Banana Scoop

David Fincher remains today to be one of the most consistently good directors and has been recognized by his peers and critiques as a excellently stylish filmmaker with excellent taste.  So when I heard his next project after The Social Network was based on some book, I was curious.  By the time the first trailer came out, I didn’t really understand what was going on, but recognized the stylish editing he had done and realized that maybe I should jump on this bandwagon.  So hit the jump to get the rest of the story of how Stieg Larsson encaputred me in his universe and how I fell in love with Lisbeth Salander.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first novel of three created by the deceased Stieg Larsson.  After doing a little research, I learned it deals primarily in Sweden and that a Swedish director has already created an film adaptation of all three novels.  I am not a big reader.  The only reading I had primarily done was for school work and the Harry Potter books.  Ironically I have a large book collection, which is primarily used to maintain my image as an intellectual hipster douche.  So when I reluctantly borrowed my sister’s edition of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,  I told myself, ‘no expectations of me finishing this book anytime soon, I have a heavy school load and luckily the Fincher’s adaptation doesn’t come till Christmas’.

I finished the 700 page book in one week.

If it weren’t for damned quizzes and homework, I likely could have finished in 3 days.  Hell, I even failed a Differential Equations quiz to read a couple more pages minutes before the quiz when I could’ve been studying.  What I opened up the day I started reading was a highly engaging tale of corruption, sexuality, and mystery.  With likable heroes as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, I continued to read the story which eventually explained to me why this series has sold millions all over the world.  I won’t tell you too much about the story because I recommend you read it yourself, but here’s the back cover summary.

Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago.  All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth.  He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate.  He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander.  Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

It doesn’t sound as engaging as I make it out to be, but Larsson is a skilled writer and conveying characters-Ah, I can’t write literally criticism.  I don’t know the right vernacular or where to begin, so let me tell you as someone who used to despise reading: READING IS GOOD.  As of late, I’ve been picking up new novels and the dust that was collecting on my large book collection is finally being cleaned.  And not to mention, Larsson has made me fall in love with his deliciously dark heroine, Lisbeth Salander.

There's something sexual about this picture...

It’s hard to explain how Larsson has made me fall in love with this girl.  It’s credit to his skill as a writer, but like I said I’m not a literally critic and would just make a fool of myself trying to explain in paragraphs which is probably a single literary vernacular.  Larsson describes his damaged, distant, and dark heroine as emitting a strange sexual energy, and I feel that energy every time I read a passage regarding Salander.  Anyways, creepy affection for a fictional character aside, I look forward to Fincher’s adaptation of how Salander is to be portrayed [by the lovely Rooney Mara, star of Fincher’s The Social Network].

After I finished Tattoo, I proceeded to watch the Swedish adaptation.  Most of the time, I am annoyed by people who claim ‘the book was better than the movie’.  But in the case of the novel vs. the film, I have to jump on that boat.  Don’t get me wrong, the movie was very well done, and moments where I may not have cringed in the book were certainly more grotesque when on my TV screen [oh heavens Nils Bjurman…], but I wasn’t able to find my darling Lisbeth Salander as adorable as she was in the book as adorable in the movie.  Which is probably the biggest reason I say the book was better than the movie.  The movie does a great job encompassing the essence of the book, considering condensing a 700 pages into a two and half hours.

You might be wondering how I could possibly find this attractive. But I don't care.

Anywho, to sum things up, David Fincher is continually influencing my life, whether it be the messages from Fight Club, the philosophical thought from Se7en, the masterful storytelling in Benjamin Button, or my newfound love for books Tattoo has already inspired.  I imagine Tattoo will do just as well as his other movies.

Here’s the 4 minute trailer to the movie.

Now, back to The Girl Who Played with Fire