MTL - Best Actor-Chapter 88 The next River Phoenix

"After three years, Anthony Minghella is back with a dark thriller that brings together the last Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow, Australian actress Kate Blanchett, along with British actors Jude Law, Jack Davenport, and complete newcomer Sean Down's film, successfully brings out Patricia Highsmith's novel." — "New York Times"

"Fantastic film, Anthony Minghella once again showing his eclectic directing style." - Los Angeles Times

"Anyone who questioned this movie before this time can shut up, Anthony Minghella used his work to fight back most powerfully." - "Variety"

On the second day of the premiere, which is Christmas Day, various media began to report on the "Genius Ripley" which was screened on Christmas Eve, and gave unanimous praise. "The Hollywood Reporter" claims that as a thriller, although the pace is not tight enough, it is as intriguing as Hitchcock's suspense film, and the "Washington Post" believes that "The Genius Ripley" has not only a good thing, but also a top-notch performance And brilliant cinematography and screenwriting, also keenly aware of how money, desire and **** can distort human nature.

Of course, there are also some media critics, "Empire" magazine thinks that the rhythm of the film is as slow as "The English Patient", which will drive away many audiences, but even so, they admit that it is a It's a story worth watching, with Hitchcock-like darkness and beautiful pictures like a travel movie.

In short, "Genius Ripley" received a 78-point favorable rating in the media and an 85% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes. If you feel that Rotten Tomatoes has only been established for more than a year and is not authoritative, then imdb's 7.6 score is enough to explain some situations. Although this score will definitely decrease as time goes by, it will not be too low.

As for the critics, two reviews stand out, one by the famous Roger Ebert.

"In the film version of "The Genius Ripley", director Anthony Minghella faithfully restored Patricia Highsmith's novel, which is a story that happened in the 1950s, a life In the basement of New York, Tom Ripley, a young man who made his living as a waiter and played the piano, was good at imitating other people's accent and handwriting, and was accidentally mistaken by shipping tycoon Greenleaf for his own son at Princeton University classmates, so he entrusted him to go to Italy to bring home his son who was wandering abroad.

Ripley took the errand and traveled to Italy, where he met Dick Greenleaf and his girlfriend Maggie Sherwood, who was quickly overwhelmed by Dick's extravagant life Attracted, and then indulged in everything he had. It should be noted here that Ripley is not gay, he is bisexual in the original novel, and Minghella obviously has no plans to modify it.

Back to the plot, Ripley is obsessed with everything about Dick, his life, his status and his body, but Dick and his friends treat Ripley as a clown, he may Aware of Ripley's admiration, but did not take it to heart. So in a dispute, Ripley accidentally kills Dick and lives as Dick after that. A lie needs more lies to make up for, so he has to continue to deceive, continue to murder, and human nature is distorted because of this. Although he finally blinded almost everyone, he fell into the abyss because of a heavy sense of guilt.

Minghella used a lot of details to describe the character of the characters, which is really typical than the scene where Ripley and Dick are in the bathroom, just reach out and stroke the water gently, between the two people The subtle feeling is evident. Another example is Dick's shoes, which became the materialized expression of Ripley's intention to replace him, and the ring of his and Maggie's love testimony, which is also Ripley's criminal evidence, or an Italian opera full of metaphors.

Minghella firmly controls the camera, and all the locations run through his due style. As early as "The English Patient", we have seen the magnificent beauty of the Sahara Desert under the camera. , also in "Genius Ripley", we can still see the sunny beaches of Nabodi, the Plaza de España in Rome, the Church of St. Mark in Venice, and so on. Especially the scene where Ripley drove Maggie through the streets of Rome in an electric car. Minghella used a deep lens to stretch and shoot here, and without deliberately softening it, it perfectly showed the style of Rome in the 1950s. in the lens.

Although for the most part, the film is full of light and color, and has a bright, crisp visual effect, but it does not affect the dark theme. On the contrary, such colors and Ripley's actions play a strong contrast effect, further showing how money, vanity, and luxury can make a young man fall into the abyss step by step.

However, "Genius Ripley" is not perfect. Like Minghella's previous work, "Genius Ripley" also has the problem of slow rhythm. If the plot is more compact, it will Ripley's transformation is more portrayed without being too restrained, making his transformation more convincing and believed to make the film more appealing to ordinary people.

Here I want to say that several actors did a great job, whether it was Gwyneth Paltrow or Cate Blanchett, or Jude Law, Philippe Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport, they all did their jobs well. Dick's arrogance, Freddy's contempt, Peter's innocence, Maggie's grief, and Meredith's veiled complex emotions are all made rich and believable by them.

But what surprised me the most was Sean Tang, who was the male lead. Frankly speaking, when I first learned that Minghella had hired a rookie who had just started acting as the male lead, I was not optimistic. his move. As we all know, a good actor needs experience and accumulation, and many things cannot be shown in front of the camera without a long accumulation, but Sean's excellent performance changed my opinion. It's hard to believe that this young man only came to Hollywood last September, and that he only played a supporting role in "Friends" before that, but he did show Ripley what he should be.

The most impressive part is Maggie's departure from Venice. Her intuition tells her that Dick is dead and the murderer is Ripley, but no one supports her, and everyone is blinded. A distraught Maggie could only beat Ripley in vain, waving her gloves until old Greenleaf pulled her away, where Minghella gave Sean a close-up, albeit only for a few seconds, and Sean blocked it with his hand. He made a third of his face, but the kind of unease, panic, and joy displayed between his brows was very impressive, even making people think that he was Ripley.

I have to praise Mingella, it is because of his unique vision and bold style that we can see a perfect Tom Ripley full of complex human nature, which makes us Seeing a great movie, I give this work 4 stars. "

Albert's rating has always been from 1 to 4 stars. He has a wide range of viewing, and he does not see the distinction between commercial films and art films, so he is often seen to give a commercial film a 3 To 4 stars, and 2 stars for an art film that everyone thinks is okay, only if the film is very, very bad, or is morally disgusting, he will not give 0 stars So, getting 4 stars is already a very high evaluation for "Genius Ripley".

And another film critic, Melanie Haas, it was different, a female film critic who never graded and did not like to Interpreting the movie as a whole, I am better at analyzing the characters, and I like it very much, and I hate it very much. "The Genius Ripley" belongs to the former category.

"This is a taut, gripping, fascinating, elegant and wonderful psychological thriller, intertwined with arrogance and lies, infinitely magnifying the dark side of human nature, forming a Desperate Fallen Scroll.

Anthony Minghella is very good at selecting actors, each actor is very suitable for the role, Jude Law, a young actor from the United Kingdom, fully exposed the frivolity and arrogance of rich children, he Like being one with Dick, both his demeanor and demeanor are showing the audience that he is the one who went to Italy to play when his mother was seriously ill. One second he was playing with his friend, and the next second he said that this friend was stupid, Nothing but rich Dick Greenleaf.

And Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Dick's friend Freddy, even though he only appeared for a total of ten minutes, that undisguised and just right, contempt and mockery of Ripley Annoying the audience. It's a terrific performance, better than Hoffman's previous performance in "Boogie Nights," easily standing out among several actors.

In addition, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett and Jack Davenport have all done their jobs well, unfortunately, Bran Chet should have had a better performance, but fell short of the role.

Then, I put Sean Down's Tom Ripley at the end, and I made no secret of my opinion of him. I'm sure most people thought Minghella was crazy after learning that he had cast a new guy as the lead actor, but the truth is, this rookie actor named Sean Tang delivered a perfect score.

He skillfully combined himself and the character with small gestures and expressions, especially when he was mocked and scorned, his drooping eyelids clearly conveyed his unwillingness, and The helplessness of being marginalized. Not to mention the echoing beginning and ending and Sean's performance in the murder in the boat, in the plot where he tries to murder Maggie but fails due to Peter's arrival, it's clear how he manages the character, is How to hide the hideousness of desire in the look of anger.

talk. I really hope that Sean Tang can stay like this, so maybe one day he can be the next River Phoenix. "