Customer Reviews for
The American Friend
Gripping, non-stop tension
The tension is so palpable here that it's a character in and of itself.
Tom Ripley, as played by Dennis Hopper, feels truer to his EASY RIDER role than the character in the novel upon which the movie is based, as some critics have said. I say "feels truer" because I haven't seen the first or read the second, but I believe those critics.
But that doesn't matter. Not at all. This movie is about Jonathan Zimmerman, as played by Bruno Ganz. Every time he's on the screen, which is most of the time, you're just gripped in both your mind and your gut and you can't turn away, reach down for a drink of water, hit pause and go to the bathroom, or anything.
I'm one of those weird animals who's just as comfortable with Hollywood crap as I am with literary classics. My wife's non-American and anti-Hollywood. We were both equally blown away by this film.
And by the way, the plot isn't predictable. Don't even think that. But it does organically unfold from the characters, so it's true. Gotta love it.
The American Friend
This `friend' exhibits an underlying menace that is sure to stop your breath...
`Der Amerikanische Freund' is dark and mysterious and ultimately rewarding, even if at times it is a tad confusing and ambiguous. Loosely adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel `Ripley's Game', `Der Amerikanische Freund' is a story of suspense and murder. Patricia Highsmith did for the world of literature what Alfred Hitchcock did for the world of cinema (could be why they made the perfect pairing when Hitchcock adapted Highsmith's masterful novel `Strangers on a Train' for the big-screen) and so it's obvious when watching any adaptation of one of her novels that the viewer is in for a moody and tense piece. In actuality I have not read any of her Ripley novels so I can't say just how loosely this is adapted, but one thing is for sure; director Wim Wenders definitely understood the mood Highsmith would have wanted to capture.
The film follows a picture framer named Jonathan Zimmermann who is dying of a rare blood disease. He's panicky about leaving behind his beautiful wife Marianne and his young son Daniel. When he first meets American Tom Ripley at an art auction he is rude and disgruntled. He doesn't like Ripley's character. The film shifts gears when Jonathan is approached by Raoul Minot, a man who needs a favor. He offers Zimmermann a substantial amount of money if he murders someone for him. The details are sketchy and even when the credits begin to roll the audience has plenty of questions about what really happened, but the details really become null and void when one focuses on what Wenders wants us to focus on.
The film is a character study more than anything else; a study of desperation and guilt and the ultimate love and loyalty. Bruno Ganz is marvelous as Jonathan Zimmermann and really brings this man to life. We see the many stages of his emotional breakdown; his confidence diminishes to fear and paranoia until he finally loses it. Ganz is an actor I really want to see more of. I remember back a few years when I saw him chew up the screen as Adolf Hitler in `Der Untergang' and I immediately wanted to research his catalogue of films but until recently hadn't got around to it. After watching his intense performance here though I will make an even more constructive effort to get my hands on more Ganz.
Dennis Hopper stars as Tom Ripley, and it is here that I am left a tad unimpressed. Like I mentioned, I have not read any of Highsmith's `Ripley' novels. I have read a few of her other novels and have been meaning to get my hands on the Ripley's but I just have not had the time. So because of that I cannot tell who does a better job of fleshing out Ripley, Hopper or Matt Damon. What I can say though is that the two actors paint completely different characters. In my personal opinion, Damon triumphs effortlessly. What I appreciated about Damon was that he created a character that was cunning and manipulative but was drenched in self-loathing and insecurities; so much so that he came across as likable and sympathetic, thus adding to his mysterious draw on the people around him. Hopper plays Ripley like a cold hearted psychopath. It's apparent from the moment he steps on the screen that he is gruff and cold. Thankfully this film focuses on Zimmermann and thus Hopper is really not on the screen all that much.
In the end I recommend `Der Amerikanische Freund'. It is a strong study of human nature and it creates a mood of suspense even when nothing suspenseful is taking place. The subway murder scene alone is a perfect example of flawless filmmaking, a scene that is slow and brooding and steals the audience's heartbeats one by one. The film is not as polished or as masterfully constructed as `The Talented Mr. Ripley' but it delivers the goods regardless. While the ending is a tad over-the-top and a little confusing I still felt rewarded after turning the film off. Don't expect to understand everything right off the bat, and there are some facets of the plot that you may never fully understand (I guess it's time to read that novel) but Wenders and company create a satisfying thriller that gets under your skin and into your head.The American Friend
Strangers on a Train
Here we have yet another adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. Made in the 1970's this German version was directed by Wim Wenders. Dennis Hopper is the American friend although the movie pretty much belongs to Bruno Ganz who plays the quiet picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman with a blood disease. Hopper convinces him to take out an enemy of a Frenchman Gerard Blain in a Paris subway. Then there is the pivotal scene in a train lavatory where the best laid plans go awry. The film is set in Hamburg, Paris and New York. Hopper in really an engaging and good performance plays Ripley as a crude American who often wears a cowboy hat, a far cry from Matt Damon ("The Talented Mr. Ripley", John Malkovich ("Ripley's Game") and Alain Delon ("Purple Noon"), all of whom play the character as an urbane sophisticate (while Damon starts out as a novice to culture, he is certainly a fast learner).
The cinamatography works very well here, giving the viewer atmospheric shots of Hamburg as well as some interesting closeups, for instance, the frames of TV monitors that catch Zimmerman fleeing from the subway after committing the murder.
Highsmith novels continue to engage film directors. Since she has many more novels that have yet to be made into movies, we can only hope other directors take up the Ripley story soon.The American Friend
Dark Thriller and Character Study from New German Cinema.
"The American Friend" was the first cinematic adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel "Ripley's Game", the third book in her Ripley series, written for the screen and directed by Wim Wenders. The film can be viewed simply as neo-noir or as an allegory of the American economic conquest of Europe, which was held in distaste by many authors of New German Cinema. It imparts an unmistakable sense of time -the 1970s- and of its artistic philosophy, but Wenders blurs the distinctions between Hamburg, Paris, and New York by focusing on their industrialism. "The American Friend" may be more interesting as political cinema than as a thriller, but it is also more dated. Wenders wittily cast seven directors to play his villains, starting with Dennis Hopper as sociopath Tom Ripley.
Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is an American dealer in counterfeit artwork living in Hamburg, West Germany. His fateful introduction to art restorer Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz) at an auction for a forged painting sets a bizarre series of events in motion. Raoul Minot (Gerard Blain), an associate of Ripley's, asks Ripley to settle an old debt by killing a man for him. Ripley is reluctant to do the job himself, so he suggests Zimmerman, who is suffering from a serious blood disease. Minot promises Jonathan 250,000 deutschmarks to kill a man in the Paris subway, insisting that Jonathan has little time to live anyway, and this would allow him to leave his family well cared-for. Jonathan is shocked by the proposition but somehow seduced by it into a violent and chaotic world.
"Ripley's Game" retained its name in a second movie adaptation in 2002 that aspired only to be a psychological thriller. "The American Friend" is more successful than "Ripley's Game", but the two films have completely different narrative focus. "The American Friend" tends toward character study. It's about Jonathan, portrayed by the superb and meticulous Bruno Ganz as a regular guy whose introversion conceals a morbid angst. Why does Jonathan want to believe that he is dying? Why does he trust a murderous stranger with obvious ulterior motives? Why does he willingly plunge his life into chaos and terror? Those are the questions at the heart of "The American Friend". The later film "Ripley's Game" marginalized the wiling victim in favor of the more forceful and colorful characters of Tom Ripley and his nefarious acquaintance.
In "Ripley's Game", Tom Ripley is an outright sophisticate, played seductively by John Malkovich. Tom Ripley of "The American Friend" vacillates strangely and inexplicably between sophisticate and coarse, ugly American. Where "Ripley's Game" has sharp, articulate dialogue, "The American Friend" has improvisation and eccentric behavior. Though some of his antics are undoubtedly intended as metaphor, Ripley's character is incoherent, making him the weak link in this film. But "The American Friend" is much stronger film noir than "Ripley's Game", in spite of its freestyle dialogue, because Jonathan Zimmerman is a true noir protagonist, and his plight is this film's focus. In English and German with English subtitles.
The DVD (Anchor Bay 2003): There are 36 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary by Wim Wenders, a theatrical trailer (3 min), and text bios with selective filmographies for Wim Wenders, Bruno Ganz, and Dennis Hopper. There is a feature commentary by writer/director Wim Wenders and actor Dennis Hopper. Wenders talks about actors, lighting, the cinematography of Robby Muller, locations, some technical details, and the film's reception. Hopper comments on Wender's directing style, and both men recall the spontaneity of the performances and rewrites. They do not discuss characters, story, or themes. I had trouble accessing the audio commentary. After selecting the commentary, I could only get it to play with the film by going to the scene selection menu and starting at scene 2. I may have a defective disc, but if you have trouble, try using the scene selection menu.The American Friend
Far From Friendly!
THE AMERICAN FRIEND is a clever film, but one that perhaps suffers from a being a little too smart for its own good. As an exploration of the cultural colonisation of Germany it is very effective, and WIM WENDERS fills the subtext of his film with a pessimistic tone that borders on paranoia, a redolent theme for a film of the 1970's. He depicts a featureless and grey Europe that is bending under the unbearable yolk of capitalism. A continent that has had its originality squeezed out of it by the duplicitous behaviour of people like Tom Ripley. A land of commerce and greed, rather than art. In fact art becomes the metaphorical device for the insidiousness of a consumer driven society, with both painting and the cinema acting as its agents. Of all European countries to feel the pinch of forced doctrines by the USA, Germany in the wake of WW2 is perhaps the most notable. A generation of film-makers grew up with an ambivalent attitude towards Hollywood. They were respectful of its efficiency, but resentful of its corrupt value system and sought to implement their own brand of national cinema. THE AMERICAN FRIEND and to a lesser degree Werner Herzog's STROSZEK are the most indicative examples of these complex tensions. Viewed today the film also becomes an intricate and enjoyable parody of film noir and the values that genre embodied. It's post-modern credentials are worn as a badge, in both Wenders choices of colour, and especially in the casting. As a deconstruction of both Hollywood's influence and the effects of forced capitalism THE AMERICAN FRIEND works tremendously well. Unfortunately the sophistication of its satirical elements, wring a great deal of the life out of the film, especially in terms of excitement and spectacle.The American Friend
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