Somehow, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has lost her way.
The much-ballyhooed American screen version of Stieg Larsson’s international bestseller, paired Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara as an intrepid journalist and his punky, computer-hacking partner in crime-solving back (way back, in Hollywood Time) in 2011. But the filming of the two other novels in Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy inexplicably hasn’t happened. Recent trade reports indicate that Sony might cut the budget and combine The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest into one film, with an adaptation of a new fourth book: The Girl in the Spider’s Web, written not by Larsson (who has been dead since 2004), but reviving his characters – possibly an option, with or without Craig or Mara.
Whew! Uh … while we’re waiting, you might want to check out a cinematic rendition of the entire trilogy – better than what’s come from Hollywood. The three thrillers, all filmed in 2009 in Sweden (Larsson’s home country), have a caustic, sexual, violent edge missing from director David Fincher’s U.S. Tattoo. Driving the Swedish films is a terrific characterization of scarred, antisocial protagonist Lisbeth Salander by Noomi Rapace, who has since gone on to appear in American features such as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Prometheus.
The Flint Institute of Arts showed the Swedish films – to sizable audiences – upon their American release, and this month, they’re coming back. As part of its Friends of Modern Art film schedule, the museum is playing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on October 15 and 17, The Girl Who Played With Fire on October 21 and 24, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest on October 29 and 31. They should help compensate for the dearth of made-in-America Lisbeth.
The core weekend FOMA film series in October includes Irish, French, and (more) Swedish settings.
The October 9-11 selection is Jimmy’s Hall, an atypical drama (109 min., rated PG-13) set in Depression-era Ireland. On October 16-18 is France’s Gemma Bovery (99 min., rated R, subtitled), a clever contemporary retelling of the Flaubert novel, Madame Bovary.
October 23-25 brings Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin in The Connection, a French crime thriller (135 min., rated R, subtitled) with echoes of Hollywood’s The French Connection. A Swedish comedy, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared (114 min., rated R, subtitled) will remind viewers of Forrest Gump when it plays October 30 through November 1.
Information on all screenings at the FIA is available at flintarts.org, or call 810.234.1695.
