Saw Before Midnight yesterday. It helps if you have seen Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Hawke and Delpy do a fine job holding the audience's attention by just discussing life. Theater was about 3/4 full, pretty good for a non mainstream film.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

So, Noomi Rapace or Rooney Mara? Noomi, of course!

Leo and Oscar

How many times has Leonardo DiCaprio been nominated for an Oscar? Well, only three. For supporting actor, in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?", For "The Aviator" and for "Blood Diamond." Amazing! Last year his performances for "Inception" and "Shutter Island" were ignored and this year for "J. Edgar." What's up with Leo and Oscar?

Favorite Films 2011

In no particular order...
Margin Call
Melancholia
Skin I Live In
Tree of Life
Midnight in Paris
Devil's Double
Beginners
Carnage
The Guard
A Better Life

I've heard of you: The American Friend and Ripley's Game

Wim Wenders The American Friend (1977) is based on the Patricia Highsmith novel
Ripley’s Game (1974); it also has some uncredited sampling of another Highsmith novel Ripley Underground. Both film and novel(s) are a bit neglected. While The Talented Mr. Ripley recently enjoyed a resurgence, the successive Ripley novels are lesser known. Wenders captures the spirit of the Highsmith novels and also diverges into his own territory.
American Friend Synopsis
American Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) who lives in Hamburg is involved in shady art dealing. He is introduced at an auction to Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz) who has commented on the questionability of one of the forgeries that Ripley is handling and Jonathan won’t shake hands. He says, “I’ve heard of you.” Ripley is later told that Jonathan has a terminal
disease. Jonathan receives a telegram from a friend regarding this rumor. While Jonathan is ill, he does not understand how his friend would know if his condition was worse. Minot, a Frenchman, visits Ripley looking for an assassin. Ripley goes to visit Jonathan at his shop to be friendly and Jonathan apologizes for his rudeness. Minot later approaches Jonathan to be the assassin. Jonathan declines and does not understand how Minot even knows who he is. Minot
continues to pursue him and offers an opportunity to get a second opinion on his condition from a doctor in Paris. While planting rumor and doubt, he wants him to kill a Mafia criminal in the Metro. Jonathan decides to do the killing to leave money for his family. Ripley comes to visit again, says all he does is make money and that he will bring the Beatles back to Hamburg. Minot comes again regarding a second murder and offers another doctor in Munich. Minot tells Ripley he has approached Jonathan again. During the second murder on the train, Jonathan has problems and Ripley appears and helps him. Later Minot has his flat bombed in retaliation for the murders and Jonathan goes to Ripley’s house to help him against retribution. After a fight with the remaining gang, they end by going to the sea with Jonathan’s wife (who has arrived because she is worried about Jonathan) to dispatch the bodies. Jonathan finds out that
Minot’s doctor’s report was phony. Jonathan and his wife abandon Tom while he is setting fire to the car with the bodies. Jonathan dies.
Ripley’s Game-Synopsis
Tom Ripley is meeting with Reeves Minot. Reeves wants Tom to suggest someone for
two murders or would Tom like to do it? “Tom detested murder unless it was absolutely necessary.” He remembers Jonathan Trevanny and his disease and decides to play a practical joke by involving Jonathan because Jonathan had snubbed him at a party. “Oh, yes, I’ve heard of you,” Jonathan had said, “in an almost sneering way.” Jonathan goes to the doctor because he has received a telegram from a friend regarding his condition getting worse. Jonathan’s friend
Alan writes that Gauthier told him about it. Gauthier cannot remember who told him. Tom recommends Jonathan to Reeves. Reeves aka Stephen Wister contacts Jonathan and pitches assassination of a Mafia figure in the U bahn. Jonathan is still trying to get more current results from his doctor. Jonathan goes to Paris to fly to Hamburg to see Reeves’ doctor. Jonathan does the killing. Reeves later approaches him for the second murder. He declines. Tom convinces
Reeves to try him again. On the train, Tom arrives to help Jonathan with the second murder. Later Jonathan realizes that Tom spread the rumor but Tom says, “it was a choice,” referring to Jonathan’s decision to be involved. Reeves’ apartment gets bombed and Jonathan goes to Tom’s for help. They dispatch of two bodies. Tom burns the car. Later they go back to Jonathan’s house and the Mafia comes while Tom has to defend Jonathan. As they go out to the street, Jonathan
is shot dead. Much later on the street, Jonathan’s wife sees Ripley and spits at him.
The basic story is about the same but the locale changes. In Ripley’s Game, Jonathan is an Englishman living in France. He is “upright and decent” according to Tom. In the film, he is German (played by Bruno Ganz) living in Hamburg. Tom is an American who lives in France in the novel and Hamburg in the film. Reeves Minot is actually an American who lives in Hamburg in the novel but French in the film. Jonathan is married to Simone in the book with a son, Georges. In the film, Jonathan is married to Marianne with a son, Daniel. A major change has Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) unmarried in the film with a cowboy motif. This establishes him clearly as “The American Friend” of the title. The core of the film is the relationship between Tom and Jonathan; within the Ripley novels, they focus more on Ripley. For Jonathan, the committing of the crimes is a moral crisis that comes out of fear of dying and wanting to leave a legacy. For Tom, the crimes are a diversion, always a challenge to not get caught. In the film, Jonathan and Tom are almost like little boys in their friendship, exchanging presents or having a joke. In the end, Jonathan is laughing as he abandons Tom by the burning car. Using the
bracketing story of Derwatt’s forgeries, Tom is established as a shady character. Jonathan, on the other hand, is a family man who owns a shop.
What gets the ball rolling in both works is the fact that Jonathan snubs Tom. When
they meet, Jonathan says, “I’ve heard of you.” In the novel, it is in an “almost sneering way,” in the film, Jonathan does not shake hands. Because Tom feels snubbed, he decides to recommend Jonathan as an assassin to Reeves Minot, a criminal friend as a practical joke. In the film, Tom recommends him because he is offended.
Wenders, along with Robby Muller, creates an intriguing atmosphere in the film with a
sense of foreboding. Also, a nod is given to Hitchcock with a Marnie-esque use of red accents like
Jonathan’s red socks, his wife’s jacket or Ripley’s red sheets. The scene on the train also evokes the end of Shadow of a Doubt. Jonathan is an everyman character thrust into unusual
circumstances. Jonathan’s cozy apartment is filled with his son’s toys and the Old World frame shop contrasts with Tom’s mansion which looks like the White House. The mansion is decorated with brand names like Canada Dry and also has a Coke machine. Hamburg is a beautiful European city; the “White House” looks very odd there.
Ripley Underground is actually a terrific novel which will one day make a great film. It deals with the forgery story that precedes Ripley’s Game. Bernard is a conflicted individual who forges his idol Derwatt’s paintings. Very different from the Nick Ray character in The American Friend.
While Wenders has adapted the novel Ripley’s Game fairly closely, he also has turned it into something else. The titles provide the key. Ripley’s Game is mainly about Ripley and how he enjoys the “game” of crime, be it forgery or murder, and how he gets away with it. The
American Friend captures Wenders’ fascination with things American, the good and the bad, the commercialism, the cowboy in the White House and pop music. Tom also drives a vintage white sports car while Jonathan drives a red VW Beetle. Ripley presents himself as a “friend” but he ruins Jonathan’s life. The temptation for Jonathan is the money for his family. His altruistic motives are completely different than Tom’s. The tragedy is that he is being scammed.
The endings are also different. In the film, the Mafia men come to Tom’s White
House and Tom and Jonathan fight with them. Tom decides to drive to the sea followed by Jonathan and Marianne. The ending sequence with the sun rising, driving to the sea with the music surging is breathtaking. Tom dramatically sets fire to the vehicle containing the bodies but Jonathan decides to leave with his wife. Jonathan laughs as Tom chases after them. Jonathan says, “it’s getting so dark” and dies. The final shot belongs to Derwatt in NYC.
In Ripley’s Game, the last act takes place at Jonathan’s. While there was a fight at Tom’s and a car was burned, later they go to Jonathan’s house. The Mafia men come and Tom kills a man. Simone and Georges are in the house at the time. Jonathan and Tom go out of the
house with the dead man and Jonathan is killed. The final denouement is Simoneseeing Tom in the street and spitting on him.
Ganz plays Jonathan as a marked man. He is already tragic because he is ill but once
he agrees to murder, the life slowly drains out of him. The first murder sequence in the Metro is a tour de force, mainly silent except for the sound of the train, worthy of Hitchcock. Jonathan watches his mark and follows him ineptly, hitting his head and letting his gun show. Finally he shoots him on the escalator. While fleeing, he is visible on all the security cameras, but no
one is watching.
Tom wants to be friends but “friendship isn’t possible.” Tom’s monologue is a bit
convoluted citing December 6, 1976 and “nothing to fear but fear itself” as American references. He just makes money. He admires Jonathan as a craftsman. He is the “ugly American.”
Lisa Kreuzer plays Marianne as a voice of reason and moral compass. She is the
counterpoint to the American friend. But she and Daniel are also the reasons Jonathan chooses to do the murders.
The American Friend is a classic psychological thriller. The music helps establish the atmosphere while both Ganz and Hopper deliver some of their best performances. The film also shares the dark humor of the novel. Wenders is actually helped by the structure that Ripley’s Game gives him. The novel and film complement one another. Highsmith is often dismissed as a crime novelist while Wenders can sometimes have pacing issues. Ripley’s Game and The
American Friend actually bring out the strengths of both these artists. The novel gives you the background while the film’s haunting style stays with you. Hopefully, this will spark a discussion on these somewhat forgotten works. Maybe Criterion will consider its DVD version.

Tagging

I do see the comments and tags on Delicious. The potential for research assistance could be organizing info on a subject and posting it with tags for many users. It is also an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere.

Library Thing

Library Thing is a fun network to use. Very easy to set up library. Handy organizational tool.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bkundanis