tchecks-45930

Trying to make an artistic impression with black and white was a huge mistake when filming on the Amalfi Coast, Naples and, to a lesser extent, Rome. The film (or I should say TV show) looks sterile and flat, as if it was shot on an iPhone then edited to a B&W filter.

The acting is equally pale. Andrew Scott as Ripley is passable, but aside from the Italian character actors (who are fine) the other performances are self-consciously flat. Worst is the part of Freddie Miles - a fantastic character-acting opportunity as evidenced by Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Talented Mr Ripley and even, to a lesser extent, by Billy Kearns in Purple Noon. Eliot Sumner here was lifeless throughout and woefully miscast.

What a shame.

I really wanted to like this movie, I mean I really wanted to like it, partly because it seemed like a great premise and partly because I want to get some value out of my Netflix account, which seems to be serving up worse and worse junk by the week. Anyway, I managed to not bail out as the characters became more and more banal and predictable, and as the scenes stretched out to the edges of boredom, but by 75 minutes in I was so distraut, even though I had nothing else to do or to watch, that I just hit the stop button and came here to fill in my character quota which could have been so much easier filled with 25 words.

First off, this is quite a good documentary. Not the greatest, but pretty good. A couple of complaints though. First off, there was too much Oprah Winfrey. I get that she was a producer, but she got too much screen time. Secondly, its pronounced pwa-tee-ay, not portier. If you are a lifelong fan of the great man, at least learn to pronounce his name, please.

Finally, why no mention of The Wilby Conspiracy? This is one of Sidney Poitier's best movies, and right up there with In The Heat of the Night in terms of righteousness. He and Michael Caine had great chemistry and it was sad that this excellent performance was overlooked.