I had hoped that my vacation in AZ would offer some added movie time, but it was not to be; partly I was enjoying the focus on nature and outdoor time... and partly, there wasn't much to see. Everyone says it, these days, but there really is something immensely frustrating about having 5 theaters in one area showing the same 10 films.
(Also, Mom wouldn't see How to Train Your Dragon or Hot Tub Time Machine.) :)
Even when I got back, there's been little more (Clash of the Titans, hopefully, this weekend), but with at least a couple of art houses (even if both were showing Greenberg), there was bound to be some added variety, if barely.
That's how I wound up finally seeing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, based on the hugely successful mystery novel by Stieg Larssen. And it was of special interest, not just because we love mysteries (Mom especially), but because Larssen's success has been especially gratifying to Americans of Scandinavian descent.
Made in Sweden, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Män Som Hatar Kvinnor) is everything Swedish films should be (think Ingmar Bergman) - a spare, small, almost stoic tale with extremely dark waters roiling beneath. One of the best mystery films - surely comparable to and probably exceeding Smilla's Sense of Snow - not just this year, but ever, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo take Larssen's complex tale, simplifies slightly, and doesn't turn away from its grim, violent core. The thoroughly satisfying resolution is nothing less than fully earned.
Tattoo starts with the end of a trial of a journalist - Mikael Blomqvist - who has just lost a libel suit brought by a Swedish industrialist claiming defamation. Blomqvist believes he was handed a false story by the industrialist in a bid to discredit him in just this way... but can't prove it, and decides instead to simply serve his prison term, set to start some months down the road.
In the meantime, he is approached by an intermediary for the Vanger family, another wealthy clan with business and real estate interests in the North, whose patriarch, Henrik, wants Blomqvist to investigate a private matter. Henrik's niece Harriet disappeared in 1966, and he believes she is dead, and wants to find who, in his family, killed her. And he offers Blomqvist a lavish sum, and use of the family's private island retreat for his research.
In short order, Blomqvist discovers very little: Harriet's disappearance coincided with a children's parade in the nearby town, but there is scant evidence of what occurred. Going through Harriet's possessions yields only more questions. And though Blomqvist theorizes that Harriet saw her killer at the parade (in a stunning set of time lapse photos from the time), he has little more.
Enter Lisbeth Salander, the title character (it is indeed, a spectacular tattoo, all across her back), a chain smoking young woman with a dark past and a genius at research. Salander did a background check for the Vangers of Blomqvist, and she follows his progress on the case by tapping his computer remotely, as she already had. It's Lisbeth who unlocks a secret in Harriet's journals that breaks the events of the past wide open.
The teaming of Salander and Blomqvist, uneasy allies in search of the truth and of justice, makes the film really spark. Salander especially is like few women ever caught in film, tough as nails, able to stand up to incredible brutality (it's worth noting that she endures not one, but two graphic sexual attacks early on, from an unrelated character; the scenes are extremely uncomfortable and intense, and possibly triggering for rape survivors), while Blomqvist is part of a long tradition of intense, brooding Swedish men, who vulnerability lies just beneath. I can't think of an American film that could get the dominant female, highly egalitarian nature of their pairing as effectively, and satisfyingly put forth.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is full of the familiar mystery elements - confused identities, characters who are not what they seem - and the slow unrolling of clues is tasty and just brain teasing enough (smart watchers will probably only figure it out about the same time the characters do). It does suffer, somewhat, from some convenient coincidences (who knew computer research could be quite that easy) and a decidedly unsubtle, over the top approach to evil (it's no spoiler to throw in that the Vangers, naturally, have some Nazi connections in their past... but it's also a bit much).
What happened to Harriet, and what it reveals about the Vangers, would be ending enough, but The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has more on its mind (and hers), and the film's coda neatly wraps up Blomqvist and Salander in ways that work for all concerned. Director Niels Arden Opley manages the storytelling very well, making effective, even surprising use of computer searching (who knew Apple's photo editor could supply such drama) to move the story along. And if he lingers a little too long on the darkness and violence, it does make for an intense, thrilling ride that seems, ultimately, appropriate to the material.
The performances, too, are spot on, and the cast is first rate. Michael Nyqvist, as Blomqvist (he's already played the role for adaptations of Larssen's other books) is superb, though it's Noomi Rapace, as Lisbeth Salander (she's a recurring role as well) who lifts the film well above expectations. I know I'm hooked. If you've started on the books, see the film. If not... start somewhere, but for mystery lovers, this is a definite must.
My mother has read these, and passed on to me the second one (The Girl Who Played With Fire), which I'm working my way through now. I'm dying to see this movie, given my new found alliance with the Swedes. :) I'm glad for the heads up about the rape scenes though; The NY'er reviewer alluded to something violent and I was worried what to expect.
Posted by: Leigh | April 07, 2010 at 03:33 PM