Soak Up the Sun: The Talented Mr. Ripley

When Tom Ripley travels to Italy to procure Dickie Greenleaf (at Mr. Greenleaf’s request) he must decide on a way to inject himself, smoothly, into the lives of Dickie and his girlfriend Marge. Truly, each time I see The Talented Mr. Ripley I love it a little more. Even though, The English Patient is my favourite Minghella film there’s an inimitable style to The Talented Mr. Ripley. This shot of Dickie and Marge soaking up the sun is a brilliant example.

It’s almost gratuitous, Jude laid out for the Italian sun and even before we realise Minghella’s getting all symbolic with imagery and his characters. It’s not just Tom’s would-be lust for Dickie. Jude’s looks almost golden in the sun there, and I’m immediately thinking of that adage “all that glitters...” because as charming as Jude is Dickie’s more than just a little egocentric. And, I love that it’s one of our first shots of him. He’s lazily soaking up the sun, but it doesn’t seem like an immediately lazy act. We’re more inclined to think that it’s a god among men enjoying his pleasures, which is just how Dickie thinks of himself – and Tom for some time.
    
As far as enjoying the sun goes, I wish we could all look as good as Dickie doing so (and have Gwyneth Paltrow on arm, to boot).

‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ Trailer [Video]

Trailer for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is now available online and you can watch it below.

Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law are back again to reprise their roles as Holmes and Watson along with Noomi Rapace joining the sequel.

The sequel of Sherlock Holmes will hit the big screen in December according to reports.

“Oh, Jude”

"I have an eye for talent."

I’m a big fan of Jude Law. That in itself feels like a gross understatement. Next to Ralph Fiennes he’s my favourite living actor. And it’s weird, I’m always wailing about consistency, but Jude doesn’t have an impeccable track record. Like any good actor he stars in less than in interesting projects I often wonder if Jude sincerely believes in the films he promotes – maybe he’s self deluded like Errol Flynn, remember his line in The Aviator “I have an eye for talent”, considering the times he's been great - you'd think so. Then, considering things like Sherlock Holmes, Repo Men, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – not bloody likely.

                         

Oh, but I do love him – even if my worth as a fan is incredibly precarious when I consider the Jude Law films I haven’tI Heart Huckabees, which with its eclectic must be seen one day; or Breaking & Entering, which as a staunch Anthony Minghella fan I have no excuse for not seeing; or AI: Artificial Intelligence, which I’ve seen showing often but never bothered to watch. And yet, I’ve still got five performances of his that I especially love.

Jerome Eugene Morrow in Gattaca (1997) - REVIEWED

“If at first you don’t succeed...try, try again.”

What is it about Jude playing moguls of perfection? I like to remember this movie for Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, the former especially who's never revered as much as he ought to be, but Jude steals the show playing the perfect man, who's not so perfect. Jerome is a bit of a dick, okay a lot of a dick - but that's the thing about Jude, even when you hate him...you can't. Even though Niccol's Gattaca didn't take off as well as it should have, does anyone (besides me) remember it anymore?

Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) - REVIEWED

“Everybody should have one talent, what’s yours?”

And he moves from the somewhat sympathetic epitome of past perfection, to a full blown cad who's know for his (you guessed it) perfection. Dickie Greenleaf is still my favourite Jude performance...it's one of my favourite supporting performances period, he just has those line-readings down pat. And when he says everyone has one talent, you kind of think that his is playing perfect - and being a pretentious douchebag, that we still can't help wishing we were friends with.

                        

(Somewhere in between this he played another epitome of perfection in AI: Artificial Intelligence)

              

Harlen Maguire in Road to Perdition (2002)

“I’m something of a rarity.”

He's nowhere near perfection (inside or out) in Road to Perdition, for heaven sakes he takes photos of the dead - and forgive me if I can't help feeling a bit of necrophilia here. And yet he's sort of right, Jude is a bit of a rarity. When he's playing perfect, he seems made for it but he's absolutely disgusting in Road to Perdition, and not even in an over-the-top look-at-me way, it's as if he really was made for the role in an eerie way. I'll never understood why the performance, why the entire film actually, was shafted that year.

Inman in Cold Mountain (2003) - REVIEWED

“You are all that keeps me from sliding into some dark place.”

As it is, though, I do find something beautiful in the fact that Jude earned his two Oscar nominations (thus far) for Anthony Minghella projects. Truth be told, I might have given him the Oscar this year - it's so tough for me to choose between him and Sean Penn. He's every bit as awkward as you'd expect his hillbilly character to be. Inman is probably my favourite character of him, which is surprising since he's the most introverted. You don't expect him to be a good introvert, but the extroversion in Cold Mountain is left to Renee Zellweger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Jude handles his role beautifully, though I admit I spent an undue amount of time waiting for him and Nicole to umm...get it on...and they were apart for sooooooo much of the movie. (I  demand a rematch.)

Dan in Closer (2004) - Performance REVIEW

“Deception is brutal, I’m not pretending otherwise.”

Is it because Dan is such a stealth meanie that this performance didn't catch on? Yeah, I'd have probably Oscar-ed him for this one too. He is my best-in-show, and I LOVE this movie. 2004 was supposed to be his year, he was downright impossible to avoid - I did love him in Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow, that one's delightful amidst all the madness and woefully underrated.

                          

The recent drought of any substantial Jude roles feels a bit like a broken promise, he's supposed to be getting more work by now. I'm hoping that Contagion and Hugo Cabret (with SCORSESE) take off, I'm a bit tired of waiting on this train to arrive. But, then again, it's Jude and his moments of perfection outweigh the current drought. I were to rank the five it'd be #5: Jerome, #4: Harlan, #3: Inman, #2: Dan and #1: Dickie.

                 

What's your favourite Jude moment?

The Spin-Off, Season One: Episode 4

I vaguely remember in the wake of the, somewhat, mixed reactions to Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain a slew of bloggers suggested that Natalie Portman would have been a more ideal choice for Ada Munroe. I’ve never read the book, so I can’t say anything about the translation to screen. I am a big fan of Anthony Minghella, and Nicole Kidman so I loved Cold Mountain. It’s nowhere near Minghella’s best, but it’s admirable – and its cast is top-notch.

            

Even if I don’t cherish the prospect of young Ms. Portman as Ada I do appreciate the performance she gives in the film as a young woman who Inman meets on his journey. Like any story divided in two one take precedence and Ada and Ruby are more interesting that Inman’s trek across the country – even if Jude Law is brilliant. But the moment where his journey gets most poignant is in the scene with Sarah. I’m vaguely fond of Portman, but I’m not wholly bowled over by her talent. Case in point, I think she’s fine in Closer, but still the least impressive of the quartet. When it comes to taking small roles and making them memorable her incarnation of Sarah ranks at the top. Everything in those few moments works in a way that I don’t expect. We are salivating waiting for Inman to reach Ada but for that scene we’re completely focused on Sarah.

 

It’s the type of role I’d like to see Natalie tackle. My excitement for Black Swan is slightly tamp though I’m still anxious to see Portman hold down an entire film. Perhaps the role of a woman waiting at home for her husband to return from war is generic, but an inspired writer could always do wonders with the story. It would be a fine piece for Natalie to tackle, she’s the sort of actor who’s good when pushed but is easily lost in the shuffle in an ensemble. I wouldn't mind seeing her headline something like this.

             

Previously

Patricia Clarkson takes centre stage, from her character Judy in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Richard and Susan examine their marriage troubles from Babel

Meredith Logue and Tom Ripley continue their journey in The Talented Mr. Ripley

Marjorie Mellor before her daughter, Jenny, got her (An) Education

Flashback: Cold Mountain

I’m working on a review of another Minghella film, and after touching on his The Talented Mr. Ripley for the Movie Meme yesterday I felt like watching Cold Mountain. In retrospect I suppose that Cold Mountain’s chancing of a genuinely warm reception were sunk before it was even released. The golden age of Miramax was at a peak coming off the banner year that was 2002 for them, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger were two cinema’s brightest stars, and Jude Law was no black hole himself. Truthfully, I resent the way that’s Cold Mountain is remembered today because I really do like it. Is it the shameless attempt for Oscar glory that it’s advertised at? Tough question. Perhaps…but that doesn’t really say much.

Cold Mountain is two stories in one. On one side of America Ada Munroe is working on keeping her spirits up as she waits for a man she never really knew to return home. She’s befriended by an intrepid drifter, Ruby Thewes, and together the two start to work on Black Cove farm. On the other side W. P. Inman is making his way back to Ada after having deserted his troops in the Civil War. Cold Mountain is one of those infuriating love stories that have the couple in question apart for the majority of the film. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one seduced by the possibility of Jude and Nicole together, even though they’re more often than not apart. Really, Cold Mountain’s never really a love story. Some other (potentially clichéd) maxim would probably do it more justice – finding your true selves, overcoming odds; etc. 

It’s strange, somewhat, when Cold Mountain came out Nicole Kidman was immediately forgotten in favour or Jude and Renee. Granted, she’d just recently won the Oscar (deservedly) for her work in The Hours but she’d easily have displaced three of the actual nominees that year. Today, Renee Zellweger’s win is regarded as one of the Academy’s largest travesties. I chuckle at that one. I don’t know if that’s the reason that she seems to be so hated now, but it seems silly. I like Cold Mountain, and generally everything about it and I don’t find her performance offensively bad – I don’t find it bad at all. But I’m digressing…there’s no point in turning this into an entry for defensive cinema.

At its heart, it’s a war story in the best of – and worst of – ways. But for a few random moments it never goes to the forefront of battle – and even those aren’t particularly significant, but it shows the effect that war has on a small town, the effect it has on its people, especially those left behind. It’s adapted from a novel, and that makes it that less subtle when it comes to touching on the important issues, but that doesn’t make me any less fond of it. It’s on the nose, but in a good way. There’s a scene where Ruby stands in a bar, “They make the weather and then they stand in the rain and they, ‘Shit! It’s raining!’”. In all its obviousness it’s a perfect summation of war and its effects. It’s a bit of a departure for Minghella in some ways, because Cold Mountain is decidedly more sentimental than anything I’ve seen from him before. I’m willing to admit it spends about thirty minutes settling into itself as it should – but I forgive it those strange moments because even in those odd moments where the story seems to falter it’s only innocuous. The film is still technically proficient. The main trio are good, but Kathy Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brenda Gleeson, Donald Sutherland and Natalie Portman and Jena Malone in brilliant cameos do good work too. No one ever thinks of Cold Mountain in terms of an ensemble cast, but it is. And it has one of the most brilliant scores of the decades, backed by beautiful music from Alison Krauss. Perhaps, general nepotism makes me fond of it but I often think that Cold Mountain’s not given enough credit.

          

What did you think of Minghella’s final epic?

Scene On A Sunday: The Aviator

The Aviator is one of those films I wish I had made. It oozes such sophisticated, old Hollywood charm that I find it difficult to resist; and it's not like I want to resist it anyhow. It's so well made, technically and otherwise, that I love to praise it. It was bound to show up here sooner or later, though it's particularly difficult finding just one scene to talk about. But, I'll pick one... A few minutes before this scene actually begins, Howard brings Katharine Hepburn to the Coconut Grove. It's a night out on the town, in theory at least. The scene in question surrounds the arrival of Hughes’ press agent to the table with Errol Flynn (an excellent cameo from Jude Law). Who doesn't love Hollywood banter?

I always love that shot of the irrepressibly happy band. The song Happy Feet really does make you want to get up and dance, even if the lead singer looks a bit manic, but more on that later.

You have to appreciate the attention to set design that occurs here. It's just brilliant to watch.

We see Kate looking sweetly at Hughes before the spell is broken.

Cate looks only slightly like Kate, and yet she is  Kate completely. Sure, it’s like Kate on steroids – but I have a feeling that the real Kate was like Kate on steroids. Cate is very Tracy Lords in her affectations here - imperious, iron maiden and what not.

There comes Mr. Meyer, and isn’t that shot lovely? Sure, it was snubbed a host of other prize but at least the excellent art direction was remembered.

HOWARD: “Kate, this is Johnny Meyer. I suppose you could call him my press agent.”

JOHNNY: “Pleased to meet you. Loved you in Alice Adams.”

KATE: “You’re too kind.”

Kate is so gracious, even when she’s not being gracious. I get the striking feeling that she feels an urge to roll her eyes at Meyers words. (And Cate does look too old for Alice Adams, but I nitpick.)

HOWARD: “I’m sure you know Errol, right?

KATE: “Mr. Flynn, yes.”

I’ve already praised Jude’s work effusively; I really do love him here. As much as I admire DiCaprio I like Jude Law even more – even though he doesn’t do as much work as I would like him to do at the moment. The pairing of him with Cate (even if momentarily) is just a delight. I demand a rematch.

ERROL: “Kate, Kate of the clench-jawed Hepburns. Enchanting as always.”

Jude comes across as such a rake (but a charming one) – which is how he should. He’s the perfect actor to come in and steal the show in under five minutes. Remind me again why this wide (and talented) ensemble lost the SAG award to a film that centred on four thespians?

 

ERROL: “You should use Lux on your hands, by the way. I do.”

If pushed I’d probably call that bit my favourite part of Jude’s. It’s so thoroughly incidental and yet strikingly insensitive. Doesn’t he realise he’s just insinuated that her hands are not soft? What makes it better is Cate’s reaction…there is that half smile - and she looks down, only slightly...and then she ponders, for a moment...

I know most think Cate won her Oscar for being loud and brash, but it’s the softer moments where she says little or nothing that impress me me. Kate (the real one) has been described as a self-conscious beauty and Cate taps into that. She looks regal, but she’s not completely at ease.

I love how she looks across at Howard there. She’s already trying to start the telepathy: get me out of here, I’m an Oscar winner (unlike, Mr. Flynn, ahem).

JOHNNY: “You and Howard ought to cook up a picture. Co-star with Errol. I could sell that in spades. That would be marvellous. Howard?”

While Johnny is giving his lofty ideas (but that would have been a nice movie, though, no?) Errol has gone across to steal a chair from a nearby table – this will be important onwards.

I love the look on the man’s face.

              

Kate, but of course, is not sold on teaming up with Errol. She heads into a lovely bit of in-joke references that I greatly appreciate. It was not match for the entire winner, but Logan's screenplay is poorly underrated. Taut, funny, and even sarcastic at times - especially when Kate is front and centre.

KATE: “I think not. Don’t you read Variety, Mr. Meyer. Well, I’m box-office poison. I’m on the outs, the skids, the doldrums. Washed-up, day-old fish not worth the eating, so they tell me.”

I went a little overboard with the images but with Cate/Kate it’s an obsession. I love physicality of the performance; now she’s evoking memories of Hepburn circa Susan Vance. Certainly, she is not Kate but I still can’t help being invested in the performance. She is so in character, but yet she’s not overly technical about all the character tics.

ERROL: “Hell with them. Hell with them. Soulless pricks to man, right?”

Howard seems completely out of the loop here.

ERROL: “Johnny tells me you’re thinking of doing a Western, of all goddamn things.”

That uncomfortable pause never fails to make me chuckle, even if must try to look for subtext. Is he really deaf?

And don’t those two look lovely together above?

KATE: “Are you making a Western, Howard?”

HOWARD: “Yeah, making a Western. I’m gonna call it The Outlaw.”

JOHNNY: “Yeah, and you know what it’s about? S-E-X. It’s all about S-E-X.

Honestly, isn't Adam Scott just on point here? Sure, we know him for his comedy bit - but not this type of comedy. Why does he spell out the word? His take on the officious grease ball is just another example of the brilliant cast working in superlatives.

HOWARD: “It’s a Western.”

DiCaprio such a good job of making Howard particularly loopy, though he’s never stupid. S

ERROL: “You can’t have fornication in a Western. It isn’t done.”

JOHNNY: “It’s not real sex, it’s movie sex. What Scarface did for the gangster picture, The Outlaw will do for the Western. Put the sex and blood and guts up there on the screen.”

Oh how times have changed, I’m so thinking of Scorsese’s bloody gangsters and Eastwood’s westerns. Apparently you can have fornication anywhere now. Kudos to modernisation. Ha.

The food has been delivered and yet these buffoons are here. I love Kate's over-excitement at the arrival. She's trying to send a message. Obviously

ERROL: “Have you seen my cigarettes?”

Another random bit of line-reading there. Jude is thoroughly in character he’s not even trying - he’s just there being awesome.

KATE: “Don’t mind us.”

You can’t forget her when she’s there – she ensures that. It really must be annoying getting your first date (well second, technically) crashed by a pair of boors.

I like that childish clap from Howard as he gets his dinner…which the waiter specifies.

WAITER: “New York cut steak, 12 peas, bottle of milk with the cap on.”

I will say that dinner looks unappetising to me…and milk?

JOHNNY: “You can’t afford your own cigarettes?”

ERROL: “Jack has all my money.”

KATE: “I hope your food isn’t getting cold at your table somewhere or something.”

JOHNNY: “No, no. We’re here all night. Don’t worry.”

Talk about not being able to take a bint...

There is one of the most insincere smiles – Cate’s so good with the expressions.

All the while Howard is very intent on attacking that steak.

ERROL: “Now, Howard. If you’re seriously talking about putting carnality back on the silver screen, you must swear to let me in on the casting sessions.”

And Errol Flynn in all his smug entitlement dares to take a pea from Howard’s plate. Howard is schizophrenic, we will remember, so the fact that someone's hand is in his plate exasperates him; he tries to hide it, poorly.

That glare from DiCaprio is brilliant.

ERROL: “I have an eye for talent.”

Kate’s look at Howard is another example of her doing so much with so little. She keeps the focus on herself and Howard's mental state even though she’s not leading the scene, and that's not at the forefront at the moment.

Oddly, though, there are still twelve peas remaining…what is Errol eating?

Howard can’t even hear him anymore, he’s so chagrined.

And Kate is perceptive enough to know that all is not well. Although our two crashers are not so quick on the uptake.

JOHNNY: “You ought to give up prancing in tights to be a talent scout.”

I do appreciate the not-so-subtle allusion to Flynn’s Robin Hood.

ERROL: “That prancing paid for my new yacht. You must all come sailing with me.”

JOHNNY: “Catalina. Sounds grand, eh.”

ERROL: “I’ve even managed to coax…the luscious Miss De Havilland and her equally luscious sister to come. Though I fear their mother will insist on coming, to preserve their questionable virtue. We shall assault these twin monuments of pristine Britannic beauty nonetheless.”

Errol really is painted as a crass cad, and you have to love the movie references. So much is going above, though. Cate is once again chanelling Tracy Lords (if looks could kill), and Howard is clearly not enjoying the possibility of Joan and Olivia. He's still to perturbed thinking about this not-quite-missing pea.

ERROL: “What do you say, Howard?”

HOWARD: “Yeah?”

JOHNNY: “Yeah…”

More telepathy from Kate there - do something.

HOWARD: “Yeah…I gotta go. If you'll excuse us, we have... We have to be somewhere.”

And the lady is content. I love how Kate just pops up from that chair.

ERROL: “You are somewhere, Howard, you madman.”

HOWARD: “Somewhere else. Excuse us.”

Great reaction there from Scott. They're all so in character. And then Kate wins a prize for best use of appropriate bitchiness (said with love).

KATE: “Charmed, gentlemen. Do help yourself to the poached pears. I hear they're divine.”

Divine is just what the waiter called them when she placed her order, so we'll assume they are.

JOHNNY: “Well. Howard Hughes, ladies and gentlemen.”

And apparently, he's not the only one slighted. The man whose chair was stolen by Errol returns...

ERROL: “Was that meant for me?”

How childish, though, throwing a rolled-up napkin?

 

KATE: “My hero. God, all that Hollywood talk bores me silly. As if there aren't more important things, like Mussolini. Where are we going, by the way?”

She barely gives herself time to breathe, what a chatterbox she is.

HOWARD: “Do you feel like a little adventure, Ms. Hepburn?”

KATE: “Do your worst, Mr. Hughes.”

But the scene doesn’t end there.

The club drifts into a frenzy with Errol at the centre…and even the very orchestra seems to go wild too.

 I did say that lead singer looked manic.