Richard Jones reviews the following movie:
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (MA 15+)
FORTY years ago the beloved niece of a wealthy Swedish industrialist disappeared from a national Family Day celebration one summer.
Convinced she’d been murdered by someone from his mad, bad and very sad family, patriarch Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) to re-open the cold case.
The only problem for Mikael is that he’s in a spot of bother himself. Pinged by a court for publishing what it considers misleading revelations about corporate corruption, six months detention awaits the white knight.
Nevertheless he takes up residence in the isolated Vanger island enclave connected to the mainland by a single, long bridge.
Investigations proceed at a snail’s pace, with Mikael’s only real breakthrough a four decades old grainy press photo of the nearby town’s Family Day gathering.
On the day she disappeared, the missing Harriet Vanger is in the front row of the picture. But what is she peering at in the middle distance?
Fortunately for Henrik and Mikael, a Vanger family business friend has a contact. Lisbeth Salander is a 24-year-old anarchistic, goth-punk with sublime skills in computer hacking.
Things really start to move when Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) moves into the estate cottage with Mikael.
Their joint investigations reveal that a number of murders of women across Sweden have remained unsolved.
Could Harriet Vanger have been a victim of this killer, or killers? And what is the meaning of an intriguing and mysterious five-line text --- five, spaced capital letters on each line --- they find in Harriet’s Bible.
Journalist and crime thriller writer Stieg Larsson, whose world best seller formed the basis for this film’s script, was a crusader against Swedish corporate corruption and neo-Nazism.
And so, considering that a number of members of the Vanger family were fervent Nazi lovers during World War 2 and remained so in the decades after, there’s not much help for Mikael and Lisbeth on the home front.
It doesn’t bother Lisbeth. Only a fool would mess with this tough, tattooed investigator.
NOTE: as it’s a Swedish production, sub-titles are involved. Occasionally there’s snippets of English but remember, it is a European production.
Well done Richard. Also I like movies that are based on "true life stories". Seems a bit bizarre, but haven't noticed if it has been released here yet in Brisbane.
ReplyDeleteDue to the weather here in Brisbane, BIZARRE, to say the best, I have been re-watching movies from my DVD collection.
"Guys and Dolls" - a 1955 musical, which you, Richard, would NOT like, but I love musicals, they give you a sense of peace of mind, no matter how fanciful?
Then "From the Ashes" - a true story of the Holocaust re: Hungarian Jews. Very moving.
And today: "Under the Tuscan Sun", the scenery is just magnificent. Really enjoyable.
With the present weather, it will be more of the same tomorrow.
Great reporting Richard. I do enjoy your reviews.
Colin
For Colin's info the movie has been in the theatres here for weeks. One of my friends saw it and said he enjoyed it but that it was long and the subtitles took away some impact. Another friend said she couldn't put the books down as it was a fascinating story.
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