Ripley on Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The “bring Dickie home” plot doesn’t work so well when Dickie is that much older. His father probably would have given up on him joining the family business, vs. the original scenario where Dickie was just a few years out of college and his father wanted him to come back and settle down.

Agree. I strongly disliked the age choice here.

[Anonymous]

I missed it, but why was Tom hunted down and picked for the mission by Dickie’s parents

[Anonymous]

While I agree that Andrew Scott seemed poorly cast at first, let’s talk about his excellent acting. His dialect was impressive being an Irish actor, and he had a stare that was psychotic and made you believe you were watching a madman.

[Anonymous]

Andrew Scott is a genius actor. His talent is incredible. And he looks good for his age (I mean, I’d GLADLY hit that) but the black and white is a bit harsh on the skin at times. He is a bit old in the tooth for this role. And while I love Johnny Flynn, neither he nor Dakota Fanning look right or act right for these parts. I agree with the PP that the acting is kinda flat. There’s no “golden people” vibe here. And they aren’t selling me on why exactly Johnny wants to hang around with Tom, who is often kind of a pill in this version.

I’ve also read the books and love them as well as the Matt Damon movie. But my love for Andrew Scott goes way beyond those!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m one of the very few people who has read each and every one of the Ripley novels. I also loved the movie, even though it took very different turns from the book. So I was thrilled to see there was going to be this series…

Unwatchable. 100% unwatchable. Long, slow, boring, no need for the black and white, miscast, wrong tone, trying to shoehorn in diversity in a way that serves absolutely no one and does nothing for the plot. It’s a no. So disappointed.

The diversity was a big bizarre misstep.

Zero chance Dickie and Marge would pal around with a non-binary gal who dresses like a man. Zero chance that character would exist anywhere IRL as a Brit in Italy in the 1960s. (Talk about a nepo-baby…it’s Sting’s kid and they were given a role that just didn’t make sense).

And what are the odds of a successful private eye catering to white people domestically and abroad who is black?

Tokenism. Distracting, unrealistic tokenism.

Your ignorance is astounding. Women have been dressing as men for as long as there have been clothes.
Gentleman Jack anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also thought black and white was an odd choice given that the Amalfi Coast is renowned for its colors, but the cinematography is just breath-taking and pure art.

I also thought Andrew Scott is too old for the part, but I love him so much so I'm suspending disbelief.

I also was surprised by a non-binary actor in the role of Freddie (who can ever replace Phillip Seymour Hoffman), but are we acting like non-binary is something this generation invented? That some people didn't live who they were in the 60s? Ever heard of Berlin in the 30s?

I also thought it was too slow when it didn't need to be in places. But I couldn't stop watching and finished it all today.

I hope that they make the next book in the series.

Agree with much of this. People like being able to root for a character and having a sociopathic murderer get away with it defies the standard narrative. None of the principal players come off all that well; they are unlikeable at best. Remember that the author of the Ripley books, Patricia Highsmith, was an uncloseted lesbian who travelled in international circles and likely knew a wide range of non-traditional, nonbinary individuals. It was just invented yesterday. The black detective seemed a bit out of place but it also worked on some level. Black & white filming does not work for everyone but I enjoyed the moodiness of it. They went in hard with close-ups of statuary and that became a bit trite.

If that cat could talk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Andrew Scott is a genius actor. His talent is incredible. And he looks good for his age (I mean, I’d GLADLY hit that) but the black and white is a bit harsh on the skin at times. He is a bit old in the tooth for this role. And while I love Johnny Flynn, neither he nor Dakota Fanning look right or act right for these parts. I agree with the PP that the acting is kinda flat. There’s no “golden people” vibe here. And they aren’t selling me on why exactly Johnny wants to hang around with Tom, who is often kind of a pill in this version.

I’ve also read the books and love them as well as the Matt Damon movie. But my love for Andrew Scott goes way beyond those!

No. You couldn't possibly have read the books. A PP informed us that she was one of the *very few* who had read all of Highsmith's books.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen Purple Noon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Andrew Scott is a genius actor. His talent is incredible. And he looks good for his age (I mean, I’d GLADLY hit that) but the black and white is a bit harsh on the skin at times. He is a bit old in the tooth for this role. And while I love Johnny Flynn, neither he nor Dakota Fanning look right or act right for these parts. I agree with the PP that the acting is kinda flat. There’s no “golden people” vibe here. And they aren’t selling me on why exactly Johnny wants to hang around with Tom, who is often kind of a pill in this version.

I’ve also read the books and love them as well as the Matt Damon movie. But my love for Andrew Scott goes way beyond those!

I agree he was terrific in this, he gave a very nuanced performance. However, when he was on screen with John Malkovich, he might as well have been invisible, JM has such enormous charisma, he completely stole those scenes.

[Anonymous]

I have only watched through Episode Six but I don't understand all the references to Freddie as a woman and non-binary. Freddie is a young man with a slim build and somewhat adolescent mien who looks gay and somewhat effeminate but how is Freddie a woman cross-dressing as a man or non-binary? He looks like many young men in their late teens/early twenties who have not yet filled out in muscles, weight and bulk. Am I missing something? Are the police going to reveal that he was really a woman???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have only watched through Episode Six but I don't understand all the references to Freddie as a woman and non-binary. Freddie is a young man with a slim build and somewhat adolescent mien who looks gay and somewhat effeminate but how is Freddie a woman cross-dressing as a man or non-binary? He looks like many young men in their late teens/early twenties who have not yet filled out in muscles, weight and bulk. Am I missing something? Are the police going to reveal that he was really a woman???

That’s Sting’s non-binary daughter. She’s a woman in real life..playing a man…maybe?

Why cast a woman to play a male character? That’s the point.

I was wondering if they’d show breasts during the autopsy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have only watched through Episode Six but I don't understand all the references to Freddie as a woman and non-binary. Freddie is a young man with a slim build and somewhat adolescent mien who looks gay and somewhat effeminate but how is Freddie a woman cross-dressing as a man or non-binary? He looks like many young men in their late teens/early twenties who have not yet filled out in muscles, weight and bulk. Am I missing something? Are the police going to reveal that he was really a woman???

That’s Sting’s non-binary daughter. She’s a woman in real life..playing a man…maybe?

Why cast a woman to play a male character? That’s the point.

I was wondering if they’d show breasts during the autopsy.

She / They doesn't have any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why black and white?

Why is Freddie a non-binary person…in the 1960s?

Why did they cast unattractive ordinary looking actors for Dickie and Marge?

A lot of weird choices.

A lot of critics are lauding the series as a much closer adaptation of Highsmith's work.

You do realize, don't you, that nonbinary people have existed since the dawn on time? Ancient Greece ring any bells for you? Ancient Rome? The repressed morality of the last few hundred years is an anomaly in the human experience, and the pendulum is swinging back. There are hundreds of species in the animal world where bisexuality has been observed - it is far more the norm in nature than religious conservatives want to acknowledge.

I'm looking forward to seeing the adaptation and portrayal of Ripley by Andrew Scott, who I suspect does a much better embodiment than Damon, whose performance was very good. The choice of black and white is stylistic and I look forward to enjoying that, too - but I record tons of old movies on TCM so I'm used to the medium. Black and white film is really beautiful and also can be very eerie in a way that color film doesn't match.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m one of the very few people who has read each and every one of the Ripley novels. I also loved the movie, even though it took very different turns from the book. So I was thrilled to see there was going to be this series…

Unwatchable. 100% unwatchable. Long, slow, boring, no need for the black and white, miscast, wrong tone, trying to shoehorn in diversity in a way that serves absolutely no one and does nothing for the plot. It’s a no. So disappointed.

I doubt that. But if it makes the narcissist feel special to say it, go ahead.

Oh, did I miss where another person on this thread has read all the novels? Didn’t think so. They weren’t all successful or popular. I’ve taken college-level genre writing classes where the professor hadn’t even read all of them, and there was a section on Highsmith. You can’t even find all of them in specialty bookstores. You have to really hunt some of them down.

Have you even read one? Or did you just watch the ‘90s movie like most people who are familiar with the title?

I’m not the narcissist poster. After the original Talented Mr. Ripely movie, I read all of Patricia Hightower’s novels. She’s one of my favorite authors.

Really? But have you read all of Patricia HIGHSMITH'S novels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have only watched through Episode Six but I don't understand all the references to Freddie as a woman and non-binary. Freddie is a young man with a slim build and somewhat adolescent mien who looks gay and somewhat effeminate but how is Freddie a woman cross-dressing as a man or non-binary? He looks like many young men in their late teens/early twenties who have not yet filled out in muscles, weight and bulk. Am I missing something? Are the police going to reveal that he was really a woman???

The actor playing Freddie is non-binary. Does that automatically mean that the character is?

I am one of the non-intellectuals on here who did not read ALL of Highsmith's books, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman was definitely stuck in my head as the image of Freddie. Had a difficult time adjusting but that was true of all the characters for me.