December 31, 1999

         What is it with Jude Law?  He seems to be the kind of actor who can blend into a crowd, because he looks like a lot of people.  This is the second film where someone has tried to be him.  In the sci-fi Gattaca, Ethan Hawke disguised himself as Jude Law and pulled it off pretty well.  Law is one of those people that if you comb the right color hair the right way, you’ll look like him.  Or at least that’s what director Athony Minghella is hoping for in his new film The Talented Mr. Ripley.
         Tom Ripley (Damon) seems to have some codependentcy problems.  He’s an ingenius mimic and when he finds someone he likes, he dangerously latches
onto to him to the point of becoming him.  Now the storyline’s a bit cliche, i.e. Single White Female; two people meet, become best friends, one seems to be a
loner, the other attached, and the loner becomes dangerously psycho.
         Anthony Minghella sets Mr. Ripley apart from other films of it’s nature by resorting back to suspense in the style of Hitchcock.  About the first hour is set up; we get to know Dickie (Law) and Marge (Paltrow) and suspect there’s something not quite right about Tom.  After an incident between Tom and Dickie, the suspense begins. Minghella keeps you wondering if Tom will get caught,
from the scenes with the police, to the elusive private detective Alvin MacCarron, played by the dexterous Philip Baker Hall (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights).
         Minghella pulled this off well with it’s beautifully shot scenes.  The two most memorable scenes are death scenes, one in an opera.  Mr. Ripley is a pleasing follow up to award winning The English Patient.
 

Alternative Recomendations:  Gattaca (s: Law), The English Patient (d: Minghella)

-(Reviewed In Theater) On Video-

Nominated for
5 Fidelio Film Awards

Best Director Anthony Minghella	Best Adapted Screenplay Anthony Minghella
Best Cinematography John Seale	Best Art Direction/Set Design Roy Walker, Bruno Cesari
Best Supporting Actress Gwyneth Paltrow

Check out these other Fidelio Film Reviews:
A.I.
Fight Club
Hannibal
Magnolia