Move Review: Girl With the Golden Tattoo
August 30th, 2010 at 12:08:35 PM
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Why is this site good for reviewing movies? Anyway, there have been a few so here is another. No real spoilers.
Recently saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This has been one of the more popular foreign movies recently, you should be able to catch it if a theater near you tends to show foreign or art movies.
I highly recommend it with some qualifications.
A Swedish movie, it is very feminist, and as a matter of fact the author of the book, Stieg Larsson, was a Communist. His villains were Capitalists; in the movie, though, the villains are not just Capitalists but Nazi sympathizers. No kidding. And we are talking murderers, serial killers, to boot. Of course all this makes it palatable even for anyone who might otherwise not like the idea of portraying businessmen as the bad guys. And for good measure one minor bad character is a social worker.
You might think you have no feminist sympathies, but by the time you experience how rotten these men are you are rooting for their demise, believe me.
The movie is very brutal, and this applies not just to the creeps, but to the heroine as well. I want to focus on her to keep this review from being too long. She is a new type we are seeing a little more of these days, a woman with a ton of metal on her face perhaps, plenty of tattoos, and Goth or Punk themed clothing etc. There was just not such a character in the media of yesteryear; now we see them portrayed sometimes, and this certainly suggests we find them intriguing. I wound up looking up the character Abby Sciuto in the TV series NCIS to see if this character could have been based on the movie or vice versa. Sciuto is described as been distinguished by a "gothic style of dress and her interest in death and the supernatural" in a wikipedia article. I concluded that it was possible Larrson was influential in bringing this type of character forward, but I havent read his books so can't be sure. Quite coincidentally I just saw another movie, "My First Mister," a dvd I picked up cheap that featured a Goth/Punk type teenager. This was a fair movie, with flaws, but my point is not to review it too, but to point out that these characters are multiplying. And why not, plenty of these types do exist in the real world.
The Dragon Tattoo character, Lisbeth Salander, fits this profile; I don't exactly remember how much body piercing she has, but there is the Goth/Punk look, certainly tattoos, and with an emphasis for sure on being anti-social with a brutal if not sadistic side to her. I am also reminded of the character Felicia "Snoop" Pearson from the HBO series "The Wire". I promise you, even if you find this character type off-putting, that you will be totally won over to Salander and her cause . There is a distinct feminine appeal to her in spite of her efforts to have none. Truly fascinating, go see the movie if you get a chance.
links are all easily found in imdb dot com, and wikipedia.
Recently saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This has been one of the more popular foreign movies recently, you should be able to catch it if a theater near you tends to show foreign or art movies.
I highly recommend it with some qualifications.
A Swedish movie, it is very feminist, and as a matter of fact the author of the book, Stieg Larsson, was a Communist. His villains were Capitalists; in the movie, though, the villains are not just Capitalists but Nazi sympathizers. No kidding. And we are talking murderers, serial killers, to boot. Of course all this makes it palatable even for anyone who might otherwise not like the idea of portraying businessmen as the bad guys. And for good measure one minor bad character is a social worker.
You might think you have no feminist sympathies, but by the time you experience how rotten these men are you are rooting for their demise, believe me.
The movie is very brutal, and this applies not just to the creeps, but to the heroine as well. I want to focus on her to keep this review from being too long. She is a new type we are seeing a little more of these days, a woman with a ton of metal on her face perhaps, plenty of tattoos, and Goth or Punk themed clothing etc. There was just not such a character in the media of yesteryear; now we see them portrayed sometimes, and this certainly suggests we find them intriguing. I wound up looking up the character Abby Sciuto in the TV series NCIS to see if this character could have been based on the movie or vice versa. Sciuto is described as been distinguished by a "gothic style of dress and her interest in death and the supernatural" in a wikipedia article. I concluded that it was possible Larrson was influential in bringing this type of character forward, but I havent read his books so can't be sure. Quite coincidentally I just saw another movie, "My First Mister," a dvd I picked up cheap that featured a Goth/Punk type teenager. This was a fair movie, with flaws, but my point is not to review it too, but to point out that these characters are multiplying. And why not, plenty of these types do exist in the real world.
The Dragon Tattoo character, Lisbeth Salander, fits this profile; I don't exactly remember how much body piercing she has, but there is the Goth/Punk look, certainly tattoos, and with an emphasis for sure on being anti-social with a brutal if not sadistic side to her. I am also reminded of the character Felicia "Snoop" Pearson from the HBO series "The Wire". I promise you, even if you find this character type off-putting, that you will be totally won over to Salander and her cause . There is a distinct feminine appeal to her in spite of her efforts to have none. Truly fascinating, go see the movie if you get a chance.
links are all easily found in imdb dot com, and wikipedia.
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!” She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
August 30th, 2010 at 12:26:36 PM
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Dragon tattoo??
I seem to recall reading that trilogy.
He made most of his money posthumously ... and his family from whom he was estranged virtually his entire adult life will be getting most of his funds while his lifelong companion will not. He never married her due to Swedish law requiring disclosure of addresses whereas unmarried he lived without any disclosure after having obtained a court ordered secrecy judgment as far as databases and governmental directories were concerned. This was due to his economic and socialist journalism experiences.
Very popular books nowadays. Best sellers. Both his actual life and his books were a bit too left-leaning for me, though his knowledge of international banking transfers was quite good and he was a good investigative journalist, particularly on economic matters.
ON-EDIT:
I won't split an already fine hair about Tartan Noir... is it a genre or simply a marketing gimmick ... but there has been a trend in mystery fiction to detectives who are alcoholics, or even unrepentant thieves and are often ethically conflicted yet remain on a case. Swedish mystery fiction is very popular now and often focuses on detectives who are beset with career problems, personal problems, engage in improperly motivated actions, etc. It sells well now. Maybe because of its realism. A sort of Roman Policier dipped in alcohol, greed, jealousy and hopeless despair.
I seem to recall reading that trilogy.
He made most of his money posthumously ... and his family from whom he was estranged virtually his entire adult life will be getting most of his funds while his lifelong companion will not. He never married her due to Swedish law requiring disclosure of addresses whereas unmarried he lived without any disclosure after having obtained a court ordered secrecy judgment as far as databases and governmental directories were concerned. This was due to his economic and socialist journalism experiences.
Very popular books nowadays. Best sellers. Both his actual life and his books were a bit too left-leaning for me, though his knowledge of international banking transfers was quite good and he was a good investigative journalist, particularly on economic matters.
ON-EDIT:
I won't split an already fine hair about Tartan Noir... is it a genre or simply a marketing gimmick ... but there has been a trend in mystery fiction to detectives who are alcoholics, or even unrepentant thieves and are often ethically conflicted yet remain on a case. Swedish mystery fiction is very popular now and often focuses on detectives who are beset with career problems, personal problems, engage in improperly motivated actions, etc. It sells well now. Maybe because of its realism. A sort of Roman Policier dipped in alcohol, greed, jealousy and hopeless despair.
August 31st, 2010 at 3:31:31 AM
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Quote: FleaStiffI won't split an already fine hair about Tartan Noir... is it a genre or simply a marketing gimmick ... but there has been a trend in mystery fiction to detectives who are alcoholics, or even unrepentant thieves and are often ethically conflicted yet remain on a case. Swedish mystery fiction is very popular now and often focuses on detectives who are beset with career problems, personal problems, engage in improperly motivated actions, etc. It sells well now. Maybe because of its realism. A sort of Roman Policier dipped in alcohol, greed, jealousy and hopeless despair.
interesting. This should be Tartan Noir? I had to look that up! Seems that this should be dubbed "Goth Noir" though.
btw I corrected the error about the film title in the first para, but left it in the Subject Field and one other area of the text I just now corrected. *sigh*
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!” She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
