Usually I only do book reviews. But I'll be reviewing a movie each week for the next four weeks, as part of the Gothic Film Club hosted by Write For A Reader and sponsored by Michelle Zink, author of Prophecy of the Sisters.This week, I chose to watch and review The Talented Mr. Ripley. It's set in the 1950's, where Tom Ripley, a young man from New York, is sent to Italy by Mr. Greenleaf in order to bring back Dickie Greenleaf, his rich and spoiled son. But when the plan fails and Dickie makes Tom angry, Tom kills him and begins to assume his identity.
I thought the movie started off slow, and it took a while for everything to fall in place so that I could understand it. But once I started to get a clearer idea of what was going on, I was drawn in and couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. It was intriguing to see how crazy a person can get, to kill someone and then assume their identity. Tom Ripley started out as someone you felt sympathy for, but turned out to be a very twisted man. But even after he starts doing psychotic things, you can't help but feel sympathy towards him. I love how it was set mainly in Rome and Venice; I think that added an interesting depth to it. I felt that the last scene somewhat left me hanging, but at the same time was a great way to end it. The movie was complex and requires that you pay attention the whole time in order to follow everything, but it's definitely worth it because in the end you'll be left with a million different thoughts swirling around in your head.
Overall rating: 4/5
1 comment:
I LOVE this movie! We just watched it again (I'd seen it a long time ago) a couple of weeks ago and it totally transported me to Italy and to the dark corners of Tom Ripley's mind.
We're doing the Gothic Film Club, too (not to enter the contest, though, of course!) so we'll have to compare notes this month.
;)
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