Wim Wenders' "American Friend" is probably his most entertaining work, the film based on Patricia Highsmith's famous crime novel "Ripley series" third book "Ripley" game". This book has been adapted to the screen twice, the second time directed by Italian female director Liliana Cavani, best known for her work "The Gatekeeper at Midnight".
The Wenders version ignored Ripley, replaced the protagonist with Jonathan, and ignored the description of the plot, focusing on the creation of atmosphere and psychological characterization. If you've seen Wenders idol Nicholas Ray's "Above Life," you'll understand why Wenders did this, which is actually about a terminally ill man's midlife crisis.
I have to say that Bruno Ganz who plays Jonathan's acting is really good. A middle-aged man who is old and solid is instigated to kill. From the initial panic, to the desperate risk, to the final despair, he is really happy. in this game. Ripley, on the other hand, is more somber, and his relationship with Jonathan is more like the relationship between Reinhold and Biebkov in Fassbender's epic "Berlin's Great Square."
In the film, the relationship between Jonathan and his wife and children is estranged, and the two are separated and separated. This is a far cry from the later Cavani version, which devoted enough space to describing Jonathan's "family bliss" that he got on Ripley's thief ship all for the family. However, Jonathan in "American Friends" is mostly for "freeing himself" to get rid of the boring and stereotyped life.
The subway station chase in the film was very exciting. There are no lines in the whole scene. Jonathan's impatience, hesitation, cowardice, and clumsiness are directly expressed in body language. The gun he hides in the trench coat is even exposed, making people anxious for him. Just when the audience's patience was about to run out, Jonathan shot abruptly on the escalator, which was unexpected. This scene is not very "Wenders", I guess there is a contribution from the big directors who participated in it - Nicholas Ray or Samuel Fuller.
After that, the section where the two committed crimes together on the train seemed quite normal, and Dennis Hope seemed out of place in the film, like an outsider. Cavani's shot is about the same as Wenders's, but with a darker sense of humor, her Ripley-John Malkovich is good at things like "The Ruthless" and he robbed Jonathan's All the limelight.
The ending of "American Friends" is very ambiguous. Jonathan knows he has been cheated but is indifferent. Instead, he is very satisfied with his last experience of this crappy killer. As he was dying, he threw off the Ripley Speeder, laughing wildly. Ripley watched Jonathan go to death tearfully and affectionately, and seemed to envy him for finally getting out of his midlife crisis and ending a hopeless, bleak life. In contrast, Cavani's version is much more tacky. Jonathan actually blocked a bullet for Ripley and died, which is too "John Woo"!
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