The Talented Mr. Ripley

In director Anthony Minghella’s return after the highly successful 1996 release, The English Patient, he teams again with Gabriel Yared again for The Talented Mr. Ripley. Mr. Yared, in his second score for the year after Message In A Bottle, doesn’t really break too much ground here, but then again, the score itself, as presented on the album is extremely sparse. Interspersed with jazz and a surprisingly interesting vocal from Irish singer Sinead O’Connor (Michael Collins), Yared stays away from a retread of his previous works. With such films as the adventurous Wings Of Courage and the sultry The Lover under his belt, Yared finally tackles writing mystery-suspense music, and is reasonably good. I do find some of the work very similar to John Ottman’s Incognito in parts, but given the recent trend in film music and associated derivations, it’s truly acceptable.

It’s hard to say exactly where Gabriel Yared was planning to go with the score, since I have this feeling that I’ve heard some of the melodies in similarly themed / scripted films. It has the feel of an upscale scheming mystery, the kind you expect Michael Caine to have starred in his younger days. Here, in exchange we have wonder-boy Matt Damon as life-sealing psychopath Tom Ripley. The jazz throughout the score does infect the score sections through the orchestration by the use of jazz combo instruments to help tie jazz source cues to Yared’s original compositions. At some stretches it’s ominous and angelic at the same time, with whimsy and light instrumentation, but shifting into a "can we trust this guy" type of slick melody, perfect for the conniving Tom Ripley. Overall it’s solid but not a stellar achievement and possibly sub par considering previous work on The English Patient, but if you liked the film it’s more than a handy companion.

The film itself has garnered five Golden Globe© nominations, and is sure to be in hot Oscar© contention in March. The cast is good, but for those wanting a blockbuster, you would probably want to look elsewhere. This film’s audience is acutely targeted towards those who liked Damon, Blanchett and Minghella’s previous films, and bets are that most of the business will remain there, but with hopes that the awards buzz gets more folks to see it. It’s something different for adults after the past few years of teen comedies, slashers, and cheap science fiction, and hopefully a sign of intelligent cinema to come.