jessica durkin

A quick list of problems with this rendition of The Talented Mr Ripley, having only seen the 1999 movie and not read the book: —black and white filming sucks the life out of the atmosphere. The director was quoted as saying he imagined the movie in b&w because it was the 1950s, and it matches the tone of the book art, and he felt b&w enhances the story’s dark themes of deception and murder. It doesn’t. —bad casting and acting direction. The two male characters have no chemistry, no charisma, so it’s hard to believe they have become friends who trust each other, which is important for the deception to feel like true betrayal. —Dakota Fanning doesn’t add much. She gets better after three episodes, but I never sensed she and Dickie were a young couple in love in Italy. She felt more like just an American friend in Italy. —the story, as presented, doesn’t require eight 44-minute episodes. Events unfold too slow, to the point where you cannot anticipate what the next course of action will be. The pace isn’t good.