• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 4, 2024

The astonishing, superb production quality of Netflix’s new limited series “Ripley” earns it an A+ from the very get-go.

Most conspicuously, it is shot in black and white -- a creative decision just about unheard of in TV today.

Why’d they do it? I don’t know. Maybe because it’s awesome? 

The black-and-white is applied to set a mood and dazzle the eye -- which, after all, is a worthy goal to shoot for in a piece of visual entertainment. 

The photography is indeed dazzling. Sequences are almost all introduced with black-and-white images that set the stage for each scene -- deserted city streets, a dim corridor in a Manhattan flophouse, a dark and lifeless bus station in the middle of the night outside of Naples, and so much more.

The time is 1961, and the character of the title is Tom Ripley, a drifter and a grifter created by the late Patricia Highsmith, author of five “Ripley” novels and many other books.

Wikipedia lists at least five Ripley movies. Besides the “Ripley” novels, other Highsmith novels adapted for movies range from “Strangers On a Train” (1951), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, to “Carol” (2015), adapted from the novel “The Price of Salt.”

Episode One of Netflix’s eight-part “Ripley” series begins in the seedier precincts of New York City and eventually moves to the sunnier climes of Italy’s Amalfi Coast.

The show’s black-and-white photography is only the beginning. Whoever scouted the locations for this show deserves to win awards. 

The same can be said for whoever decorated the show’s interiors, dressed various New York streets to look exactly as they must have looked 63 years ago, and procured hundreds of everyday objects that further authenticate the show’s time frame in both New York and Italy.

Of course, none of this would matter quite so much if there were no story to go along with it. In this, “Ripley” does not disappoint. 

Andrew Scott (pictured above) does a masterful job correctly playing the enigmatic Tom Ripley as a man of many mysteries. In his words, gestures and deeds, Scott, as Ripley, gives very little away. 

Also notable about “Ripley”: A conspicuous absence of f-words and gratuitous violence. Simply put, “Ripley” is too sophisticated for that.

Credit for this goes primarily to screenwriter Steven Zaillian, who directed and wrote every episode.

Zaillian, 71, wrote a number of high-profile movies including “Schindler’s List,” “Moneyball,” “Gangs of New York,” “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Irishman.” With “Ripley,” he has created a masterpiece 

“Ripley” starts streaming on Thursday, April 4, on Netflix.