The Talented Mr Ripley Bluy-ray Review
Anthony Mingella’s following film from The English Patient was Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novel starring Matt Damon in the role. We follow a young, manipulative, yet emotionally weak, Tom Ripley to Italy as he is (under mistaken identity) sent to retrieve the son of a wealthy businessman who is floundering his time and allowance on Jazz, woman and any indulgence his greedy little mind can grasp hold of.
Upon finding and introducing himself to Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Lazw), Tom, we find out has no intention of packing Dickie off home, but instead integrating his life well within Dickie’s social structure. But as Dickie is a bit fickle when it comes to friends and impressionism and soon tires of Tom’s “leach” like adaptability and things soon turn sour.
It is in this open first half that the film revels in its dramatic quality. The only drop off point in the film is that we don’t get Jude Law as much as we’d like for the film. Being a bit anti-Jude Law at the time the film came out, I was stunned after the screening to discover that I thought that he was the best thing in it by miles (and that this was a positive thing!). It’s a convincing performance among many (Gwyneth Paltrow, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett); a film a rich in beauty as it is in the socially privileged characters.
The Blu-ray is pretty much a shift over of the DVD edition with a Minghella commentary and a few basic extras. Worthwhile for the upgrade in picture quality, but like much of the Miramax series out this week, it isn’t as sharp as you’d hope it would be. But it is easily one of the better examples!
Steven Hurst