In 2010 we has a few good movies:
-The Town
-The emotional Toy Story 3
-Underrated Robin Hood
-Great western True Grit
My number 2 film that year was 5 out of 5 stars Disney's Tangled. So underrated!!!
But my number one film this year:
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (The Swedish Version)
Based on the books by Stieg Larsson
Screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel: Rasmus Heisterburg; Jonas Frykberg; and Ulf Ryberg
Starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist
The movie starts with a 40 year old mystery asking to be solved. A journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, who needs to disappear for awhile. And a brilliant computer hacker, Lisbeth Salender, who is socially awkward with a photogenic memory. Together they attempt to solve the mysterious disappearance of Harriet Vanger.
I will go as far as saying Lisbeth Salender may be one of the most interesting female characters in movie history. We have not seen many female leads like her. A rebel. Brilliant. A little sensitive. Sexual. Socially awkward but at the same time socially aware. The great Roger Ebert said of Lisbeth after watching the Swedish version of Dragon: "Lisbeth is as compelling as any movie character in recent memory".
Rapace is fantastic. She tears up the screen. If you look at her pictures from other movies she has done you will be shocked by how she really looks.
Now for the big warning about this film. A sexually violent scene like you may have not seen before on the screen. This was shown in the American version (I will touch on the American version in a bit) with MPAA screening. Here it is made in Sweden, so...no MPAA. It is a turn your eyes away moment. In fact if streaming you may just want to fast forward through that part, you will see it coming. I hate telling you to fast forward through parts of a film but I understand why. Now ten minutes after that, there is revenge, which is also violent in another way. I do think these scenes are important because it shows a lot about Lisbeth. Why she is the way she is. How strong she is. Also how street smart she is.
Now you can stream the three hour version on Netflix. Which leads to the Swedish version of Girl Who Played With Fire which I gave 4 stars out of 5 in 2010. The The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest which I gave 4 1/2 out of 5 in 2010. Known in Sweden as The Millennium Series.
The American version of Dragon Tattoo which I liked also, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars (and it looks sadly they will not make the other two films), clocks in at 2 1/2 hours. What the Swedish versions does well is look into the Millennium Magazine and show there are other mysteries going on and it sets up a little bit of the next two films. Also the Swedish version has a different ending, than the American version.
In an age when we sit down to watch a film at home we have our phones and laptops. We look away from the screens and just listen while we look at other things. With subtitles it is hard to do that. And for three hours over time it is a lot.
Still I highly recommend it. And it is up to you if you want to tackle it.
Any negatives? You can get lost a bit with all the suspects in Dragon. Just stay with it...it will come.
Now it is time for fun or not so fun facts:
-Rapace got her motorcyle driving license for this film
-The score for this film was done in just 4 days by Jacob Groth
-Lisbeth's mother Agneta is played by Nina Noren, Rapace's real mom.
-Rapace had her eyebrow and nose pierced for the film
-The film ran in Sweden on TV before 2010, but it was released in the US in 2010
Well I am going long here....5 out of 5 stars for the Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This film is in my top 5 of all time. Again it is streaming on Netflix.
Again from the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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