12-29-2011, 11:58 PM
Okay, I've now seen the movie -- the American remake by Fincher, currently in the theaters.
DM recommended seeing the Swedish one first, which I had intended to do, but Lady Cranefly's sudden interest in the film sent us to the local theater.
This is a very good movie. The pacing is immaculate. So much background information needs to be conveyed, and director David Fincher does it brilliantly. With a lesser director, this movie could easily have topped five hours -- or the storyline winnowed down to an anemic puddle of a tale. Fincher keeps it richly layered and detailed.
Fincher also succeeds in "showing" just how difficult research is. Characters must toil long and hard to discover and link together various clues. There are dead ends and false trails and then new leads, and none of it is neat. The "ahah"s and "eureka"s are muted, and they are few and far between.
I look forward to seeing the Swedish version, but will likely wait a few months. The Mountain View Library has two copies, by the way. I had one in hand a week ago, but opened it and saw that the disc had a bad spot, so I didn't check it out.
At our last meeting, DM and I discussed briefly the types of DVDs one is likely to find in a library. The question of "too adult for the library" came up. I'm still trying to get a clear idea of what the library carries and what it doesn't. I suppose it surprised me a bit to see this movie there.
DM recommended seeing the Swedish one first, which I had intended to do, but Lady Cranefly's sudden interest in the film sent us to the local theater.
This is a very good movie. The pacing is immaculate. So much background information needs to be conveyed, and director David Fincher does it brilliantly. With a lesser director, this movie could easily have topped five hours -- or the storyline winnowed down to an anemic puddle of a tale. Fincher keeps it richly layered and detailed.
Fincher also succeeds in "showing" just how difficult research is. Characters must toil long and hard to discover and link together various clues. There are dead ends and false trails and then new leads, and none of it is neat. The "ahah"s and "eureka"s are muted, and they are few and far between.
I look forward to seeing the Swedish version, but will likely wait a few months. The Mountain View Library has two copies, by the way. I had one in hand a week ago, but opened it and saw that the disc had a bad spot, so I didn't check it out.
At our last meeting, DM and I discussed briefly the types of DVDs one is likely to find in a library. The question of "too adult for the library" came up. I'm still trying to get a clear idea of what the library carries and what it doesn't. I suppose it surprised me a bit to see this movie there.