RIPLEY-Netflix Remix/Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning-Stylish Intrigue

For fans of the previous "Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999) with its glamorous, star studded cast, save any snobbish dispersions towards the nouveau Netflix series "Ripley" which is a throw-back to old Hollywood film noir. The two versions are deliciously intriguing in their own distinct fashion. "Ripley" stars Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, the key role in this sinister character study of a grifter who ingratiates himself into the lives of Richard "Dickie" Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and his girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning).  The series is shot to great effect in black and white, showcasing the ancient beauty of Italy and the squalor of New York City in 1961. Episode one, filmed in a languid pace, shadows Ripley as he runs an illicit check forging operation out of a rank boarding house. Here he shares a communal bathroom where more sewage flows from the drain than water from its shower head. The stark contrast from the earlier radiant chromosome cinematography to the black and white aesthetic of the current "Ripley" is not the only clever contrast. "Ripley" uses the luxury of its leisurely pacing to allow the viewer to indulge in their opinions of the characters' motives and personas. As in the "White Lotus" series, we're given a dead body at the onset and the mystery to unravel of a corpse shrouding the show in flashback.  "Ripley" offers glimpses of an ambiguous figure clumping a dead body down a stairwell witnessed only by at the curious gaze of the resident cat. The cat's watchful eyes become a fixture not unlike those of the spectacles in Gatsby. Events unfold beginning six month prior. There are mystifying enigmas and cryptic clues proffered.  How was Tom known to Dickie's wealthy father who sends him on this fortuitous trip in order to lure his son into returning from his extended sojourn abroad? Have Tom and Dickie's aristocratic friend, Freddie, met before? Why is Dickie indulgent of Tom after his flagrant faux pas? Who will Dickie heed? Are we being misled with red herrings within this shadowy world of intrigue? RIPLEY is the thinking person's mystery which leaves the viewer more conundrums to chew on from one episode to the next. Much is conveyed through the eyes of the actors. But how these inner thoughts get played out or the significance of shifting characters provides the audience much to ponder.  This Ripley is far more rewarding for letting the onlookers determine who's the villain and who is a chump.  How and when will duplicities be revealed and when will any comeuppances take place?  I'm all in on this stylish RIPLEY that works as an unhurried, old fashioned thriller  banking on the intelligence and imagination of the voyeur to be the mastermind.