Alberto Rey
Updated Sunday, April 7, 2024-21:42
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Ripley
might not be the best series of the week, but
it is certainly the most beautiful
. And that, in these times of rampant television ugliness, is already a lot. The remake of
Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley
, created by Steven Zaillian, has serious pacing problems but, oh my friends, it is beautiful. Highsmith would be delighted to see how her most celebrated character is still alive 70 years after her creation. Published in 1955,
The Talented Mr. Ripley
has been brought to the screen on several occasions and Tom Ripley, its protagonist, has been played by many more actors. Virtually everyone understood the essence of the character. That means, although it is obvious to point it out at this point, that Highsmith wrote very well.
Ripley
has its own entity. In his own way, yes, like Ripley himself.
Tom Ripley,
seducer, imposter, usurper, opportunist
and
cool
, is a gift for any moderately good actor. They have been Ripley
Alain Delon, Matt Damon, John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper
. In
Ripley
it's Andrew Scott's turn. He is now that hustler from New York who stumbles upon the perfect opportunity to develop his amoral talents and his obvious psychopathy. The possibility of becoming another person (another better person, why fool ourselves) results in a flight forward that we have already seen a few times but of which we will never get tired. As long as there are directors like Zaillan and actors like Scott, Tom Ripley will live on. I have no doubt that Netflix's
Ripley
will not be the last iteration of this myth. Let's hope the next one has a little more rhythm. And make it just as pretty.
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Wednesday
, one of Netflix's biggest phenomena, went big on TikTok.
Jenna Ortega's dance
in that series swept the social network of quick videos and reproducible dances. Was that a spontaneous reaction or a well-coordinated campaign from the platform of the red N? Probably both. And probably also, that same company controls the look and pace of many of its products to optimize their consumption on mobile devices, small screens and dispersed brains.
“Optimize” and “consumption”
are two words that no one would ever want to write in the Culture section of a newspaper. Watching
Ripley
, you'd think that Steven Zaillian has either never heard them in his meetings with Netflix or, if he has, he hasn't paid any attention. I don't know how his
Ripley
will look like on the screen of a mid-range mobile. It looks great on a large TV.
Her calm cadence thus becomes a gift to the viewer outside of TikTok
and to Jenna Ortega dancing to
the Cramps'
Goo Goo Muck
. Getting bored with beautiful things is also
very Ripley and very Highsmith
. And, in 2024, very scarce and, therefore, very luxurious. Ripley drifts narratively, but as a concept it is a wonderful series. His great triumph is that his cadence and beauty of yesteryear can exist in a world of stories, reels and ridiculous little dances.