(no subject)

[rozk]

One of the reasons why I have been largely blocked about posting, let alone doing much actual writing, is that I have been in significant internal turmoil about Inglourious Basterds a film which mingles utterly stunning film-making in some scenes, real crassness in others, one of the funniest moments in cinema (as far as I am concerned) and a brilliant piece of auto-critique which causes one to wonder whether trapped inside the obnoxious geek boy that is Quentin Tarantion there is a serious and considering post-modern humanist artist of real stature. But I shall post about this some other time, or not, and in the meantime leave you with something that will mean a lot to people who saw the film, and nothing whatever to the rest of you, which is to say 'Buon Giorno'.

In any case, I saw a really good film yesterday, a film which most of you won't get to see for several months, and I am in a gloaty mood. Because Millennium aka 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is one of the best thrillers I have seen in a long time, just as the book it was adapted from absolutely stunned me - so much so that I've shelved reading the sequel for several
months for fear of being disappointed.

For those of you who haven't read Stig Larssen, the set up is this. Journalist Mikaele Blomkvist has been disgraced over an expose story that did not pan out - he was set up with forged documents - and faces a short jail sentence in a white collar jail. While he is waiting, he is hired by a dying tycoon, patriarach of a large and mostly ultra-right family, to find out what happened to the old man's niece, who disappeared back in the 1960s, and who was Blomkvist's baby sitter when he was little. What he does not know is that he has sparked the interest of the young woman researcher who checked his credentials for the tycoon's lawyers.

Lisbeth Salander is punky, pierced and driven - a hacker who is, under Swedish law, subjected to extended guardianship because of something she did when she was very young. She is someone in the way of whom you do not need to get, as various people find out.

Part of the strength of both book and film is that we believe in their intellectual partnership - I actually like the film more in some ways, because movie-Blomkvist is less of a babe magnet. In lots of ways, theirs is a Holmes-Watson relationship, if Holmes were a kick-ass crazy and Watson were a lot smarter too.

Why is it, by the way, that so many of the best thrillers deal with cold cases? Is it just that the writer can plausibly infodump an awful lot of material on the detective without their having to do massive amounts of legwork just to get started?

I confidently predict that Noomi Rapace, who plays Lisbeth, will be all over everyone's icons when the movie comes out. Just saying...

Comments

[alicephilippa.livejournal.com]

Gloating is not good for the blood pressure ;)

You have though piqued my curiosity enough to want to go see this when it hits general release.

[bookzombie.livejournal.com]

I read the book a couple of months ago and it blew me away. I didn't realise there was a film version on the way.

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

I just finished the book and it was awesome. I can't wait to see the movie, but I don't know if it will show up in the US.

[(Anonymous)]

The film version of the second book is already in post-production with the same cast, and the trailer has already been released. The first film has already been a huge hit all over Europe before it's even hit the UK or US.

I think we're going to get a movie trilogy here.

- Adi

[alicephilippa.livejournal.com]

Third film is scheduled for release in 2010 and is IIRC in post-production.

[mckennl.livejournal.com]

Now I'm curious about what you thought was the funniest moment in IG. Just saw it last night so you should be able to tell me what it was w/out spoiling. (I am haunted by the most menacing strudel ever, and "bingo!")

Just finished reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" this week. I feel like I missed something, since I didn't love it. I did put the next one on hold at the library though, so there's that.

[rozk.livejournal.com]

Actually, my funniest moment was 'Buon Giorno', though the strudel and 'bingo!' were both pretty amazing.

[mckennl.livejournal.com]

Ah, OK, duh.

Man, I loved the Giant Face. The more I think about it, the more I love it.

[rozk.livejournal.com]

Oh, and what didn't you love about the Larsson?

[mckennl.livejournal.com]

I don't know; I almost gave up in the first couple of chapters when it was all tedious embezzlement details. Although I understood that it was necessary to demonstrate her ruthless will, I hated reading the whole part where she had to deal with her second guardian -- unlike in IG, for example -- the revenge payoff wasn't cathartic enough to make up for the violation. I liked the end, especially the reversal of trope in the climactic basement scene.

I guess I know so many people like Lisbeth that I didn't find her character as surprising or fresh? She reminded me of Toone back in the day, among others, and I know a lot of people who are aspie, and brilliant and extremely taciturn and I just -- I guess I should be like FINALLY, they are writing about people like my friends! but instead I felt like the kinds of people I love were being exploited to create an exotic heroine? Churlish of me perhaps.

I liked it enough to finish it and will probably read all three, but it just didn't blow me away.

[rozk.livejournal.com]

It certainly starts slow, which is why I took a long time to get round to reading it myself, but once I did, the slow start came to seem to me an authoritative and confidence-building account of how things work.

Also, the simple fact that Lisbeth is a more extreme version of people I know and care about simply made me go, at last someone is paying attention.

[mckennl.livejournal.com]

Also, the simple fact that Lisbeth is a more extreme version of people I know and care about simply made me go, at last someone is paying attention.

I know, and usually that's how I react, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Who knows. I get annoyed when people respond how I did, in general -- baby steps, right? Can't critique them too hard, at least they are trying, etc. As I said, I can't fully explain my "meh" reaction.