Review: Rooney Mara is All Woman in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Running time: 158 minutes (2 hours, 38 minutes)
MPAA - R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
WRITER: Steven Zaillian (based upon the novel, Man som hatar kvinnor, by Stieg Larsson)
PRODUCERS: Cean Chaffin, Scott Rudin, Soren Staermose, and Ole Sondberg
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cronenweth
EDITORS: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
COMPOSERS: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson, Geraldine James, Goran Visnjic, Donald Sumpter, Ulf Friberg, Julian Sands, and David Dencik

The subject of this movie review is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a 2011 American thriller and murder mystery from director David Fincher. The film is based upon the late author Stieg Larsson's 2005 novel, Man som hatar kvinnor (translates to "Men who hate women"). The novel is best known by the title used for its English-language release, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was previously adapted into a 2009 Swedish film.

The film opens with Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), the co-owner of Millennium magazine, losing a libel case. He doesn't know that a brilliant, but troubled computer hacker and researcher named Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) has just compiled an extensive background check on him for Swedish business magnate Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Vanger wants Blomkvist to solve the apparent murder of his niece, Harriet Vanger, 40 years ago. There is a common thread that eventually brings Mikael and Lisbeth together, when she becomes his assistant. Are their talents enough to solve what seems to be a series of murders of young women over a 20-year period, including the time when Harriet disappeared?

I saw the American film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo about two weeks after I saw the 2009 Swedish version, so I could not help but compare the two. I prefer the Swedish film, and I have to admit that there were things in the Swedish version that were not in the American version, and I missed them. I think the American film pales a little in comparison to it. Why?

The American film's casting is inferior. Daniel Craig is too rough and craggy-looking to play the introspective Mikael Blomkvist, and Christopher Plummer, fine actor that he is, seems out of place as Henrik Vanger. That the overrated, anorexic-like Ellen Page was once considered as the choice to play Lisbeth Salander makes me realize that I'm luck the filmmakers got one bit of casting dead right. That is casting Rooney Mara as Lisbeth.

The premise of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is simply great. The subplots are also exciting and appealing, and the words to describe how good the characters are fail me. Give David Fincher this kind of material and he'll give us an exceptional movie, which he does in spite of my complaints. Still, everything turns on Lisbeth Salander.

That is why I give a lot of the credit for this movie's quality to Rooney Mara's performance as Lisbeth. Following Noomi Rapace's mesmerizing turn in the Swedish version is not a job for the squeamish or the overrated. Mara's Lisbeth has a spry sense of humor and sparkling wit. She is both feral and vulnerable, and she seems chaste while also being capable of being quite the seductress. Her intelligence and willingness to get physical with opponents makes Lisbeth often seem like a superhero.

Fincher makes Mara the focus of the story, and sometimes his attention to details about Lisbeth seems lurid. However, the script has holes and some of the other actors aren't up to snuff, so Fincher rightly builds the success of this film on Rooney Mara1s solid foundation. In Mara, the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has a dragon of an actress, indeed.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2012 Academy Awards: 1 win: "Best Achievement in Film Editing" (Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter); 4 nominations: "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role" (Rooney Mara), "Best Achievement in Cinematography" (Jeff Cronenweth), "Best Achievement in Sound Editing" (Ren Klyce), and "Best Achievement in Sound Mixing" (David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson)

2012 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: "Best Cinematography" (Jeff Cronenweth) and "Best Original Music" (Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor)

2012 Golden Globes, USA: 2 nominations: "Best Original Score - Motion Picture" (Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor) and "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama" (Rooney Mara)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

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Meryl Streep Wins Best Actress Oscar for "The Iron Lady"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

WINNER - Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Nominees:
Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis for The Help
Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn

2012 Academy Award Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nominees:

Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (2011)

Viola Davis for The Help (2011)

Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)

Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (2011)

Review: "The Social Network" All-American and All-World

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Social Network (2010)
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
WRITERS: Aaron Sorkin (based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich)
PRODUCERS: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cronenweth
EDITORS: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
COMPOSER: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

DRAMA

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Justin Timberlake, Max Minghella, Rashida Jones, Joseph Mazzello, Brenda Song, Josh Pence, and Rooney Mara

The Social Network is perhaps the most critically acclaimed film of 2010, having won close to 20 best picture honors from critics groups and organizations. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network is a fictional account and dramatization of the founding of Facebook, the hugely popular social-networking website.

The film begins on a fall night in 2003, when Boston University student, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), breaks up with Harvard undergrad, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). A computer programming genius, Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and lashes out in a flurry of blogging and programming that launches “FaceMash.” Zuckerberg’s new website not only captures the attention of the entire Harvard campus, but also gets the attention of a trio of budding entrepreneurs. That night, in his dorm room after the breakup, leads to what will become “The Facebook” which will eventually become the global social network, Facebook. This revolution in communication, however, brings Zuckerberg both success and a horde of broken friendships, partnerships, and lawsuits.

The Social Network is about several things. It is about Mark Zuckerberg, about the founding of Facebook, about a clash of privileged and ambitious personalities, and about perception and point of view. Most of all, The Social Network seems to be about the beginnings of a map to the future. The triumph of Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is how he compressed all of this and dramatized in two hours what was probably dull and tedious in real life – including Zuckerberg’s legal wrangling. Sorkin makes nerds come across as sexy masters of the universe. Slimy bastards (like Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker) seem like rock stars. Parties are shinier, and Harvard’s campus is like a hub, the nexus where all exciting places meet.

And the performances meet and match Sorkin’s exceptional screenplay. Jesse Eisenberg has made a career of playing likeable, amiable dweebs, but as Mark Zuckerberg, he turns that on its head with this outstanding, sublime performance. Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg is like a god, a genius whose indomitable spirit smolders behind a mask of petulance, detachment, and a pout. Zuckerberg should be so Garbo-cool.

I’ve thought for a long time that Justin Timberlake had the dramatic chops to pull off good roles; now, I have proof. Timberlake makes Sean Parker (founder of Napster) cool and attractive, the guy you’d want in your corner, and you’d still forgive his cocaine habit and general sliminess. Andrew Garfield almost steals the film as Eduardo Saverin, a character who is the only adult in the room (which makes him a tragic fall guy). Armie Hammer makes the most of his every moment as the twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (with actor Josh Pence doing body double duties) by giving each brother a separate, distinct personality.

The one who pulls it all together and makes The Social Network arguable the best film of 2010 is director David Fincher. The phrase, “visionary director,” gets thrown around a lot about talented hack directors (like Zack Snyder), but since Fincher’s mid-90s film, Se7en, it has been obvious that he is a true visionary. Fincher makes The Social Network operate like a suspense thriller; that’s why Sorkin’s tale of conniving nerds is never boring and always gripping. Here, computers, programming codes, and the Internet are like shiny guns, weapons that make these nerds seem like crazy, sexy, cool gangstas.

The Social Network is compelling drama – mesmerizing, hypnotic, and engaging. Everything about it works, and everyone involved should get credit for their great efforts, especially David Fincher.

10 of 10

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

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New "Nightmare on Elm Street" Scary for Real

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language
DIRECTOR: Samuel Bayer
WRITERS: Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer; from a story by Wesley Strick (based on the story and characters created by Wes Craven)
PRODUCERS: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Bradley Fuller
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cutter (director of photography)
EDITOR: Glen Scantlebury

HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, and Clancy Brown

The new film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, is, of course, a remake of the 1984 horror classic of the same title. While people unfamiliar with the original can certainly enjoy this film (and will), I think that it is better if you have seen the original because you can better appreciate the new ideas. The 2010 return to Elm Street is less a remake than it is a re-imagining or retelling of a beloved ghost story in a way that adds fresh fear to boogeyman.

After the peculiar death of a classmate, a group of teenagers in suburban (and fictional), Springwood, Ohio, discover that they have more in common than they ever imagined. First, a horribly disfigured killer is hunting the teens in their dreams. Secondly, he may a mysterious man named Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley), a dark figure from a shared past they didn’t even know they had. When one of them, Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara), discovers that she is of particular interest to Freddy, she joins forces with the smart kid, Quentin Smith (Kyle Gallner), to stop Freddy before he kills them all.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 could have dutifully grinded out the usual thrills of a routine horror movie – people jumping from around corners, monsters suddenly sliding into view from outside the picture frame, pets knocking down knick-knacks to make sounds that chill the blood, etc. This new Nightmare is more thoughtful, and the familiar scare tactics have a delightfully, chilling new edge to them. That’s not just because CGI can exploit the landscape of dreams and nightmares and do things that writer/director Wes Craven could not have done in the original film.

As the new Freddy, Academy Award-nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) is so malevolent and menacing as Krueger that he actually seems to embody the remorseless killer. Haley is able to do something that the original Freddy, Robert Englund, was probably not allowed to do – make it obvious that Freddy has a hard-on for murder and a taste for slashing up mommy and daddy’s pride and joy. Freddy’s murderous impulses aren’t just about revenge; they’re also about perversion.

This movie feels like everyone involved – the filmmakers, the creative crew, and the cast – really wanted to make a good film. Director Samuel Bayer (who directed the music video for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” among many others) explores the range of color, sound, design, movement, staging, etc. and creates a scary moving picture that is genuine unsettling. Bayer’s A Nightmare on Elm Street is like a bad dream that you want to leave because you know that there is absolutely going to be some screwed up stuff happening. If a director wants to get fans off his back about remaking a beloved horror flick, this is the way to do it; give them a brutal bonbon like this new Nightmare.

Bayer had a good script from which to work. Writers Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer bring more dark magic to Freddy Krueger, presenting new ideas about how Freddy can stalk and kill even when his victims are not sleeping.

Ultimately, what really sells this movie is the young cast playing the teens. Maybe no one told them that the Screen Actors Guild is unlikely to hand out an “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” nomination (let alone a win) to the cast of a horror movie. As an ensemble, however, I believe they were as earnest and as hard working for Bayer as they would be for Martin Scorsese. This is the art of the convincing performance.

I wouldn’t put A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 next to an outright horror masterpiece like The Exorcist, but this suspenseful, blood-freezing treat is the real deal in horror flicks.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, May 02, 2010