebra animatie South Park. Din 1997 pana in 2005 acesta i-a dat viata bucatarului de la cantina scolii din South Park. Chiar daca avea 65 de ani, nu parea sa incetineasca deloc,insa atacul de cord pe care acesta l-a suferit pe 10 august 2008 avea sa incheie o cariera care ar mai fi putut continua ani buni.

Anthony Minghella

Cu toate ca a debutat ca regizor in 1990 cu filmul Truly, Madly, Deeply, Minghella a atins apogeul carierei sale in 1996, cand a filmul The English Patient, pe care l-a regizat si al carui scenariu l-a scris, a fost distins cu 9 premii Oscar si 2 premii Golden Globe. Succesul acestui film sta ca dovada talentului si viziunii extraordinare de care a dat dovada acest regizor si scenarist valoros de-a lungul timpului. Filme precum The Talented Mr. Ripley sau Cold Mountain nu fac decat sa pastreze vie amintirea lui in lumea cinematografiei. Ziua de 18 martie 2008 avea sa aduca vestea decesului sau, survenit in urma unei hemoragii, dupa ce cu o saptamana inainte regizorul fusese operat pentru extirparea unei tumori maligne.

Patrick Swayze

Cand am aflat ca Patrick Swayze a fost diagnosticat cu cancer pancreatic, am sperat cu totii ca va infrange boala si va continua sa ne fure privirile in noi productii. Dar soarta nu a fost de partea lui si dupa o lupta care a durat aproape 2 ani, actorul a decedat pe 14 septembrie, acasa, inconjurat de familie si sotia sa, Lisa Niemi, cu care s-a casatorit in 1975. Dirty Dancing si Ghost sunt cu siguranta doua dintre filmele prin care Swayze si-a asigurat nemurirea in lumea cinematografiei. Chiar si in ultimele luni din viata actorul nu a renuntat la ceea ce stia el sa faca mai bine: actoria. Astfel, acesta a reaparut pe marile ecrane pe 15 ianuarie 2009, in rolul principal din serialul TV The Beast. Avea doar 57 de ani…si l-am pierdut.

]]> http://filmsaddiction.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/breaking-and-entering/ Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:34:13 +0000 amore http://filmsaddiction.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/breaking-and-entering/

Drygt två timmars drama, stundtals våldsamt, om längtan och drömmen om en bättre framtid.
Förpackad i bedövande vackra bilder av den amerikanska södern på 1800-talet.Kan det verkligen hålla?
Svaret blir ett tveklöst ja.

I 1860-talets USA står inbördeskriget för dörren när den vackra prästdottern Ada kommer till den lilla bergsbyn Cold Mountain i NordCarolina.Nästan genast förälskar hon sig i den tystlåtne Inman, men de hinner knappt utdela filmens första kyss förrän kriget bryter ut och den stilige unge mannen försvinner iväg för att göra sin plikt på slagfälten i federationens tjänst.
Men en episk film vore inte just episk om det inte är nu som själva storyn tar fart, utmaningarna börjar.Inman såras och bestämmer sig för att desertera för att ta sig hem till Ada som i sin tur inget hellre önskar än att han ska dyka upp igen.
Dessutom behövs en man i huset efter att hennes far prästen plötsligt gått bort.

Regissören Anthony Minghella (Den engelske patienten) har satsat allt på snygga miljöer, bedårande filmfoto, våldsamheter och hinkvis med kärlek.Kanske tanken är att närma sig Borta med vinden-känslan.
Dit kan det vara svårt nog att ta sig, men faktum är att Cold Mountain håller mig i ett fast grepp under sina drygt 140 minuter. Nicole Kidman gör ännu ett snyggt porträtt av en till början hjälplös kvinna som växer med den förestående uppgiften och till slut lär sig både hur man nackar höns och lagar gårdsstaket, Jude Law´s rättrådige Inman gör allt för att ta sig hem till Ada.

På vägen hinner han träffa underliga, trasiga, illvilliga och ibland behövande figurer.Inman gör sitt bästa för att behålla livhanken eller göra en avstickare för en god gärning om så behövs, dock aldrig utan att tappa fokus på sin uppgift, att återse sin hemby och kärleken som han hoppas väntar där.Halvvägs in i filmen dyker filmens stora behållning, Ruby, upp.En bonddotter, uppväxt i bergen och med en svada värt namnet.
Hon tar plats på Adas nu förfallna gård och hjälper henne att komma på fötter igen.Ruby är på något sätt filmens comic relief, som skyddar den från att bli alltför tung och överpretto. Reneé Zellweger som Ruby har aldrig varit mer klockren, och här satt oscarsstatyetten som gjuten.

Lägg till allt detta en grymt bra uppställning på birolls-listan (kolla in Philip Seymor Hoffman!) och framför allt ett makalöst bra soundtrack och man är liksom hemma.
Åter till Cold Mountain torde vara en historia som tilltalar både män och kvinnor. Här finns hinkvis med episk kärlek och längtan varvat med rejäla western-tilltag.

Din nästa lördagsfilm?

W polskich kinach zapowiada się prawdziwy wysyp filmów z udziałem Kristin Scott Thomas. Na ekranach można oglądać już “Largo Winch” Jerome Salle, oraz komedię “Wojna domowa” Stephena Elliota, gdzie Angielka gra rolę pani Whittaker zwalczającej swoją nowo upieczoną synową (Jessica Biel). Nietrudno zgadnąć, że Thomas swoim dyskretnym urokiem przyćmiewa występ Amerykanki. Kolejny film z jej udziałem wejdzie do naszych kin 18 września i to najsilniejsza pozycja – “Kocham Cię od tak dawna” w reżyserii Philippe’a Claudela. Tu aktorce powierzono rolę byłej więźniarki przystosowującej się na nowo do realiów współczesnej Francji. Krytyka uznała tę rolę za najlepszy występ w jej karierze, a prasa rozpisywała się o tym, że Thomas wystąpiła w filmie zupełnie bez makijażu. To prawdziwy aktorski popis:

Nominowana do Oscara za rolę w “Angielskim pacjencie” Anthony’ego Minghelli (1996), pamiętna Fiona z ”Czterych wesel i pogrzebu” Mike’a Newella (1994) i Lady Sylvia z ”Gosford Park” Roberta Altmana (2001).  Pojawienie się Thomas  na ekranie zawsze jest znaczące. Jej nazwisko to gwarancja jakości z najwyższej światowej półki, a także symbol gwiazdorstwa w prawdziwie europejskim stylu – z powodzeniem występuje zarówno w filmach angielskich, jak i francuskich (tak jak w ciekawym, wyświetlanym i u nas, “Nie mów nikomu” Guillaume’a Canet, 2006). Warto też sobie przypomnieć, że tak naprawdę wylansował ją Roman Polański, powierzając początkującej wówczas aktorce rolę w “Gorzkich godach” (1992). Poniżej pamiętna scena tańca:

by: Adam Kruk 2009

We give the movie industry late August and all of September to recover from the busy summer season, but in October, it starts to kick it into gear again.  Unfortunately, my most anticipated movie in October, Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” was pushed back to February.  But the month still puts forth several great movies for all tastes.

October 2

This week, I can promise you that I will be throwing my money not at a new release, but at the re-release of two staples of my childhood.  ”Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ will hit theaters again for a few weeks.  1 ticket.  2 movies. 3-D.  Need I say more?

The week also gives us “The Invention of Lying,” which could be a sleeper comedy hit. The movie stars Ricky Gervais, who was the lead of the British version of “The Office.” Around this time last year, he starred in “Ghost Town,” a comedy with a heart that you need to go rent now, that was dismissed by audiences. I have high hopes for his latest, in which he plays a man who tells the world’s first lie on an alternate Earth. He continues to wield the power to suit his own selfish needs. The movie also features Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and the always funny Tina Fey.

And not to mention, the week delivers Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, “Whip It.” The movie stars the irresistible Ellen Page (“Juno”) as Bliss, a teenager weary of the beauty pageants that she is forced into by her parents. One day, she discovers the world of roller derby and she finds the happiness that she has been so desperately seeking. The movie boasts a hilarious supporting cast including Kristen Wiig (“SNL”), Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden, and Barrymore herself.

And it just keeps getting better.  The Coen Brothers (“No Country for Old Men”) are back with their latest feature, “A Serious Man;” they also wrote the original screenplay.  The movie seems to be a big risk.  It features no marquee names other than the Coens themselves. The trailer is cryptic, giving no indication of what to expect from the movie. I don’t mind an aura of mystique, but this is an aura of confusion. The movie is being marketed as a dark comedy, and I pray that it is the polar opposite of the Coens’ last foray into the genre, “Burn After Reading,” which I didn’t find funny at all. The movie starts in limited release and then will slowly expand from New York and Los Angeles.

The other major release of the week is “Zombieland,” a horror-comedy with Woody Harrelson.

October 9

The only exciting movie hitting theaters across the country this weekend is “Couples Retreat.”  A comedy centered around four couples at a luxurious tropical resort that is revealed to be a marriage therapy clinic, it appears to provide something for everyone.  It has pretty women (Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis) AND funny guys (Jason Bateman, Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau).  The movie is the directorial debut of Ralph Billingsley, best known for playing Ralphie in “A Christmas Story,” and the screenplay is written by Vaughn and Favreau.  Hopefully it can provide some good laughs in a season usually replete of hilarious comedies.

Opening in limited release is “An Education,” a movie that has been garnering massive Oscar buzz for months now.  Most of it has centered on the breakout performance of lead actress Carey Mulligan.  In the movie, she stars as Jenny, a 17-year-old in 1960s England who is set on going to Oxford.  However, an older gentleman (Peter Sarsgaard) comes along and sweeps her off of her feet, introducing her to a lifestyle that she immediately loves.  But reality bites, and Jenny is left at a crucial crossroads.  The movie has also generated buzz around supporting actors Alfred Molina and Rosamund Pike (the red-haired villain of “Die Another Day”).  Raves are also flying in for the screenplay, written by author Nick Hornby, writer of “About a Boy” and “Fever Pitch.”  And with the 10 nominees for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, many people say it has a good chance of claiming one of the ten.

October 16

Finally.  This weekend will bring the long-anticipated movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are.”  And unlike “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” this looks like it will stay somewhat along the story of its source material.  The movie is cloaked in a fair amount of mystique, but most fans of the book are excited for the direction it is heading.  The film features an exciting collaboration between quirky director Spike Jonze (“Being John Malkovich”) and renowned writer Dave Eggers (“Away We Go”).  The technology, which involved the actors walking around in giant suits while filming, stays true to the look of Sendak’s book but gives them some upgrades.  The cast is phenomenal, featuring Catherine Keener, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, and Mark Ruffalo.  The movie has even been talked about as having what it takes to be nominated for Best Picture.  But I only see this is as plausible if it can assuage the die-hard fans of the book.  I think they will be, because my entire theater burst out in applause after watching the trailer at the midnight showing of “Harry Potter.”  Regardless of what anyone thinks, I’m going to see it.

In limited release, “New York, I Love You,” opens.  I wouldn’t feature this trailer or even have thought twice about the movie had a good friend of mine not sent me the link to the trailer.  Even though it is being distributed by a no-name distributor, it packs so much star power that it could knock you out.  The movie is comprised of 11 short films with two things in common: love and New York City.  Writers include Natalie Portman and the late Anthony Minghella (“The English Patient”).  Directors include Portman, Mira Nair (“Amelia”), and Brett Ratner (“X-Men: The Last Stand”).  Actors include Orlando Bloom, Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Blake Lively, and Rachel Bilson, just to name a few.

The weekend also brings “Step Father,” a horror movie hoping to capitalize on the need for screams around Halloween, and “Law Abiding Citizen,” a thriller starring Gerard Butler as a psychotic killer and Jamie Foxx as a cop.  (NOTE: “The Road” was pushed back to November 25th.)

October 23

The only movie that looks intriguing to me is “Amelia,” a biopic of the famous female aviator that chronicles her rise to fame and her life.  Earhart is played by Hilary Swank, who has already won two Oscars in her somewhat brief career.  Some people, including myself, will scream if she wins three Oscars before Meryl Streep.  The movie has an impressive supporting cast that includes Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, and Virginia Madsen.  From the trailer, I don’t think we are in for anything special.  In my humble opinion, it looks like another Oscar bait film that is destined to play every weekend on Hallmark Channel and every week in a middle school American History class.

And even more scary movies hit the screens this weekend, giving us our now obligatory annual installment of “Saw,” and “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant,” based on the popular teen book series.  Two animated movies are also entering release.  Something old with yet another re-release of Tim Burton’s haunting “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 3-D, and something new with “Astro Boy,” based on an anime series.

October 30

We wrap up the month of October with the unfortunate release of Michael Jackson’s rehearsal footage for his “This Is It” concerts.  The film will attract die-hard Jackson fans and all those curious about what the King of Pop was working on at the time of his death.  It will only show for two weeks (so they claim), and I hope that it will be a moving experience for all those like myself who sincerely miss Jackson and his artistry.  At this time, no official trailer has been released, but you can see a clip of the rehearsal footage that was released to CNN here.  (UPDATE: A trailer has been released!  Now I’m actually kind of excited.)

For all those “Napoleon Dynamite” fans out there, the director has his latest attempt at a movie with a plot with “Gentlemen Broncos” opening in limited release. After seeing “Nacho Libre,” my opinion is that he should just stick to randomness. (UPDATE: “Youth in Revolt” has been pushed back to 2010.)

What are you eagerly anticipating in October? Is anyone dying to see “An Education” or “New York, I Love You” after reading about it?  Take the poll at the bottom and comment … the movie with the most votes gets its trailer featured on the site at the beginning of the month!

Until the next reel,

Marshall

• Title: The Battle of the Crater: A Complete History
• Author: John F. Schmutz
• Published on: 2009-01-19, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
• Binding: Hardcover
• 428 pages
• ISBN-10: 0786439823
• ISBN-13: 978-078643982

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I have happily received a review copy of John F. Schmutz’s The Battle of the Crater: A Complete History. I can be counted among those whose interest in this remarkable 9 hour battle was piqued after watching the mesmerizing opening sequence of the film based on Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain.

Scenes of The Battle of the Crater in the trailer of Cold Mountain, a film by Anthony Minghella

It would be hard to find a similar military event in history that paralleled this one in terms of overwhelming potential for success run amok. Schmutz’s use of an opening quote about the July 30, 1864 battle by Ulysses S. Grant perhaps says it best…

The loss in the disaster of Saturday last foots up about 3,500, of whom 450 men were killed and 2,000 wounded. It was the saddest affair I have ever witnessed in the war. Such an opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen and do not expect again to have.

- Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to Major General
Henry W. Halleck, August 1, 1864.

According to Schmutz, his interest in the Battle of the Crater began with the discovery that he had “two direct ancestors in the battle, one with the 14th New York Heavy Artillery, which at the last minute, and without any preparation or forewarning, was chosen to lead the assault, with disastrous consequences.” (Preface) This seed germinated into one of the first studies to take a broad-brush approach to the battle, examining the events leading up to it, the country’s mood in its now third year of civil war, brutality committed against black troops, atrocities perpetrated by both sides, first-hand accounts, and the impact of the battle “on the body politic of both sides.”

Schmutz appropriately gives readers a sense for war in the trenches that were part of the Siege of Petersburg.

As both sides dug even deeper entrenchments and more infantry obstacles, the rolling farmland east and south of the city was soon churned into scenes resembling a moonscape. These tandem ramparts ran for twenty-six miles, crossed two major rivers, and traversed parts of four Virginia countries, from White Oak Swamp, east of Richmond, across Bermuda Hundred and south of the Jerusalem Plank Road below the city. No campaign of the war quite equaled the siege of Petersburg, which was the object of the longest military action ever waged against an American city. More battles were fought and more lives lost there than in the defense of any better-known Southern cities such as Richmond, Vicksburg or Atlanta. (p. 40)

Henry Pleasants

The excellent chapter titled “The Earth Movers,” reveals how Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants and the men of the 48th Pennsylvania, many of them coal miners, accomplished what Meade’s engineers mockingly called impossible, the building of a lengthy tunnel without detection by the Confederates. Receiving literally no support from Meade or his men, Pleasants overcame every challenge with ingenuity and innovation. As an example, he used a combination of miner’s bellows and fire to create draft to circulate air through a shaft built into the tunnel wall. This bit of creative thinking, the details of which are a must read, became what Schmutz called Pleasants’ “greatest engineering feat.” (p. 61)

From the National Park Service site on the Petersburg National Battlefield, "The Crater as it appeared in 1865. The Union soldier seated at the end of the tunnel gives an idea of the size of the Crater." Click the image to go to the site.

Of note, Schmutz provides an impressive set of references in his appendices, something I always value in a book of serious history. These include:

• Organization of Opposing Forces on July 30, 1864 including Union and Confederate Corps, Division, and Brigade, and in some cases Company commanders and officers
• Casualty counts by Corps, Division, Brigade and Unit
• Medal of Honor Recipients and Confederate Roll of Honor Recipients by Corps including a brief statement about why they received the award
  Union Officers Killed or Mortally Wounded by Corps, Division, and Brigade
• Full and extensive Chapter Notes
• An impressive Bibliography which demonstrates the extent of primary sources used in Schumtz’s research

I greatly look forward to fully reading this book and fully expect that a Highly Recommend will be forthcoming.

Kevin Levin has recently provided a review of The Battle of the Crater: A Complete History on H-Net here.

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sometimes i save things i find on the internet because they look interesting… if not posted quickly, i soon forget why i save them… it took me a minute to post this one, but upon watching the trailer for a 2nd (3rd and 4th) time, i realized immediately why i wanted to share this with you!  this film looks spectacular!  yes, it does revolve around the topic of love, but is more than a love story – a story of LIFE… while watching the trailer, i recalled many found memories of when i moved to Seattle.  i know why people fall in love with cities… and why people fall in love with one another.  this film looks as if it has targeted the heart (pun intended) of both.  out this fall!

Novelist Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) is receiving some well-deserved media attention these days thanks to Anthony Minghella’s opulent Hollywood version of The Talented Mr. Ripley. The film has much to recommend it, but it sorely lacks Highsmith’s pitch-black humor and blithe amorality. Less an adaptation than a wholesale reinterpretation, Minghella’s film asks us to pity a hapless murderer and to reflect on the tragic aspect of his yearnings and motivations. Highsmith, on the other hand, prefers to play the Devil’s advocate—if not the very Devil himself—by inviting us to identify with every twisted compulsion and petty indignation swirling inside the head of a sociopath.

The delicious perversity of Highsmith’s 1955 novel (and its four sequels) lies in the casual normalization of murderous impulses. Because we’re privy to killer Tom Ripley’s worst thoughts, he comes to represent our uncensored inner bastard. Even his “good” thoughts are selfishly compromised. Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley is about the snobbish voice of superiority that resides within each of us, the voice that proclaims we’re smarter and more sensitive than the fools around us. It’s also the voice that on occasion steps over the line and sneers that the damn fools would be better off dead, especially the ones who’ve acquired money and prestige that we’ve been denied.

The novel begins by immediately pulling us into the wary and suspicious mind of twenty-five year old Tom Ripley, small-time New York scam artist:

Tom glanced behind him and saw the man coming out of the Green Cage, heading his way. Tom walked faster. There was no doubt the man was after him.

Ripley has good reason to fear exposure: he’s lately been impersonating an Internal Revenue agent and telling selected individuals that they owe additional money to the government. Unfortunately, it’s a lousy scheme because Tom can’t cash the checks most of his victims invariably make payable to the IRS. Ripley’s resources are dwindling—he’s jobless and has been sponging off friends and relatives. His brain is in overdrive searching for a new and improved swindle.

The mystery man pursuing Tom introduces himself: Herbert Greenleaf, a wealthy shipbuilder. Greenleaf has heard that Tom is acquainted with Greenleaf’s son, Dickie, who moved to Italy two years ago as an aspiring painter. Greenleaf’s wife is dying of leukemia and he wants his son back in America. Tom’s memory of Dickie is sketchy, but he pretends otherwise. Throughout the conversation, while Tom dazzles Greenleaf with fabricated anecdotes, Highsmith keeps us clued-in to the netherworld of Tom’s reptilian consciousness: “He was bored, God-damned bloody bored, bored, bored! He wanted to be back at the bar, by himself.”  Greenleaf sees only the surface charm on display. After a couple of drinks, he’s begging Tom to accept an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy in order to visit Dickie and convince the young man to return home.

Highsmith quickly establishes her themes of pursuit and paranoia with those first four words: “Tom glanced behind him…” Her symbolic use of the color green is evident in the first sentence, too.  Green is shorthand for money, of course, and “Green Cage”—the name of Tom’s barroom hangout—is a cynical metaphor for wealth as a kind of class entrapment. It also foreshadows Tom’s imprisonment in another’s man identity. He will eventually assume the name and bank account of his murder victim, Dickie Greenleaf, whose fecund name suggests a veritable garden of cash. Highsmith is masterful with double-barreled ironies. By the novel’s end, Ripley will be a free man imprisoned in riches.

Although we are always inside Ripley’s head, Highsmith never offers us the seductive camaraderie of a first-person narrator. Ripley doesn’t relate his own story. Instead, his thoughts and actions are presented by an elusive and clinical third-person voice that conceals as much as it reveals. We find ourselves in a moral vacuum, desensitized to Ripley’s bleak worldview and curiously drawn to his cold logic. Highsmith’s cryptic minimalism has lost none of its disturbing pungency over the years. Here is Dickie’s murder:

Tom swung a left-handed blow with the oar against the side of Dickie’s head. The edge of the oar cut a dull gash that filled with a line of blood as Tom watched. Dickie was on the bottom of the boat, twisted, twisting. Dickie gave a groaning roar of protest that frightened Tom with its loudness and its strength. Tom hit him in the side of the neck, three times, chopping strokes with the edge of the oar, as if the oar were an axe and Dickie’s neck a tree.

The most startling of the book’s “green” metaphors is the association of Dickie’s murder with the cutting down of a tree. One wonders while reading the passage if the metaphor is Highsmith’s or Tom’s? So thoroughly is Highsmith’s voice blended with Tom’s that we can accept either answer or both. If Tom is momentarily imagining Dickie as a tree, it’s an apt illustration of psychotic dissociation. Dickie has been objectified into a commodity or a fetish—a money tree, as it were. The metaphor also suggests the gloriously demented image of Ripley as a lethal frontiersman clearing the forest and carving out his destiny.

The complex point-of-view techniques employed in The Talented Mr. Ripley are a literary style pioneered by Henry James, to whom Highsmith pays overt homage by modeling her novel on James’s 1903 masterpiece, The Ambassadors. Perhaps the boldest postmodern joke in Highsmith’s novel is Mr. Greenleaf recommending that Tom read James’s book, a copy of which Tom later contemplates stealing. Both novels are filtered through the sensibility of a “central intelligence,” an American protagonist who has an “awakening” when he visits Europe on a mission to retrieve the prodigal son of a wealthy businessman.

Highsmith doesn’t just “steal” the outline of James’s plot, she turns James upside down, shakes the pennies from his pockets, and gives him a wedgie for good measure. While she has been criticized for portraying the murderous Tom Ripley as a repressed homosexual, it seems valid to surmise that Highsmith—who was herself a lesbian—is spoofing the homosexual overtones that play throughout The Ambassadors. Indeed, Highsmith humorously parallels so many aspects of James’s novel—including his elaborate symbolic use of the color green—that the two novels in a sense enhance one another, like the pairing of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea.

Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley has long had a cult following as a subversive black comedy. It’s time for her novel to be recognized for what it is: a 20th century literary classic.

January, 2000

According to TMZ.com, via the Daily Mail (which is where I read it), Jude Law is to be a daddy again after a one night stand with ‘unknown model and actress Samantha Burke’.  I used to really admire Jude, until he fell from grace by turning into too much of a bad boy for my liking.  I think we hear altogether too much about stars’ personal lives nowadays.  I rather like the idea of old Hollywood where the PR machine worked overtime to keep superstars up on their [shaky] pedestals.  It gave us someone to admire, someone to look up to, a world of glitz and glamour to fantasize about.

I always thought Jude fitted into the category of a ‘beautiful’ man and in this photo particularly he reminds me of images I’ve seen of James Dean – same fine features and with piercing eyes.  He definitely has the look of old Hollywood about him. 

Like all of us, his beauty has waned a little with time but I still have a bit of a soft spot for him, mainly because he is in one of my all time favourite films -  The Talented Mr. Ripley.  I don’t think anyone else could have portrayed the character of Dickie Greenleaf as well.  He is the ultimate ‘golden boy’ and Jude himself is probably at his most beautiful.   If by any chance you haven’t seen this film and you like old Hollywood glamour with a Hitchcock edge, go and seek it out.  It’s visually beautiful, glamorous…and chilling.  Definitely my kind of movie.

My Friday video is the film’s trailer but before I go, and whilst we’re on the subject of Mr Ripley, equally worth seeing is ‘Ripley’s Game’, starring John Malkovich as an older, wiser and therefore more chilling Ripley. …In fact, having talked about both, I think I might get in some nibbles and libations and make a double bill of these two tonight.  

A strange thing happened to me last night that very rarely occurs but did last night in the most unexpected of ways.

Gwyneth Paltrow came on screen and I YELPED.

Yes faithful readers, like a dog….. A small dog.

This is a picture I remember watching not long after its release and thinking little of it. Matt Damon is generally decent, Jude Law and Ms Chris Martin Paltrow are generally banal, hence the lack of tangible enthusiasm for revisiting the flick. Fate led me by the eyes however following a decision to do my dissertation on the ethics of adaptation, a viewing of PLEIN SOLIEL and the reading of the excellent Patricia Highsmith book on which both films are based….. It was time to head back to Mongibello.

In respect of being honourable to the source material, Anthony Minghella’s screenplay sticks to the structure of Highsmith’s original work far closer than it’s older French cousin. We are very quickly introduced to Ripley’s fantastic world where the desire to rise above his lowly social status is all consuming. This Ripley as not the pathological character Highsmith dreamt up, but still carries with him a creepiness that never allows you to get comfortable with him.

I was pleased that Minghella retained Papa Greenleaf’s plea to Ripley to travel to Europe to return his wayward son Dickie. This element of the book provides a constant narrative thread as well as a further motive for Ripley’s actions, Dickie lives off his father’s wealth which requires his regular correspondence, Tom just happens to be a master impersonator. This is the life Ripley feels he deserves though he has no reason for believing so. These two facets of his personality were always going to be a catalyst for trouble.

Disappointment came with Ripley’s initial social standing. In the book he lives in the crummiest of abodes, filthy and rundown. In the film, despite hearing a couple arguing in the flat above, he seems to live in the kind of place a Greenwich Village bohemian might frequent, tuning into Charlie Parker and Chet Baker in preparation for his future encounter with the Jazz loving Dickie.

In the interests of cinematic pace (although this is still considered the slowest part of the film) the friendship that blossoms between Dickie and Ripley is intense and rapid. Contrary to the book, Dickie’s girlfriend Marge, adequately dealt with by Paltrow, is instantly taken by the newcomer and the two also develop a bond. This is neat screenwriting. Minghella has cut out much of the time from the novel that Dickie and Tom spend together; this gives no motivation for Marge to dislike him so much which also makes her change of opinion later in the film all the more powerful.

The friendship between the two men has a distinct homoerotic hue to it. One only has to look at the chess in the bath scene. This is also a factor of the Freddie Miles relationship, camped up by an ever reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman. What transpires is a love triangle between the 3 men with Marge reduced to the role of mildly attractive screen furniture.

“But Paltrow made you yelp” I hear you think silently…

She did.

And I’ll tell you why.

Following the disposal of Dickie in a brilliantly staged boat scene (EXACTLY as I pictured it when reading the novel but with a more pronounced emotional angle) Tom takes up the role of Master Greenleaf whilst the police try to find the killer of Freddie Miles. (Also disposed of by Ripley when he rumbled his scam) It’s this section of the film that lacks the tension of the book but it does score in one respect….. Gwyneth Paltrow.

In the book Marge does not leave Mongibello to look for Dickie, she’s in constant contact through Ripley’s forged letters, and believes he’s alive, but she doesn’t think to travel for a confrontation. This after being inexplicably dumped like a hot stone…… in the film she does, and it’s that first time she bumps into Ripley in Rome that has me squealing like a baby. “She’s not supposed to go to Rome!!!!”

And here’s where literature and cinema come together in perfect harmony. You only have 2 hours to tell this story and you’ve got to make the film audience taste the suspense of the book….. Minghella does a fine job, a real fine job.

Should we sympathise with a man who has killed twice by such brutal means? In the case of Tom Ripley, it’s hard not to. He doesn’t do anything throughout the film to alienate the audience besides be a little clingy, he’s like the guy at school who no-one hung out with but was really rather cool when you took the time to speak with him. Do we want him to get away with it? That’s a completely different question and one which the movie answers completely differently to the novel…..

I take it all back….. This is a fine movie.

I was not much of a fan of the late Minghella’s other work, but The Talented Mr. Ripley is an entirely different beast. Like The English Patient or Cold Mountain, it is beautifully photographed and has a luxurious running time. But unlike those films, its content is challenging, its execution mesmerizing. Matt Damon is phenomenal as the quite talented Mr. Ripley, an icy sociopath who takes it upon himself to steal the life of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law, in what is by far his finest performance). Watching Ripley maneuver himself into Dickie’s life with an elaborate tangle of lies is kind of terrifying, and Damon commits himself to the part absolutely. He’s your good old all-American boy…until he’s not. And you can’t always be sure who he’s trying to be in certain scenes; if he’s trying to show the surface of Tom Ripley, if he’s trying to impersonate Dickie Greenleaf, or if he’s his true self. The movie may be close to two-and-a-half hours long, but it doesn’t feel it. It sucks you in from compelling start to spine-tingling finish. A near-masterpiece.

A

This is one that most will really like, or really hate. Myself, I choose to really like it…OK love it. This film is just great on so many levels. Director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) does a masterful job with the actors and the creation of their characters. He also incorporates the small Italian town and the music throughout almost as if they were characters themselves. A second viewing you might even pick up on all the symbolism throughout, the reflection of Ripley’s face in the piano and the ending scene, the different reflections of Ripley….think about it!

I try to write reviews and encourage those that haven’t seen these movies, to see them…or on the other hand to avoid like the plague. So to talk about the story without giving away key plot points and twists….kind of hard on this one. Everyone should experience the trills seeing it for a first time. It really is a classic potboiler movie that starts out with one innocent lie about a jacket of all things. Things begin to twist and turn from there.

As far as the acting, to me everyone in this is on the top of their game and very good. I don’t know how Matt Damon got snubbed. I thought he was clearly better than Sean Penn in Sweet and Lowdown and better than Denzel Washington in The Hurricane. Jude Law is very good and was nominated in a supporting role. And 3 other incredible performances from Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), and Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love), Just great all around! (Also kudos to the costume designers, make a not of how Ms Paltrow’s costumes change in color and style with her demeanor throughout the move.)

The first time I saw this film, I enjoyed it, but the more I see it, the better I like it, and the more I can read into it. If you have only seen it once and liked it, I recommend a second viewing, and if you haven’t seen it, give it a chance. Also being an avid cook, this a a great movie to break out a nice bottle of wine, maybe a pinot grigio or Sauvignon blanc, cheese and crackers…OK and a few grapes. Keep the wine cool and close, you won’t want to miss any part of this flick. Highly recommended!

When I first watched the film Truly Madly Deeply by director and writer Anthony Minghella, I was blown away by its sensitive depiction of the collision of love, grief , loss and longing. Nina (The character played by Juliet Stevenson) has lost her lover Jamie (Alan Rickman) to an untimely and unexpected death and she finds it difficult to let go and move on with her life. Jamie  returns to help shepherd her out of the grief and encourages her to  find love again.

This playful scene depicts the morning after the first night of Jamie’s return. I watched it over and over again when I got the DVD, it has an innocent yet intimate charm about it. It’s playful, joyful and yet we know this joy cannot last. It makes me thing of how Mary felt at the tomb and, (this Ascension day ) the joy she and the disciples shared when their risen Lord appeared to them. How must they have felt when having him back he told them once more he must leave and they would have to find their own way?

Earlier this week, I mentioned two articles on romantic crime films that I’d written for the current and upcoming issues of Mystery Scene, but I’ve also been thinking about crime films in another direction recently. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been finishing up a course proposal for George Mason University tentatively entitled “Crime Stories: From Page to Screen,” an idea that was first suggested to my by my good friend and fellow writer and teacher John Copenhaver, who will be teaching a similar topic at a local private school this fall. He and I are diverging a little in the books and films we’re considering for our respective courses, but the thrust of the course is the same: to look at film adaptation as an act of interpretation (just as many of our students interpret texts themselves) and to examine both the thematic and stylistic choices that each author or director makes and the different tools available in each form/medium.

The first book/film combo that jumped to my mind for this was The Long Goodbye — Raymond Chandler’s longest book (and some might argue, his best) and then Robert Altman’s delightfully different take on the book, updating a ’50s hero to the early 1970s and making some significant changes not just to the tone and the character but to the plot itself in the process. Another good combo that boasts different treatments of the story is In A Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, which got a reworking as a vehicle for Humphrey Bogart, and I personally would love to discuss the two different treatments of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley: Rene Clement’s Purple Noon and then the Anthony Minghella version with Matt Damon in the title role. And Memento is a must, of course, looking at how an unpublished short story (from a college course!) became an instant classic. 

Other lists of pairings soon started popping to mind, as John and I talked:

• An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel, and A Place in the Sun, George Stevens’ 1951 film
• The Big Sleep: Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel and Howard Hawks’ 1945 film (and maybe a slightly postmodern treatment of Chandler style stories, Brett Halliday’s 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, or Rian Johnson’s 2005 film Brick?)
• Strangers on a Train: Patricia Highsmith’s 1950 novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film
• Pop. 1280, Jim Thompson’s 1964 novel, and Coup De Tourchon, Bertrand Tavernier’s 1981 film
• In Cold Blood: Truman Capote’s 1966 book and Richard Brooks’ 1967 film

Even Bonnie and Clyde would offer some interesting possibilities, maybe looking at original newspaper accounts and what the screenwriters did with those “texts” to write Arthur Penn’s 1967 film.

The key, to my mind, is not just to find a book that’s been made into a film — there are a blue million of those out there — but rather an adaptation that does something significantly different in “revisioning” one text into a new medium.

Any other suggestions?

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