Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - the Hollywood remake, for shame - is a beautifully elegant potboiler.

I admit I was sceptical. Daniel Craig alone - for shame - would have lured me along. But then DG said boldly that he preferred it to the Swedish original and I wondered whether I might want to see it more than I'd originally thought.

It's a rollicking story, neatly squished into two and one half hours. It's very nicely cast. They almost didn't succumb to the temptation to make Blomkvist and Salander beautiful. The pace is nice. Neither too whistle-stop nor too ponderous: it just breathes nicely. The story is - well, I love the story so I'm biased.

But the triumph to my superficial mind is the cinematography. The film must be treated like anything because it's mostly grey-hued but they have odd little snatches of colour here and there to make a point.

My favourite shot of all was absolutely mundane. The innards of Salander's fridge. Which are a lovely shorthand for how little she looks after herself.

Fridge door opens and you get the full inside shelf. I can't even remember what's in there - the point is not much. I think something yellow-y. But then in the midst of all this monochrome, you have a huddle of cans of coke. Vivid red. Gorgeous.

So most well done to the art director. And a bit of a pat on the back for the rest of them too. And go see it. It's fun.

(Oh. But beware though. Whilst I liked it, I don't think B S Neill would like it at all. As with the infamous Trollhunter episode over Christmas, he may possibly think it terribly silly. So don't rush to see it on my account.)

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