Stieg Larsson’s globally bestselling Millennium trilogy gave readers a fascinating heroine in Lisbeth Salander, an independent and highly intelligent young woman with tortured black hair and, yes, a dragon tattoo. And some other tattoos. Larsson’s books told a story not only of Salander fighting for justice (particularly of a personal nature) but also of the failure of Sweden to take care of its female citizens; they are often failed by the System as a whole. While the last two Larsson novels are very much Salander-centric, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is first and foremost a murder mystery.
Mikael Blomkvist (also known in the books as “Kalle fucking Blomkvist”), played by steely-eyed Daniel Craig, is a reporter who just lost a case against the formidable and dirty Wennerstrom company. With his savings depleted and having to distance himself from his publication, Millennium, he accepts an invitation from another businessman, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to travel to snow covered Hedestad. Here the old man makes Blomkvist a stimulating offer: he would get paid (a lot) to write Vanger’s memoirs, which will act as a cover-up for what the reporter would really be doing – looking to find the killer of Vanger’s niece Harriet, who was murdered 40 years ago.
At the same time, we are introduced to Salander (Rooney Mara, the girlfriend from The Social Network but unrecognisable here), a ward of the state and gifted technology aficionado, who does some freelance work as a researcher for a security company. It is inevitable that she will become part of Blomkvist’s investigation, even though this doesn’t happen immediately.
Much has been said about the book’s themes of misogyny and sexual abuse, and there are scenes in Dragon Tattoo that are difficult to watch. Like the book, the film is not subtle. Fans of the book will find that screenwriter Stephen Zaillian has distilled much of Larsson’s detailed story, cutting the fat to make a lean sexually charged thriller with two interesting lead characters (even if they are less polyamorous here than in the source material).
If it sounds like sordid material, it is, but what elevates the story above conventional genre filmmaking is the presence of the film’s biggest star, director David Fincher. He is fascinated by personalities that fall beyond the norm – the anti-consumerist anti-hero in Fight Club, the compulsive reporter in Zodiac, Zuckerberg in The Social Network and now Salander in Dragon Tattoo. As has been said a thousand times before, he is a visuals driven auteur with a superb eye for shot composition. Even short strands of dialogue are dynamic and invigorating. Fincher’s films usually open with a striking credits sequence of opening scenes. Dragon Tattoo opens with a credit sequence that features a morphing oozing black Salander to the tune of the Reznor-Ross reworking of “The Immigrant Song”. As cliched as it may sound, it made my jaw drop and deserves some award of its own. From such a potent start the film propels onward and forward for more than two and a half hours, although it feels far shorter.
I’ve come to consider Fincher as more accomplished as a visual strategist than as a storyteller. This is not a slight on his storytelling skills but a compliment regarding the former observation. Even when a story runs out of steam as The Social Network does, and when it runs a bit thin as in Dragon Tattoo, the films always look superb. The cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth is suitably cold and precise; look at the symmetry and balance in some of the shots, and how deliberately attention grabbing it is when something in the shot is off-balance. Cronenweth collaborated with Fincher on Network and Fight Club in what is clearly a mutually beneficial relationship. Filmed on location during one of Sweden’s coldest winters in decades, Dragon Tattoo’s icy and potentially deadly Hedestad reminded me somewhat of The Crimson Rivers, where the snow hid corpses and various dangers.
Those who know the book will notice that Zaillian and Fincher make two key changes towards the end of the film (and I’m talking about changes, not simply content that was omitted, of which there is inevitable a lot): one has to do with a certain secondary character’s fate, the other with the murder mystery itself. It may not sit 100% well with purists but both changes work cinematically, the second change coming across as less convoluted than in the book. The choice of what happens in the film’s last scene is thematically appropriate and character oriented, and closes the film in such a way that were are reminded of what turned out to be most important in the story.
Mikael Blomkvist (also known in the books as “Kalle fucking Blomkvist”), played by steely-eyed Daniel Craig, is a reporter who just lost a case against the formidable and dirty Wennerstrom company. With his savings depleted and having to distance himself from his publication, Millennium, he accepts an invitation from another businessman, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to travel to snow covered Hedestad. Here the old man makes Blomkvist a stimulating offer: he would get paid (a lot) to write Vanger’s memoirs, which will act as a cover-up for what the reporter would really be doing – looking to find the killer of Vanger’s niece Harriet, who was murdered 40 years ago.
At the same time, we are introduced to Salander (Rooney Mara, the girlfriend from The Social Network but unrecognisable here), a ward of the state and gifted technology aficionado, who does some freelance work as a researcher for a security company. It is inevitable that she will become part of Blomkvist’s investigation, even though this doesn’t happen immediately.
Much has been said about the book’s themes of misogyny and sexual abuse, and there are scenes in Dragon Tattoo that are difficult to watch. Like the book, the film is not subtle. Fans of the book will find that screenwriter Stephen Zaillian has distilled much of Larsson’s detailed story, cutting the fat to make a lean sexually charged thriller with two interesting lead characters (even if they are less polyamorous here than in the source material).
If it sounds like sordid material, it is, but what elevates the story above conventional genre filmmaking is the presence of the film’s biggest star, director David Fincher. He is fascinated by personalities that fall beyond the norm – the anti-consumerist anti-hero in Fight Club, the compulsive reporter in Zodiac, Zuckerberg in The Social Network and now Salander in Dragon Tattoo. As has been said a thousand times before, he is a visuals driven auteur with a superb eye for shot composition. Even short strands of dialogue are dynamic and invigorating. Fincher’s films usually open with a striking credits sequence of opening scenes. Dragon Tattoo opens with a credit sequence that features a morphing oozing black Salander to the tune of the Reznor-Ross reworking of “The Immigrant Song”. As cliched as it may sound, it made my jaw drop and deserves some award of its own. From such a potent start the film propels onward and forward for more than two and a half hours, although it feels far shorter.
I’ve come to consider Fincher as more accomplished as a visual strategist than as a storyteller. This is not a slight on his storytelling skills but a compliment regarding the former observation. Even when a story runs out of steam as The Social Network does, and when it runs a bit thin as in Dragon Tattoo, the films always look superb. The cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth is suitably cold and precise; look at the symmetry and balance in some of the shots, and how deliberately attention grabbing it is when something in the shot is off-balance. Cronenweth collaborated with Fincher on Network and Fight Club in what is clearly a mutually beneficial relationship. Filmed on location during one of Sweden’s coldest winters in decades, Dragon Tattoo’s icy and potentially deadly Hedestad reminded me somewhat of The Crimson Rivers, where the snow hid corpses and various dangers.
Those who know the book will notice that Zaillian and Fincher make two key changes towards the end of the film (and I’m talking about changes, not simply content that was omitted, of which there is inevitable a lot): one has to do with a certain secondary character’s fate, the other with the murder mystery itself. It may not sit 100% well with purists but both changes work cinematically, the second change coming across as less convoluted than in the book. The choice of what happens in the film’s last scene is thematically appropriate and character oriented, and closes the film in such a way that were are reminded of what turned out to be most important in the story.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has thus far failed to meet box-office expectations, possibly because of the film’s long running time, the recent Swedish versions of all three books that are fresh in many people's minds, and general Salander media overkill. I’m hoping that Fincher will be willing to return to the characters for at least a second installment. I haven’t seen the Swedish adaptations; from what I’ve read, the American version remains worth seeing even if you’ve seen the Rapace version (which was, ahem, not directed by David Fincher). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is gripping, unsettling crime pulp, and makes the best use of an Enya song that I’ve seen in a film.
No comments:
Post a Comment