The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith – retold – another look at this marvel is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-talented-mr-ripley-by-patricia.html - 9 out of 10

 

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith – retold – another look at this marvel is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-talented-mr-ripley-by-patricia.html

 

9 out of 10

 

This is such a phenomenal story that it has just been adapted again, after the classic directed by the wonderful Anthony Minghella https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-talented-mr-ripley-screenplay-by.html with Mat Damon in the leading role, and a spectacular cast, including Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others

 

In the new, Netflix version, Tom Ripley is played by Andrew Scott, and the perspective is much more somber, the eight episodes are filmed in Black and White, and what was glamorous in the Minghella classic, here we see transforming into a horror rendition, and there are different views on the success of the mini series

For The Guardian, the newest adaptation is a success (and I agree, however skeptical I was of Andrew Scott, the thespian I have seen in a gay film recently, appreciated by the critics, but it is already more than I need to see in this area) while for Variety (I think it was Variety) it does not stand up to the older movie

 

We get more details (we have eight episodes, instead on just one motion picture) from the life of Tom Ripley, before he gets the big ‘chance’, he is a small-time crook, forging documents, passports, asking people for money, under false pretenses – this could help with the profiling, Mat Damon just came out of the blue, in the other take

Tom Ripley writes to various people, in the name of solicitors, doctors, asking for ‘payment due’, when in fact he has no right, he has arguments over the phone with customers that have settled their bills, but unwilling to talk to solicitors, to avoid the hassle, they decide most often to send the dollars asked from this fraudster

 

He is a Confidence Man https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/confidence-man-making-of-donald-trump.html a Trump Avant la letter, indeed, I was just thinking that were it not for the enormous luck, and incredible stupidity of his cult members, Orange Jesus would just be another Tom Ripley, only without the brains

Tom Ripley is smart, what he lacks in polish, decorum, education, he more than makes up with a sensational intelligence, spontaneity, creativity and more, if put to the worst use, getting out of corners – spoiler alert, if you are not aware of what happens in this detective novel, it will involve killing and sadistic behavior

 

Maybe I should also insert the eighteen plus sign that I see on some movies that show too much violence, nudity – however, I have just seen some episodes from Sweat, a documentary about saunas, banyas, wherein the Russian segment had posteriors, and frontal exposure in what I see as abundance, awkwardly

 

Herbert Greenleaf hires a detective, played in the Netflix version by David Chapelle, which was a bizarre novelty, and I wondered how much did they pay him for this cameo, and they find Ripley, and make him an offer he cannot refuse, unlike the one in The Godfather https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-godfather-written-by-francis-ford.html

The entrepreneur wants to pay the crook (not knowing this aspect) to get to Italy, find his son, and convince him to return to America, travel, expenses and more included, and our fraudster sees an opportunity and bingo, he is off to Europe, where he meets with Dickie Greenleaf and Marge Sherwood, the latter’s lover

 

Richard is not aware that he had met Tom, but somehow, being Americans abroad, and mostly due to The Talent of Mr. Ripley to seduce, convince, appear genuine, he talks to the stranger, and continues this relationship, in spite of the ample warning received from Marge, who shows how much better females are at spotting weirdoes

Women have a better EQ

https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/08/emotional-intelligence-by-daniel-goleman.html and Marge insists that Tom is hiding, he is homosexual, and she is right, and can somehow anticipate the danger he presents for her

 

alas, Dickie does not listen, and when he takes action, it is too late – there was a spoiler alert, back there, if you remember, and you are still losing your time here – they get on this infamous boat ride, and he tells Tom where to stick it, that is, this is over man, and you need to take your things and pack it, get lost…

not in those words, evidently, but enough for the violent, vengeful, murderous Ripley to just hit the ‘friend’ with an oar, repeatedly, until the poor fellow is dead, in the new look, we have a more complex murder, with the killer losing control of the boat, as he tries to get rid of the corpse, with a heavy weight, which he eventually will drop

 

once he dispatched the rich Dickie, Tom is taking his place, after all, this is what he had done so far, pretending to be various figures, to extract money form gullible folks, and he takes the ring, money, watch, identity, forges the passport and uses the fortune to live in luxury, until he is challenged in Rome, by Freddie Miles

as it becomes clear that Miles will not give up, he has suspected there are many things wrong with the disappearance of his friend, Richard, who was supposed to go to Cortina, and he did not, is always absent, there are details that show ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”