![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHorrible mood this morning. People downstairs can't seem to figure out how to regulate the heat, so they blasted the radiators at 1am-3am, then again at 5am-7am. I had to open a window and turn on the air conditioning. (It was 82 degrees inside and 38 degrees outside). Went downstairs at 1am to get the email address, but wrote it down wrong. Knocked on their door this morning...and they said that the heat was off now. I said it's still radiating in my apartment. They explained how difficult and impossible it is to regulate. I explained, well up until now, it usually was too cold. Me: Call the landlord and ask.
I'll give them two more nights, then I'm emailing the landlord. I can't afford to get sick. I need sleep. Feel guilty about whining over this - since so many people don't have any heat and are freezing. I wish I could give them my heat at night.
Saw David Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night. Prior to watching this film, I'd seen the Swedish adaptation/version, and read the book. The best of the three? The David Fincher version - no contest. I actually enjoyed the story and found it interesting and compelling for the first time.
Now before you say, oh, she's an American, of course she liked the American version better - I've watched a lot of foreign films, and generally speaking I actually prefer the foreign versions. I expected to like the Swedish version more. I didn't see this in movie theater in part because I dislike American remakes of Foreign tv shows and films. The Vanishing, The Kingdom Hospital, La Femme Nikita, and Let the Right One In are just a few examples of foreign films that were better than American adaptations.
But whomever directed the Swedish version/adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo isn't very good, and directed that film and adapted it much the way you might do a television film. I actually have a review of the Swedish version somewhere in my livejournal, which I can't find at the moment.
And film, like it or not, is in many respects about direction. Theater is the actors playground, television is the writer's, and film is the director's. David Fincher is an A list director, well-known for Oscar nominated fair such as Seven, Fight Club, Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network. He is hands on - directly involved in casting, writing, and production.
Fincher's take on Girl is in some respects better than the original book. He changes the right things, emphasizes the right things, and casts it beautifully.
For the first time, I was actually curious to know what happened after the end.
Unlike the Swedish adaptation, Fincher keeps the following things:
* The Wennestorm financial case and how Lisbeth handles it (my favorite part of the book and was left out of the Swedish adaptation entirely - making the Swedish film a run-of-the-mill serial killer thriller and not worth my time.)
* Blomskvist's family - specifically his teen daughter and how she figures out a part of the puzzle.
* Lisbeth's fascination with Wennestorm case.
* The death of the bad guy is the same in the book (which I prefered) in the Swedish film - the cops are called (which was not what happened in the book).
Both versions wisely dumped the annoying Cecilia and Blomkvist romance, which turned Blomkvist into a himbo.
This version does change the ending regarding Harriet's whereabouts. I actually preferred its take, I found the book's to be convoluted and a bit unrealistic.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely there will be a sequel and if there is, that Fincher will direct - considering he was initially reluctant to do this film. Although Steven Zaillian who wrote the Fincher adaptation, is allegedly working on the script to the sequel.
Zaillian is a great screenwriter - and it shows. Instead of just following Blomkvist, then finally switching to Lisbeth, we jump-cut between them, so for five minutes with Blomkvist, then five with Lisbeth. Works very well. As a result, we get to see both of their methods, and how these methods complement each other - also how both characters figure out the mystery at the same time.
Fincher also does a very good job of depicting violence without eroticizing or glamorizing it.
He makes us aware of how horrible it is - without going overboard, which both the Larsson book and the Swedish film, unfortunately did. Fincher seems to understand the words: "less is more", but this is also the director of SeVen and Fight Club, so no surprise there.
Finally, the acting blew me away. Rooney Maura who plays Lisbeth is actually better in the role than Naomi R. was. Hard to believe, I know. But Naomi was almost too pretty. Rooney really gets across the anti-social, hardened shell of Lisbeth. Someone who looks like a victim and isn't. Who has done everything possible to make herself not look like a victim to look hard. She is the Lisbeth that I saw in my head while reading the book. And Daniel Craig is equally brilliant, getting across a world-weary journalist who is not physically adept - ie. he isn't used to violence and doesn't know quite how to handle it when it is thrown at him. An everyman. Proving he can play a wide range of roles. Everyone else? Great as well. Stella Skarsgard - as Martin, fantastic - Martin is a hard role - you have to get across the feeling that yes, he's capable of this and clearly did it, yet at the same time the hope that he didn't do it and the insanity that he could have - or it makes no sense that Blomkvist and Henrik trust him.
At any rate, if you haven't read the book or seen either film? Skip the Swedish versions and watch Fincher's. You can thank me or not, later.
Overall rating? A
I'll give them two more nights, then I'm emailing the landlord. I can't afford to get sick. I need sleep. Feel guilty about whining over this - since so many people don't have any heat and are freezing. I wish I could give them my heat at night.
Saw David Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last night. Prior to watching this film, I'd seen the Swedish adaptation/version, and read the book. The best of the three? The David Fincher version - no contest. I actually enjoyed the story and found it interesting and compelling for the first time.
Now before you say, oh, she's an American, of course she liked the American version better - I've watched a lot of foreign films, and generally speaking I actually prefer the foreign versions. I expected to like the Swedish version more. I didn't see this in movie theater in part because I dislike American remakes of Foreign tv shows and films. The Vanishing, The Kingdom Hospital, La Femme Nikita, and Let the Right One In are just a few examples of foreign films that were better than American adaptations.
But whomever directed the Swedish version/adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo isn't very good, and directed that film and adapted it much the way you might do a television film. I actually have a review of the Swedish version somewhere in my livejournal, which I can't find at the moment.
And film, like it or not, is in many respects about direction. Theater is the actors playground, television is the writer's, and film is the director's. David Fincher is an A list director, well-known for Oscar nominated fair such as Seven, Fight Club, Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network. He is hands on - directly involved in casting, writing, and production.
Fincher's take on Girl is in some respects better than the original book. He changes the right things, emphasizes the right things, and casts it beautifully.
For the first time, I was actually curious to know what happened after the end.
Unlike the Swedish adaptation, Fincher keeps the following things:
* The Wennestorm financial case and how Lisbeth handles it (my favorite part of the book and was left out of the Swedish adaptation entirely - making the Swedish film a run-of-the-mill serial killer thriller and not worth my time.)
* Blomskvist's family - specifically his teen daughter and how she figures out a part of the puzzle.
* Lisbeth's fascination with Wennestorm case.
* The death of the bad guy is the same in the book (which I prefered) in the Swedish film - the cops are called (which was not what happened in the book).
Both versions wisely dumped the annoying Cecilia and Blomkvist romance, which turned Blomkvist into a himbo.
This version does change the ending regarding Harriet's whereabouts. I actually preferred its take, I found the book's to be convoluted and a bit unrealistic.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely there will be a sequel and if there is, that Fincher will direct - considering he was initially reluctant to do this film. Although Steven Zaillian who wrote the Fincher adaptation, is allegedly working on the script to the sequel.
Zaillian is a great screenwriter - and it shows. Instead of just following Blomkvist, then finally switching to Lisbeth, we jump-cut between them, so for five minutes with Blomkvist, then five with Lisbeth. Works very well. As a result, we get to see both of their methods, and how these methods complement each other - also how both characters figure out the mystery at the same time.
Fincher also does a very good job of depicting violence without eroticizing or glamorizing it.
He makes us aware of how horrible it is - without going overboard, which both the Larsson book and the Swedish film, unfortunately did. Fincher seems to understand the words: "less is more", but this is also the director of SeVen and Fight Club, so no surprise there.
Finally, the acting blew me away. Rooney Maura who plays Lisbeth is actually better in the role than Naomi R. was. Hard to believe, I know. But Naomi was almost too pretty. Rooney really gets across the anti-social, hardened shell of Lisbeth. Someone who looks like a victim and isn't. Who has done everything possible to make herself not look like a victim to look hard. She is the Lisbeth that I saw in my head while reading the book. And Daniel Craig is equally brilliant, getting across a world-weary journalist who is not physically adept - ie. he isn't used to violence and doesn't know quite how to handle it when it is thrown at him. An everyman. Proving he can play a wide range of roles. Everyone else? Great as well. Stella Skarsgard - as Martin, fantastic - Martin is a hard role - you have to get across the feeling that yes, he's capable of this and clearly did it, yet at the same time the hope that he didn't do it and the insanity that he could have - or it makes no sense that Blomkvist and Henrik trust him.
At any rate, if you haven't read the book or seen either film? Skip the Swedish versions and watch Fincher's. You can thank me or not, later.
Overall rating? A
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 04:14 pm (UTC)Oh please! I've had steam heat my whole life and it's perfectly easy to regulate.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 10:55 pm (UTC)And both had small children. Babies.
I was usually cold with the landlord - due to drafty windows and had to buy window proofing each year. Which the landlord knows. So if I send him an email stating its 82 degrees at night in my apartment and I've had to open a window and put on the air conditioning...since he is paying for the heat, he won't be happy.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 05:13 pm (UTC)I did watch the first of the Swedish series (which I understand was made for TV, so you really can't expect it to be as beautifully done) and like you I thought Rooney Maura was more like the Lisbeth in the book. I felt that Naomi R was a wonderful actress, but she was so healthy and beautiful that I never could see her as Lisbeth, but Rooney had that unhealthy androgynous closed-down/shut-off look that I saw as being essential to Lisbeth. And of course made her transformation into the blonde who pulled off the banking scam so hilarious!
I hope that the heat setting problems get fixed... I have always hated it when I didn't have thermostat control where I lived!
no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 11:01 pm (UTC)Agreed on all of the above...Rooney Maura was lot more like the Lisbeth in the book. Naomi R - is a great actress but somewhat miscast - she's too tall, and too pretty. She wasn't able to get across the unhealthy androgynous closed-down/shut-off look - or this weird blend of vulnerability and strength, that was essential. Rooney blew me away - she's what I saw in my head when I read the books.
Craig also was quite good. As was Robin Wright Penn, Christopher Plummer, and Joely Richardson in smaller roles. Quite surprised by how good the movie was.
On the heat - I'm giving them one more night to get it right - if they don't tonight - an email gets sent to the landlord. (who I have a good relationship with or a fairly good one.)