The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

David Fincher is one of those directors whose works you have to pay attention to. There are not many film makers who earned this kind of reputation. Fincher, among Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, and Quentin Tarantino, directed more than one film that alone would be enough to establish themselves as good directors. Most if not all their films are considered classics.

Although Fincher could lean back saying his oeuvre is exceptional - he would never do so because he is a perfectionist - he keeps challenging himself. His latest movie is an adaptation of Stieg Larsson's first novel from the so called Millennium series. The author died in 2004 and the novels were only published after his death, soon becoming bestsellers. The American film adaptation was unavoidable. However, in 2009 a Swedish film production company produced film versions of all novels. The first was praised by the critics. So here comes the time for comparison between the Swedish and the American films, people thought. But let me get this straight. Fincher's movie is not a remake. It is an adaptation. An alternative adaptation of the source material. I would say it is more interesting to take the novel and the two films and see how the two directors approached the book.

I have no right to write this review though. My decision was to watch Fincher's film as an independent work of art, before having an relation to the preceding materials. I picked up the novel yesterday and will read it by the weekend, so let's stay with the American film starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.

I am sitting here thinking how can I explain why this is a good film despite the fact that it is 158 minutes of depression, gloom, and misery. And it is not that we have not seen brutality on screen, or have not heard of stores like this. What makes it heavy is realism. Fincher does not want to make the viewer feel that this is only a story, an average thriller, but he wants you to feel bad. Most of the Hollywood films make you see the world through optimistic lens. Fincher sees the world the way it is.

I have the highest regards for Jeff Cronenweth, who is now nominated for Oscar (Best Achievement in Cinematography.) His retro-futuristic images create a feel that the viewer is watching an alternative world. Cronenweth's pictures and Fincher's realistic approach to the story creates an interesting dissonance. The soundtrack, written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is a gloomy symphony of noises. I was surprised by the fact that they have a name for this genre: post-industrial, dark-ambient, drone. 

Apart from the incredible photography and atmospheric score, what distinguishes this film from the others is the love story within the thriller: the relationship of Mikael Blomkvist (journalist played by Craig) and Lisbeth Salander (computer hacker played by Mara). An unusual love story. They only meet in the second half of the movie, they do not talk to each other much, and the viewer would think this is a simple and short affair. Until the very last minute of the movie, when all loose ends are tied up, when the order was restored, suddenly everything turns upside down. I do not like to tell the plot, so I will skip explaining how faith is lost at the end of the movie. But I tell you this is a twist in the idea that the most romantic love story is the type that is unfulfilled. 


When it is hard to find words to describe a film, you know you are talking about a good one. When you cannot capture its atmosphere, its style. And this is the art of moving images. All you can say is that: go and see it yourself.