Dec 7, 2010

Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009) - Swedes, you win again


directed by Niels Arden Oplev / starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre

I managed to avoid the Millenium trilogy for quite a while, for no particular reason. Maybe it's because crime has never been my favourite genre, or because I knew my national pride would again sink an inch lower after watching the films. Damn you, Swedes. I don't know how you do it, but please, couldn't you just give us a chance for a change, too? One more reason to go see Rare Exports. I need some assurance that us Finns are good for something as well.

I haven't read the books, so I'll just talk about films here. The first one is called Män Som Hatar Kvinnor in Swedish, Miehet jotka vihaavat naisia in Finnish and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in English. (I kind of see why they didn't translate it literally to 'Men who hate women'. Sounds a bit weird in English.) Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist, who is hired to investigate a mysterious case of a 16-year-old girl, who disappeared 40 years ago. The girl's uncle is certain that she was murdered by some member of the family. Mikael is quite unexpectedly aided by Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker with a troubled past.

I liked the film more than I expected. The story sucked me in almost instantly and I wasn't bored once. The end credits scrolled to the screen way too soon, and I get to add two more films to my to-do-list of the holidays. Michael Nyqvist is excellent, but the real star is indeed Noomi Rapace. Lisbeth Salander is quite a rare female character, still in this day and age, and Rapace does a phenomenal job. Next she gets to play with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in the Sherlock Holmes sequel, and then...? Who knows, but I guess there's no stopping her now. Damn it.

P.S. I'm actually looking quite forward to the Hollywood remake! The Social Network girl, whose name I'm too lazy to look up or remember right now, ought to do a pretty decent job as Lisbeth and hey, it's David Fincher, after all. So, fingers crossed...

P.P.S. In movies like this, the scariest thing are always the old, black-and-white, blurry photographs and videos, showing the victim in their last moments. For some reason, those images are highly disturbing to me. Hrr.


8 comments:

Harri said...

Damn you, Sweden.

Oh, these films are so good! Though I prefer books to film versions but both of them are great. I really recommend reading those, they are so addictive, I couldn't stop reading those. :D

Yeah, Fincher and the Remake! It will be eeeexcellent.

Hmh...I personally think that they changed the name to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" because original one is quite provocative. At least for American audience.

Btw French dvd-covers of these movies are great! http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51x-Ao5o9AL._SL500_AA300_.jpg I almost bought those in Paris because there was something in those black and red coloured covers. They would have looked awesome in my room... Sniff.

Eeva said...

Right, more things to my to-do-list of the holidays. Aargh :D No, but it'd be cool to read them in the original language. If only my Swedish didn't suck so much. Oh well. :D

You're probably right about the original title being too provocative. And anyway, it'll be interesting to see if the most controversial scenes manage to get through Fincher's/studio's censors as they are... But I agree that it'll probably be a very good remake!

Ooh, those covers ARE cool! You should've bought them! It'll be bothering you forever... ;)

Harri said...

I thought same thing, my Swedish is quite horrible but I almost bought the first book in Swedish because Finnish ones were sold out everywhere. But luckily I managed to find them from a small boutique. Hmh...maybe some day I'll have courage to buy them in Swedish too. (I'm supposed to be quite good in swedish because some of my relatives are Finnish Swedes and my father has born in Sweden, but I'm not. :( :D)

Fincher can't direct a bad movie, can he? It's high on my top list of '11 besides Potter. Caan't wait.

Yeah I know! Forever and beyond, NOOOOoooOOO! ;) Hmh...Maybe I will buy the extended trilogy sometime, 7 dvds, 9 hours of film and 1½ hours of bonus features doesn't sound bad at all.

Eeva said...

So you're half Swedish, kind of, right? Well, I guess genes don't help much if you never get to use the language... I was alright in Swedish once upon a time, but what can you expect after not using it at all in three or something years... I don't think I could even buy a bus ticket in Swedish, let alone read a book :D

There is quite a lot to look forward to in 2011, isn't there? Those two among the many.

Ooh! Sounds expensive, but pretty much worth every cent! ;)

Harri said...

No, I don't think I'm half Swedish, my dad was born in Sweden but his parents are Finnish and my father has lived in Sweden only five years or so. A bit complicated. :D Maybe you should start blogging in Swedish, it would be great exercise? :D

Yeah, there is indeed. Maybe even too much for my budget...:D

It was only about 35 euros, which isn't too expensive, I think. At least there is many hours of film to watch.

Eeva said...

Oh, okay. :D That is a bit complicated, indeed! And blogging in Swedish, hmm, yes, sounds good. "Den här filmen var jätte bra och jag gillade det jätte mycket"... Maybe not. :D Gee, that sentence was hard enough to write! I will pretty much die in my obligatory Swedish course next year...

Oh, well that's not much at all! I thought it'd be a lot more.

Helinä Laajalahti said...

Why think of movies as yet another Finland-Sweden game? Funny :) I totally adored Noomi Rapace in these movies. She's made Lisbeth one of the most interesting female movie characters of *all time*. This first movie is the best of the trilogy in my books. Hell, I was just amazed when I saw it.

I should read the books too... haven't done it yet.

I haven't been that enthusiastic about the remake, but it's been mainly because I love Rapace's Lisbeth so much. Let's see... because Fincher as a director made the remake slightly more appealing idea.

Eeva said...

It IS funny, isn't it? How we Finns compare ourselves to Swedes in pretty much EVERYTHING! Funniest thing is, most times it's only Finns that are competing with Swedes... And Swedes? They don't really care. ;)

But yes, I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the films. I was kind of hooked!