Film Night with JB. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

[JB40]

The original title of this movie was 'men who hate women', and this is the key to real subject of the film. The plot is lacking in credibility and comes across as a standard crime-thriller potboiler, but the pleasure is in the details. The cold swedish winter with gloomy skies and desolate landscapes create just the right mood as the tangled plot slowly unravels. The well mannered gloominess of the characters gives it a genteel / Agatha Christie feel, but the details of the crimes are firmly in hannibal Lecter territory.
The movie starts a little confusingly as we try to memorize the swedish names of those involved in what seems to be an industrial espionage-style plot to frame an investigative journalist.It doesn't take too long to realize that this is not the real subject at all. That something very different and much more intimate was about to unfold. By the time the journalist / hero reaches the creepy island and starts to investigate a decades-old mystery of a missing girl we are already hooked.
As the plot expands to take in some very wild notions that include Nazi's and a serial killer, the background details and subplots become more and more focused on the different relationships. This is what gives this film it's power.
Running alongside is the story of the title character. A much abused young woman who may be bi-polar and has a terrible secret. Almost every middle-aged respectable male in this film turns out to be secretly corrupt and abusive. This is where the original 'men who hate women' title makes more literal sense [although it's nowhere near as catchy]. And it seems to be saying that middle-class, respectable Swedish society is just a veneer covering perverse corruption and extreme self loathing. it recalls the Joseph Fritzl case as the hidden abuses come under the spotlight. This gives the story a tragic dimension as abuse is passed on from generation to generation and shapes the lives of the characters.
It's all very gloomy, and very Swedish, but there is a streak of dark humor running through the film that stops the gloom being unintentionally funny. And the revelations are well timed, they keep us hooked to the mystery plot.
As you may have guessed, it's not exactly family entertainment. There are many gruesome details that aren't for the squeamish. But the final conclusion is very satisfying and quite moving.
I give it 4/5.

[Nes B40]

Sounds very interesting indeed

[j59]

Originally Posted by Nes B40

Sounds very interesting indeed

What Nes said.

Thanks for the review 'gloomy skies and desolate landscapes' you could be talking about here at the moment, well I mean the Yorkshire moors then.

Not sure if i want to watch it or not....

love jx

[Aaron Otang]

JimBo..... missus Tang is nodding groot at your discription..nice one

she also said to me that the Author of the book died not long after publishing in mysterious circumstances

i dunno is she might be pulling my hairy arm??

but i have to say


great review mi ol china..








i think you should be the Barry Norman of the film world






"and jolley well spent pennies they were too"

[FATHER TED2]

great film watched it again last night recently got the extended versions on Blu ray, now running over 3 hours but like jimmy says so well written and delivered it's over before you know it, haven't watched the other two films yet but will soon

[JB40]

The new version with Daniel Craig is supposed to be really good too. But it won,t have the element of surprise and freshness that the original had.

David fincher (seven, fight club) has directed the US version.

The other two movies ( . .....played with fire and ......kicked over a hornets nest) I,ve got but haven,t watched them yet either eamonn.

[FATHER TED2]

Yes I've heard it's a very impressive re make something we were worried might not happen when we discussed it on here a while back
if im right stig larrson wrote the books purely as a way to unwind after work, and he made little attempt to have them published
the trilogy was in fact 10 books, a forth was half way finished before larsson died (his partner has said she feels she could finish it but is unable due to legal wrangles with larssons family) another 3 I think are fairly detailed and structured and there's plotlines and synopsis for the remaining books
the forth book tells the story of lisbeth (based on a real person ) and tells the story of her tattoos, each one representing someone who had abused her

[FATHER TED2]

Originally Posted by JB40

The new version with Daniel Craig is supposed to be really good too. But it won,t have the element of surprise and freshness that the original had.

David fincher (seven, fight club) has directed the US version.

The other two movies ( . .....played with fire and ......kicked over a hornets nest) I,ve got but haven,t watched them yet either eamonn.

I got a bargain I think 4 set Blu ray £14:99

[rhondda rudie]

Originally Posted by Aaron Otang

JimBo..... missus Tang is nodding groot at your discription..nice one

she also said to me that the Author of the book died not long after publishing in mysterious circumstances

i dunno is she might be pulling my hairy arm??

but i have to say


great review mi ol china..








i think you should be the Barry Norman of the film world






"and jolley well spent pennies they were too"

And why not.

[FATHER TED2]

Originally Posted by rhondda rudie

And why not.

Whatever happened to them