i agree on maika monroe's performance in longlegs! i love the shots and tone too, but the movie unfortunately doesn't live up to my expectation. i even wrote an entire 'food for thought' type of newsletter expressing my disappointment, oops. subjectively (and i think arguably as well), all the praises for longlegs, going as far as to compare it with silence of the lambs and se7en, feel too much.
that aside, i'm embarrassed to say i haven't watched the others mentioned here! ripley has been sitting on my netflix's watchlist but i'm still waiting for the mood to arrive. i do believe in andrew scott as an actor though (which means i also need to add 'all of us strangers' into my watchlist!)
thank you for sharing your 2024 film & tv index! i always love every newsletter i received from TF, but the yearly index is one i'm always looking forward to receiving the most! ;)
I agree with so much of what you've said about 'Longlegs.'
And I totally understand about waiting to be in the right mood for 'Ripley.' A few friends have expressed the same thing, and I felt the same way. However, I'll say that I didn't wait until I was fully ready either! I took the plunge on a random day when I felt 60% of the way there and was drawn in straightaway.
And I am so happy you always look forward to the annual Film and TV index; it means so much to me! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, élise!
Ripley was fantastic, wasn't it? I'm delighted to find you liked it too. A lot of people I know stopped watching after an episode or two. That astonished me. Ripley hooked me. When I wanted to know more about who had created it, I understood why it was, as you say, a work of art. Steve Zaillian and Robert Elswiit are both masters in their respective areas. Their collaboration raised the bar for each of them. In an industry that can overvalue youth, I loved finding that Zaillian is 72 and Robert Elswit is 74. They are proof that one gets better at craft with age. What I most loved about Ripley was the black and white, and the way Zaillian and Elswit chose to turn the travelogue nature of a lot of Italy filming on its head and show you the city with its ugliness exposed. It reminded me of traveling in a foreign city when tired and seeing the flaws that are never in the guide books and in the color travel ads. The scenes were beautiful, the story had suspense and humor, and even the Maine Coon cat they used was a cut above the ordinary. I've watched Ripley twice. Reading what you wrote made me want to watch it again.
Did you see the Vanity Fair article about Zaillian and Elswit? Here it is in case you're interested. I love what Elswit says about color versus black and white. I agree with him: "It doesn’t look nearly as interesting, by the way, in color, it just doesn’t."
Zaillian: We shot for the first couple of weeks on a stage. This was our first day out in Rome, like, two weeks after we started shooting. And of course, it’s a night shoot. [Laughs] And I remember we didn’t have a lot of time. We were rushing towards the end. But Robert, I have to say, you are incredible. When I first saw this, I just thought, “Wow.”
Elswit: We picked a great place to do this. Backlight and water are as old as movies, I think. [Laughs] You’re very lucky to find a location where you can take advantage of it, and we did. You get the ground wet, get a big light up high, far away. And Atrani had really great texture. The cobblestones, the buildings themselves, everything else. That’s what you get in black-and-white—texture. That’s just the great example of something that’s been done since the 1920s, and so I’m glad we were able to do it. It’s wonderful. It doesn’t look nearly as interesting, by the way, in color, it just doesn’t."
Wow, what an excellent Vanity Fair article! Thanks so much for sharing it, Katherine. I'm equally as delighted to know you enjoyed it just as much! It's still burned so clearly into my mind's eye, but I know there's a rewatch (if not multiple) in my future.
It's a pleasure to share with someone who felt about Ripley as I do. It stands up to repeat viewing. There were more subtle moments I came to appreciate on viewing number two. It's something I'll return to in the future. The black and white is so rich, it's almost edible.
past lives will always be special <3
i agree on maika monroe's performance in longlegs! i love the shots and tone too, but the movie unfortunately doesn't live up to my expectation. i even wrote an entire 'food for thought' type of newsletter expressing my disappointment, oops. subjectively (and i think arguably as well), all the praises for longlegs, going as far as to compare it with silence of the lambs and se7en, feel too much.
that aside, i'm embarrassed to say i haven't watched the others mentioned here! ripley has been sitting on my netflix's watchlist but i'm still waiting for the mood to arrive. i do believe in andrew scott as an actor though (which means i also need to add 'all of us strangers' into my watchlist!)
thank you for sharing your 2024 film & tv index! i always love every newsletter i received from TF, but the yearly index is one i'm always looking forward to receiving the most! ;)
I agree with so much of what you've said about 'Longlegs.'
And I totally understand about waiting to be in the right mood for 'Ripley.' A few friends have expressed the same thing, and I felt the same way. However, I'll say that I didn't wait until I was fully ready either! I took the plunge on a random day when I felt 60% of the way there and was drawn in straightaway.
And I am so happy you always look forward to the annual Film and TV index; it means so much to me! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, élise!
Ripley was fantastic, wasn't it? I'm delighted to find you liked it too. A lot of people I know stopped watching after an episode or two. That astonished me. Ripley hooked me. When I wanted to know more about who had created it, I understood why it was, as you say, a work of art. Steve Zaillian and Robert Elswiit are both masters in their respective areas. Their collaboration raised the bar for each of them. In an industry that can overvalue youth, I loved finding that Zaillian is 72 and Robert Elswit is 74. They are proof that one gets better at craft with age. What I most loved about Ripley was the black and white, and the way Zaillian and Elswit chose to turn the travelogue nature of a lot of Italy filming on its head and show you the city with its ugliness exposed. It reminded me of traveling in a foreign city when tired and seeing the flaws that are never in the guide books and in the color travel ads. The scenes were beautiful, the story had suspense and humor, and even the Maine Coon cat they used was a cut above the ordinary. I've watched Ripley twice. Reading what you wrote made me want to watch it again.
Did you see the Vanity Fair article about Zaillian and Elswit? Here it is in case you're interested. I love what Elswit says about color versus black and white. I agree with him: "It doesn’t look nearly as interesting, by the way, in color, it just doesn’t."
Zaillian: We shot for the first couple of weeks on a stage. This was our first day out in Rome, like, two weeks after we started shooting. And of course, it’s a night shoot. [Laughs] And I remember we didn’t have a lot of time. We were rushing towards the end. But Robert, I have to say, you are incredible. When I first saw this, I just thought, “Wow.”
Elswit: We picked a great place to do this. Backlight and water are as old as movies, I think. [Laughs] You’re very lucky to find a location where you can take advantage of it, and we did. You get the ground wet, get a big light up high, far away. And Atrani had really great texture. The cobblestones, the buildings themselves, everything else. That’s what you get in black-and-white—texture. That’s just the great example of something that’s been done since the 1920s, and so I’m glad we were able to do it. It’s wonderful. It doesn’t look nearly as interesting, by the way, in color, it just doesn’t."
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/ripley-netflix-shot-list-awards-insider?_sp=793ff690-84c6-4c5b-b4d3-82f74e2d2be3.1725764596678
Wow, what an excellent Vanity Fair article! Thanks so much for sharing it, Katherine. I'm equally as delighted to know you enjoyed it just as much! It's still burned so clearly into my mind's eye, but I know there's a rewatch (if not multiple) in my future.
It's a pleasure to share with someone who felt about Ripley as I do. It stands up to repeat viewing. There were more subtle moments I came to appreciate on viewing number two. It's something I'll return to in the future. The black and white is so rich, it's almost edible.