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Summary: highsmith and the cinema
Review: Patricia Highsmith (who died in 1995) ranks as one of the most accomplished yet recondite writers of fiction to emerge from the United States in this century. Graham Greene, in a forward to a collection of her short stories, referred to her as "the poet of apprehension." Unfortunately, although a number of her novels have been adpated for the screen, beginning with Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" and most recently in Anthony Minghella's bastardized "The Talented Mr. Ripley", these attempts have almost exclusively been of a mediocre and inchoate standard. Wim Wender's 1977 film "Der Amerikanische Freund" is an overwhelming exception. Though the locations and plot lines of the original novel (third in the Ripley series) was substantially altered, Wenders was able to capture the essential character of the books two unlikely protaganists. Hopper's Ripley is brimming over with unstated homoerotic menace, while Ganz plays the naive and desperate Jonathan to perfection. The central attribute of a Highmsith novel is not a feeling of suspense so mauch as one of delocalized discomfort, unease that has no rational causal locus. Combine this with the film's aesthetic sensibility, the use of strong and unnatural filters to carnivalize the vision of seagulls soaring lazily over a Hamburg dawn, the effervescent green light of a paris metro station, and you have something no less than a low-key masterpiece.
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Summary: Lost in the Unknown with Bruno Ganz
Review: Plunge a character into a world that is unknown and completely foreign to them and watch as their world comes crashing down around their ankles-this is the plot that outlines _The American Friend_ . Mr. Ripley, played here by Dennis Hopper, is a man who deals with art forgeries and, quite oddly, schemes to involve a stranger named Jonathan Zimmermann (played by Bruno Ganz) in a series of murders. Things go splendidly until Jonathon starts to unwind. Despite Zimmermann's hopes to provide for his family, his involvement with Mr. Ripley's associates only leads to the destruction of his family and his way of life. Slow at times, _The American Friend_ is a film that gains most of its appeal from the richness of the characters. I was particularly impressed with Bruno Ganz's performance, as he manages to establish a strong character and completely distintegrate throughout the film gradually. His performance is so strong that one gets the impression that the film was shot in sequence-the continuity is that good. Dennis Hopper is also strong in his role as the querky Mr. Ripley (a completely different portrayal than the recent Matt Damon rendition), though I was not drawn to his character when opposite of Ganz. Of course, Hopper's character does not really enter the film in any significant way until he has decided to befriend a man he has already doomed, but I still expected a little more from the young Hopper.
Though slow at times due to the action-film turned character piece (often said to be a thriller with no thrills), _The American Friend_ has more than enough suspense to keep an audience going when it is at its best. Worth a rent and a second look.
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Summary: Neo-noir, the cultural outsider, and the cult of personality
Review: The American Friend is a particularly trenchant example of Wim Wenders' favorite theme--the outsider in a different culture (cf. The Buena Vista Social Club--Ry Cooder in Havana; Until the End of the World--William Hurt's American character in Europe). Only in this case, the outsider, Dennis Hopper--the American friend--ruins the life of the insider, played by Bruno Ganz. But that's what noir is all about. Based on one of the Ripley novels by American ex-patriate author Patricia Highsmith (no doubt her ex-pat status appealed to Wenders), the film follows Jonathan Zimmermann (Ganz) in his descent into Noirville via Tom Ripley (Hopper) and Ripley's "partner" Minot, a sinister French man. This time out, unlike in the 1960 film Purple Noon (THE best cinematic version of Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley--far better than the recent version with Matt Damon), Ripley is an edgy guy (what else could Hopper be?--especially in 1977 when he was coked to the gills) who deals in art forgeries. Along the way we meet an artist who does the forgeries, and that's famed director Nicholas Ray in a great role. Ray is one of Wenders' heroes--maybe his biggest hero--and he's here in his glory--sad single eye partnered with his trademark eyepatch, gaunt face and all. Three years later, Ray died of cancer. We also meet a gangster played by another of Wenders' favorite directors, Samuel Fuller. But Fuller's part is smaller than Ray's, which says something... This is a perfect exemplar of the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. Zimmermann's one desire to take care of his family results in his being coerced into dark deeds that ultimately leave Zimmermann emotionally destitute. Wenders' focus is on the characters who make things happen, who bring about the downfall of both themselves and of others. While American neo-noirs can occasionally do a great job of focusing on action-driven plots--given a great writer/director team--in this film, Wenders chooses instead to have the story unfold based on personalities. An unusual and strong neo-noir, The American Friend is a unique film that is a key work in the Wenders oeuvre. Great job (an American expression).
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Summary: Never slight Mr Ripley - a horror film par excellence
Review: The first chilling moment in this film is when relatively poor and struggling art framer and cultured European (Swiss) Bruno Ganz is introduced to art dealer American (Dennis Hopper)) Tom Ripley at an art auction, and refuses to shake his hand. From that moment, Mr Ganz is more or less doomed. One theme of this film is the clash between two cultures, or at least two attitudes to art, money versus art, the contempt each has for the other. Another theme is how thrilling it would be to kill anyone who makes a fool of us in public. From the moment of the slight, the doomed Mr Ganz is slowly brought to his end - the mis en scene becomes a horror show of ordinary things made threatening, seagulls, art frames he works on he starts bumping into, a television set which is off zaps him with static electricity when he touches it, he stumbles in to objects whilst waiting for a train, the doodling on a piano by a "medical student" gangster becomes an atonal nightmare. The moment when Mr Ganz breathes onto the finest piece of gold leaf we can see him realising the breath of life is so precious, but he's losing it and he knows it.
A stunning cinematic experience. A masterpiece and perhaps the finest transformation of Ms Highsmith's many Ripley adaptations, notwithstanding Mr Hitchcock.
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Summary: Never slight Mr Ripley - a horror film par excellence
Review: The first chilling moment in this film is when relatively poor and struggling art framer and cultured European (Swiss) Bruno Ganz is introduced to art dealer American (Dennis Hopper)) Tom Ripley at an art auction, and refuses to shake his hand. From that moment, Mr Ganz is more or less doomed. One theme of this film is the clash between two cultures, or at least two attitudes to art, money versus art, the contempt each has for the other. Another theme is how thrilling it would be to kill anyone who makes a fool of us in public. From the moment of the slight, the doomed Mr Ganz is slowly brought to his end - the mis en scene becomes a horror show of ordinary things made threatening, seagulls, art frames he works on he starts bumping into, a television set which is off zaps him with static electricity when he touches it, he stumbles in to objects whilst waiting for a train, the doodling on a piano by a "medical student" gangster becomes an atonal nightmare. The moment when Mr Ganz breathes onto the finest piece of gold leaf we can see him realising the breath of life is so precious, but he's losing it and he knows it.
A stunning cinematic experience. A masterpiece and perhaps the finest transformation of Ms Highsmith's many Ripley adaptations, notwithstanding Mr Hitchcock.
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Summary: Absorbing modern film-noir about manipulation and insecurity
Review: This film doesn't really have much to do with gangsters. Patricia Highsmith's rather ugly novel, "The Talented Mr. Ripley", introduces the desperate and selfish Tom Ripley, a would-be con-man who winds up killing an artist acquaintance and exploits the 'friendship' by selling forgeries of the late artist's works. In the movie, based on the sequel "Ripley's Game", Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is stung by the criticism of German frame-maker Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz.) Zimmerman suffers from a blood disease and Ripley exploits the German's fears by insinuating that he is at death's door. Ripley manipulates Zimmerman into becoming a hitman for a European mobster. Perversly the two men become friends and Ripley begins to experience concern for his victim - too late! Acclaimed German director Wim Wenders, famed for "Wings of Desire", guides us from Zimmerman's quaint 'old European' craftshop to Ripley's modern home full of American cultural flotsam and through a techno-urban Europe of anomie and paranoia. Excellent performances by Hopper and Ganz.
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing modern film-noir about manipulation and insecurity
Review: This film doesn't really have much to do with gangsters. Patricia Highsmith's rather ugly novel, "The Talented Mr. Ripley", introduces the desperate and selfish Tom Ripley, a would-be con-man who winds up killing an artist acquaintance and exploits the 'friendship' by selling forgeries of the late artist's works. In the movie, based on the sequel "Ripley's Game", Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is stung by the criticism of German frame-maker Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz.) Zimmerman suffers from a blood disease and Ripley exploits the German's fears by insinuating that he is at death's door. Ripley manipulates Zimmerman into becoming a hitman for a European mobster. Perversly the two men become friends and Ripley begins to experience concern for his victim - too late! Acclaimed German director Wim Wenders, famed for "Wings of Desire", guides us from Zimmerman's quaint 'old European' craftshop to Ripley's modern home full of American cultural flotsam and through a techno-urban Europe of anomie and paranoia. Excellent performances by Hopper and Ganz.
Rating:
Summary: German Film Noir
Review: Wim Wenders always directs top notch films, and this one is no exception. It is an unusual film noir. It is not in black and white, it takes place in Hamburg in the 1970s, and it lacks some of the typical noirish thrills. There is, however, much implicit fear in this film, as the main German character, Jonathan Zimmermann is manipulated by rival international groups like a pawn on a chessboard. Although not an overtly political film, it does (inadvertently or otherwise) reflect the beliefs of some West Germans in the 1970s that their country was dominated, culturally and otherwise, by the United States: the film contrasts the German master craftsman with the American materialist; the "weak" West German with the strong, but evil, American.
The original working title of this film was "Framed," a double-entendre which relates both to Zimmermann's work and the manner in which he is set up. Dennis Hopper gives the performance of his career as the malevolent, paranoid, psychopathic "American Friend," who is set off by Zimmermann's curtness toward him at an art auction. But his performance is dwarfed by that of Bruno Ganz, who carries the movie as Zimmermann, a man suffering from a blood disease who lacks the ability to swim against the whirlpool of events sucking him ever downward. The contrast of characters moves the plot along, and the harbor city of Hamburg provides unusual, but often dismal, scenery. This film is well worth watching.
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