The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Anthony Minghella

 

BRONZE

Let me start saying what a gorgeous movie The Talented Mr. Ripley is. It's impeccable. Such affirmation may seem exaggerated, but it's a risk I'm going to allow. Visually, it's a experience that drives you through Tom Ripley's lies, and it never loses the rhythm. The tension lives in the shots, in every one of them! The audience will feel intelligent and active watching this, exploring the consequences of the false identity. Special attention to the eyes of the actors, who are all brilliant. I had to choose one single look and it was Dickie Greenleaf's to his lover after she kills herself in the sea. It reveals a deep fear of the character, his eyes illuminate the shot, making it transcend immediately. And we're touched by it. Knocked out, specifically.

SILVER

 

Director Anthony Minghella and cinematographer John Seale capture the intention of Patricia Highsmith's novel. It feels like a game where the identities get to know each other and then they collapse in the fatal and inevitable ending. It's a gift to see such elaborated composition inside the shot, using not only the actors and their position, but also the objects around them, creating incredible metaphors such as the image chosen for Silver Medal. Such complexity is just enigmatic and dark. And that's a cause of celebration for movie enthusiasts. Ripley's obsession with Dickie has amazing shots, all of them swimming in the sea of suspense, and perhaps we see some Hitchcock influence. Well, it definitely fits the storytelling.

GOLD

Instead of going with one of the multiple epic shots that this movie has, I decided to choose this as the best for a simple reason. Being The Talented Mr. Ripley a movie about sexual tension, homoerotic relationships and the need of hiding yourself, this shot is a proof that, in the end, it's just a trivialization of North America's attitude in the 1950s on a foreign country like Italy. The past always returns, as so does with Tom, Dickie, Marge and Meredith. Every major character in the movie has to live with a mistake. They're caught in their web of fear, in their own perversity. They're not free. That's the opposite to the two Italian men in the shot who, even if we're not sure they're gay (One of them has previously flirted with a walking lady) they don't care about anything else. They're busy knotting a tie. We guess this would be Ripley's dream.

Summertime (1955)

Summertime (1955)

David Lean

BRONZE

This is the first time I've seen this film. It was delightful. The visual aspects of the story were surprisingly romantic, simple while touching, and the cinematography captures the desolation of Katharine Hepburn's character in a very unusual way, making her presence in Venice one of the best tourism stories I've experienced in my life as a movie enthusiastic. As usual in Lean's films, the train has a lot of importance, it's a symbol, a feeling, a state of mind. I found this shot simply gorgeous. It shows the energy of the stranger, her mood, her happiness, just before the sadness appears.

SILVER

 

Jack Hildyard makes Venice the other important character in the story. Let me say that, having been to Venice, the city is not so sad. It's simply beautiful, but Hildyard, as a good cinematographer, chooses just what is important for the character's evolution. We fall in love with the images, with the city's spirit. Lean uses the city's structure to show the feelings. Flowers on the water, the importance of the bridges, the lady falling down to the canals... I may not have chosen one of Hepburn's beautiful close up shots, given that her face, her eyes, were so revealing for the movie's understanding.

GOLD

To me, the best shot was this. It contains the essence of the movie, the story's theme. As we follow Hepburn in the city at the beginning of her holiday, we don't expect this to happen at all. It's like a punch in our hearts. Loneliness versus multitude. Sadness versus joy. We understand Hepburn even if we are not watching her face at that moment. It's just unnecessary. We also experience the town, the noise, the sense of an union between all the people present there. A perfect picture just interrupted by Hepburn, the stranger presence. Lean and Hildyard make that possible with enchanting visuals and rhythm, calm and poetry. Summertime is an impressive piece of art, and you should watch it right now if you haven't seen it yet.