Well now, let’s talk about this “Talented Mr. Ripley” movie, alright? I ain’t no fancy movie critic, ya hear? But I watched it, and I got a thing or two to say. It’s a real head-scratcher, this one.
First off, this Tom Ripley fella, he’s somethin’ else. A real smooth talker, but somethin’ ain’t right with him, ya know? He’s like one of them fellas always lookin’ for a shortcut, always wantin’ what ain’t his. The movie, it shows how this Tom, he’s good at pretendin’. Real good. He can be whoever he wants to be. Makes ya think, don’t it? Who’s the real Tom Ripley? I reckon even he don’t know.
This Dickie Greenleaf, the rich fella Tom’s supposed to bring home, he’s a piece of work too. Livin’ the high life over in Italy, spendin’ money like it grows on trees. Jude Law, the fella who plays him, he’s got that charm, ya know? But Dickie, he’s also kind of a jerk. Treats Tom like dirt sometimes. And Tom, he just takes it. At first, anyways. That’s how it goes with rich people, or so I hear, never knew any rich people myself. Always treatin’ folks lower than them like dirt.
The movie, it takes its time. It ain’t in no hurry to tell you what’s what. It lets you see these fellas, Tom and Dickie, how they are together. You see Tom gettin’ all tangled up in Dickie’s life. He starts wearin’ Dickie’s clothes, talkin’ like him. It’s creepy, like he’s trying to steal Dickie’s life. And I guess, in a way, he does.
- The movie is about identity, ya know?
- Who are you really?
- And what happens when you try to be someone you ain’t?
Now, this Peter Bradshaw fella, he wrote somethin’ about this movie. Said it was about how charming people got somethin’ to hide. And I reckon he’s right. Tom, he’s charming alright. But he’s hidin’ a whole lotta darkness inside. He ain’t got nothin’ of his own, so he tries to take from others. Their money, their lives, their very selves.
The whole thing in Italy, it’s beautiful, I tell ya. The sun, the sea, all them fancy clothes. But it’s also kinda dark. Like somethin’ bad’s gonna happen. And sure enough, it does. Tom, he does somethin’ terrible. And then he does more terrible things to cover it up. It’s like a snowball rollin’ downhill, gettin’ bigger and bigger and messier and messier. That’s how life gets sometimes, one thing goes bad then another thing and you just keep covering it up like it never happened. But it did happen, and you know it.
The director, this Anthony Minghella, he did a good job, I guess. He makes you feel like you’re right there with Tom, seein’ what he sees, feelin’ what he feels. Even though you know Tom’s doin’ wrong, you kinda feel for him sometimes. He’s a mess of a person, but he ain’t all bad. Maybe. It’s hard to say. He’s complicated, like one of them knots you can’t ever untangle, just gotta cut it sometimes.
The movie, it ain’t just about Tom and Dickie, though. It’s about wantin’ what you don’t have. It’s about jealousy and obsession. Tom, he’s obsessed with Dickie’s life. He wants it all. And he’ll do anything to get it. Anything at all. Makes you wonder what people are capable of, don’t it? Makes you look at your neighbors a little different, wondering what secrets they’re hidin’, what they’re dreamin’ of.
There’s this Marge woman too, Dickie’s girlfriend. She’s smart, she is. She sees through Tom, mostly. But even she gets fooled for a while. It’s sad, really. She cares about Dickie, and she tries to figure out what happened to him. But Tom, he’s always one step ahead. He’s a liar, a good one. But like they say, lies don’t last forever.
So, what’s the point of this whole movie? I ain’t sure, to be honest. But I think it’s about how people can get lost in their own lies. How they can lose themselves tryin’ to be someone else. And it’s about the price you pay for livin’ a life that ain’t yours. Tom Ripley, he pays a high price. He gets everything he wants, but he loses himself along the way. And that, I reckon, is a tragedy. A real sad story about a man who had nothin’ so he tried to take everything. But that ain’t how things work. You can’t just take what ain’t yours. It’ll catch up to you in the end.
Anyways, that’s what I think. You might see it different. But that’s the beauty of movies, ain’t it? They make you think, make you feel. And this “Talented Mr. Ripley,” well, it sure did that for me. It’s a movie that stays with you, long after the credits roll. Makes you look at the people around you, and maybe even at yourself, a little bit closer.
