marcelbenoitdeux

In my mind, Alain Delon in Rene Clement's 1960 "Purple Noon" was the definitive Tom Ripley. Beautiful and totally amoral. Anthony Minghella's 1999 "The Talented Mr Ripley" had a bland but thoughtful Tom Ripley who felt and suffered. Minghella had a superb script, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett playing riveting, unforgettable characters. There was also John Malcovich in a Liliana Cavani version, and although I've seen it, I don''t remember it, isn't that terrible? And the Wim Wenders version with Dennis Hopper doesn't count, good film, but it doesn't count as a version of Patricia Highsmith's novel. Now this. Ripley, the series. Hours long, in black and white. My first reaction was to rejected it but the truth is that I finish seeing it over a week ago and stayed with me, I can't shake it off. Why I wonder. And the reason is very simple. Steven Zaillian's version is truly wonderful. He has de-glamorized it. The whole thing. The story, the characters. Oh the characters. I was so used to see beautiful people playing them, in gloriously glamorous locations. This version is stark and Andrew Scott is like a replicant. No emotions, not even a hint of them. Invisible. As a consequence we do all the work. We gasp or look away. He just goes on. I know I'm going to see Ripley again, maybe not tomorrow but soon. I suspect you will too.

Well yes. To see Gillian Anderson play Emily is worth the whole thing. I must confess that Gillian Anderson wasn't an actress I cared about or thought in anyway as a contender among her contemporaries. Her character in the X Files was what settled in my brain, so, nothing earth shattering until, well until her Margaret Thatcher in The Crown. That took me completely by surprise and blew me away. Now "Scoop" and she's the main reason to take your breath away. It's not an impersonation but something else. Something that belongs to great acting. Rufus Sewell was very good in the impossible task of playing Prince Andrew but Gillian Anderson bridges that impossibility and makes that, already famous interview, totally and utterly riveting. So, well done and thank you.

I was immediately taken by Cillian Murphy's entrance as Oppenheimer and then the seriousness of the proceedings. Christopher Nolan has already proven he is a director for the ages. Actors bend over backwards to work with him even in small, one scene parts. Here Matthew Modine, Casey Affleck and Remi Malek for instance. But is Cillian Murphy who envelopes the entire journey with the kind of truth that makes the whole thing utterly compelling. I've loved Cillian Murphy since his miraculous "Breakfast On Pluto" Here he is is extraordinary. Extraordinary! Visually, the film is a marvel without ever falling into an effects-fest. Superb.

Maybe it's Bradley Cooper's commitment that took over my senses. His vision is on the screen. He didn't take the safe, the easy way out. His performance is so moving. Yes, he wrote, directed and plays the title role but look at the space he dedicates to Carey Mulligan, even the billing is a tribute to her and she is sublime. Sublime! I know that the scenes of Bernstein teaching and conducting are scenes that I'm going to see again and again. They are spectacular! Also, for anyone who loves movies, it's a beautiful thing to see the names of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg as producers of this gem. Endorsing not just the movie but its maker. Bravo!

Paddy Chayefsky saw the world through a magnifying glass and the results are chilling, hilarious too but chilling. I first became aware of Paddy Chayesfy in "The Goddess" a tiny production introducing a thirty-something stage actress named Kim Stanley. Wow, it blew my mind. She plays a Marilyn Monroe type in 1958! When Marilyn was reaching her zenith but Chayesfy sees beyond and discovers an unbearable sadness. Here in "The Hospital" he reveals something that now it doesn't surprises us. Brutal and absurdly funny. George C Scott, an actor I admire but find very difficult to warm up to, is profoundly human as the doctor on the verge. The rest of the cast is priceless. Every tiny little part. Well, casting by Marion Dougherty means something. Superb.

A unique journey with familiar feelings. The terrific coupling of Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi reminded me of The Talenbted Mr, Ripley and specially Colin Firth and Hart Bochner in Apartment Zero.

The sexual suspense of their relationship remains in the longing stages. Not even a kiss. When Barry Keoghan arrives to Saltburn for a visit we know that he means a visit to Jacob Elordi, I know because we long for that visit myself. Jacob Elordi is a star. I haven't seen Euphoria, yet, so, Jacob Elordi was a total surprise to me. His beauty has depth, he's never superficial. Look at him taking his friend for a tour of Saltburn. Superb. They visit themselves and visit each other and I was with them all the way. Another plus, Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant as the parents, sharp and hilarious. Yep. Go visit, you won't forget it.

Damiano Gavino and Andrea de Luigi are the two splendid protagonists of this wonderful retro-modern melodrama.

I was partially familiar with the Turkish/Italian director Ferzan Ozpeteck. Years ago I saw his Le Fate Ignoranti - titled in the USA with the unimaginative His Secret Life - I remember loving it. His Nuovo Olimpo belongs to the same universe but miles apart. I saw the film last night and I keep thinking about that ending. Did I see what I think I saw? I was completely taken be the gazes of the two actors. I believed it, totally, but I'll see it again, soon. A surprise and a delight. Thank you.

1935! Some films can surf the waves of time with the freshness of a true work of art. Ruggles Of Red Gap is such a film, for me. At the center of it all, Charles Laughton, An inebriating mix of brains and innocence. He, the foreigner is the only one, among a group of Americans, who can recite the Gettysburg address. It is an unforgettable film moment. Laughton himself chose Leo McCarey as his director, he clearly knew what he was doing. The rest of the cast is sublime, Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland, sensational. The last close up of Laughton in the film is a masterpiece of characterization. The end of a character's journey.

This is what used to be called a "drawing room comedy" Yes, everything feels like a period piece and, of course, it is. Fred Astaire plays a sort of playboy who hasn't seen his daughter, Debbie Reynolds, in 15 years. He arrives in time for her wedding to Tab Hunter and , it appears, to seduce her away from her plans. Hmm. The biggest surprise and it shouldn't have been. Is Lilli Palmer as Fred Astaire's ex wife and Debbie's mother. She is sensational. Elegant and funny. I remembered I saw her as the Mother Superior in "Conspiracy Of Hearts" and I always remembered her as the one who killed Sophia Loren in "Operation Crossbow" Here she lifts the proceedings from the moment she appears and that in itself it makes it a must.

Yes. It was released in 1950 and just look at it. Look at the faces, Joel McCrea and his tough humanity, then, Dean Stockwell, oh Dean Stockwell! Talk about humanity! Juano Hernandez is, once again, at the receiving end of injustice - remember him in the wonderful "Intruder in the Dust? And he is a standout. This is the kind of film that you just have to let it happen. Abandon yourself to it and I can assure you, you will feel uplifted. Director Jacques Tourner of "Out Of The Past" and "Cat People" fame frames it in a way that makes it inclusive and compelling. Thank you to TCM, this an example of a gem I would have missed if it wasn't for the Turner Classic Movies channel.

I could follow the film just by looking into Montgomery Clift's extraordinary face. Look at his reaction to the confession. Clift's eyes are a symphony of emotions with him doing nothing. Powerful, brilliant, unforgettable. I forgot it was a Hitchcock film not matter how suspenseful it is, and it is, because Clift's internal torture is so pungent. Dimitri Tiomkin's score, terrific as it is, pushes us away from Hitchcock's territory. What I'm saying is that is not Bernard Herrmann.

A blonde Anne Baxter, an intense Karl Malden, and a delightful Brian Aherne keeps us a bit dislocated. The conclusion, framed by faces reacting to Clift's secret is a powerful and totally satisfying ending.

1963 was the year and they are still here, mesmerizing, enthralling, entertaining from beginning to end and no music. The sounds of the birds, the attacks, are the music the movie needs. Tippi Hedren, a Hitchcock blonde, head to toe. We follow her as if we knew her and Rod Taylor, well, we know we know him, so it all moves like a potential romantic comedy but there is something in the air that doesn't allow us that frame of mind. Jessica Tandy introduces another Hitchcockian character, the castrating mother and it's wonderful and suspenseful, her slow surrender to Melanie Daniels. It must be a sign of greatness when you can watch The Birds, 60 years after its debut and enjoy it as if was yesterday.

Hitchcock back in his native land concocting a classic British thriller with a large dose of humor and cruelty. Jon Finch plays the innocent man on the run. Jon Finch ! He was Polanski's Macbeth. A great but uncomfortable presence on the screen. I can't quite explain it. The first time I saw him was in a small but pungent scene as a hustler in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday. In Frenzy he falls in several traps, as a character and as an actor. He doesn't have the lightness nor the charm of a Cary Grant but he has a weight of his own that makes Frenzy truly dark. Anna Massey plays the girlfriend, a part that, apparently, was offered to Helen Mirren in 1972 but she turned down, as a young actress she had her eyes set on Jack Nicholson for instance, feeling that Hitchcock was old hat. Maybe she was right, but I wonder if she regrets it. Billie Whitelew is also in the cast plus Alec McCowen as the Inspector from Scotland Yard and Vivien Merchant as his wife in a delicious Hitchcokian touch. If you're a Hitchcock fan I'm sure you've seen it but if you haven't, you must.

Certain films travel in time, undisturbed. Always relevant. "The Apartment" is such a film. Jack Lemmon at the top of his form and the luminous Shirley MacLaine at the center of this bitter romantic comedy. The cynics with the keys and the ambition are also the corruptors of the little man. The ones dangling the golden carrot. Billy Wilder finds a way out, where love, if not triumphs, survives. Fred MacMurray is a surprisingly believable corruptor, living a socially acceptable life, at least on the surface. The laughs are well earned but with that Wilderian aftertaste that makes "The Apartment" a unique piece of film art.

If you're going to fictionalize the life of one of the movie icons of the 20th century why go there, to the darkest dark. There are some "invented" moments that are, quite frankly, unforgivable. What kept me glued to the screen was Ana de Armas. A tremendous show of talent and fearlessness. I was wondering what the experience would have been to watch it in a theater with other people? I don't know because in the privacy of my own home I was free to stand up and walk away to pour myself a drink and shout at the screen. The awful Kennedy episode for instance. Why? That episode in particular made me question the intention of the filmmakers. So, yes, I can say now that I've seen it. Loved some it and detested some it.

Austin Butler is terrific, I want to say that immediately. But, I was waiting for the movie to start, and in the dizzying display of visual pyrotechnics I forgot this was a Buz Luhrmann movie, so it would probable never start. A long, beautifully made trailer that hints at a revolutionary bio-pic. But that's all it is, a hint. Tom Hanks's Colonel Parker is out of a Charles Dickens novel. Yes Fagan. But I must say Austin Butler kept me there. True that sometimes he doesn't look or feel real but neither did the real Elvis. Butler's physicality is astonishing and that's what I took with me and I thought, I would love to see the movie when it comes out,.

Let me say I didn't know anything about the real case but now I do. Chilling! Colin Firth';s close ups as Michael Peterson are downright chilling. His discomfort mixed with his arrogance are everpresent and a dislocating humanity that makes this terrific series utterly compelling. Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche, Michael Stuhlbarg and the rest of the cast makes it one of the best TV I've seen in a long time - And I've seen some terrific stuff - Colin Firth that I discovered in "Apartment Zero" continues to surprise and amaze.

1957! 65 years ago and look at it, just look at it. This is Sidney Lumet's first feature film, up to this moment he had built his reputation on television. This was also the only film that Henry Fonda ever produced. He must have trusted Sidney Lumet very much and God was he right. Lumet concocts a masterful, choreographic coup. Within the four wall of the jury room the sense of claustrophobia, propels the drama forward in such a way that it's enough to catch a few minutes of the film to be totally hooked. Henry Fonda is superb and the rest of the cast a who's who of New York stage actors. From Jack Warden to Jack Klugman, from Lee J Cobb to E G Marshall. In my book, flawless.

I found it by accident on YouTube and what a pleasant surprise it turned out top be. An action film set in British India with a superb script. Lauren Bacall, Kenneth More and Herbert Lom lead the cast. A gripping train raid that never lets go. The director is J Lee Thompson and in my movie going life, J Lee Thompson is associated with many unexpected treats. "Tiger Bay" for instance, remember that one? With Hayley Mills and Horst Buchholz or the insane Shirley MacLaine comedy "What A Way To Go" Not to mention "The Guns Of Navarone" or the original "Cape Fear" . Here, Thompson excels. A suspenseful, thrilling tale told by a master. .

I've seen Apartment Zero once per decade, starting in the 90's. Every time it left me with a different feeling. The humor, the sadness, the fear...In spite of the darkness there is something about this movie that exudes love. I can't explain it. Flawed characters if not downright unlikeable become compelling, irresistible. Colin Firth is astonishing - in 1988 ! - not a single false move. He seems so uneasy with real people, tight, hermetic - that's why the entrance of Hart Bochner - superb! - seems to come out of a cinematic mind and Colin surrenders, without meaning or even knowing it, he does. Dressed in a sensational score This movie, over the years, has become an essential to me. Oh yeah.

Rupert Pumpkin is a first for an American movie. Am I right? He's a semi-functioning nut case. Infected by the need to be someone when the someone he's longing to be is a shallow image of non existing humanity. Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and writer Paul D Zimmerman concoct a pungent indictment to the era of TV fame and they do it with such virtuosity that the entertainment is immediate even if there is a nagging undertaste that ultimately dominates the memory of this extraordinary modern classic.

Certain films - very few I dare say, not only survive the passing of time but they grow in clarity and relevance. Network is such a film. The extraordinary Paddy Chayefsky finds a perfect partner in Sidney Lumet to translate his prophetic script into the screen. To sit through Network in 2022 is an indescribable experience that I highly recommend to all lovers of great writing, great cinema and unbelievable acting. William Holden crowning his legendary career with a performance so powerful and so moving that I shall never forget it. Peter Finch! Faye Dunaway, Beatrice Straight who's one scene gave her the Oscar, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty. A total triumph.

I shouldn't be surprised that a 49 year old movie can survive the passage of time with such power. But it is, surprising. It may be the privilege of certain films by great artists that, in their day, came and went, almost unnoticed. I'm discovering more and more films with that particular peculiarity. I saw Don't Look Now for the first time when I was 18. It terrified me, it gave me a sleepless night and at the same time it fascinated me. I had a similar reaction last night when I saw it again 27 years after my first time. Love it, terrified me and fascinated me. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland are superlative in daring, truly daring performances. Nicolas Roeg a true master.