[10] Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) adapts the Patricia Highsmith novel for the big screen, casts it perfectly, and delivers a superb character study and psychological thriller. Matt Damon anchors the film in the best performance of his career, playing the insecure but devious Tom Ripley, a lower-class New Yorker who serendipitously finds himself in Italy to locate a tycoon’s son and encourage him to return …