The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the first season of Homeland finish up one year of filmcaps on this blog, while also being the last one. From now on, you will only blog posts for individual films because that seems like a much easier format. Also, I am now only one month behind on posts, which is actually something I can live with. Here's to 2012.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, USA, 2011): I have not read Stieg Larsson's books, but I have seen the Swedish adaptation of the first book, and having seen the new American one as well, it seems that the biggest obstacle for any adaptation of the book is the book itself. That is assuming the filmmakers want to stick to the source material. Comparing the Swedish and American versions, the story doesn't seem to have changed much at all, but I think Fincher should have done so. The story, the dialogue, the structure of the film all have their fair share of issues. The movie has a too-long beginning, and a too-long ending, the dialogue frequently only expository. The character of Lisbeth Salander is the best quality of the original Swedish film and this one (though I prefer Noomi Rapace's performance a bit more than Rooney Mara's). Salander's story before she gets involved with the investigation of the Vanger family kept my attention, but when she joins the investigation, her unique personality didn't seem to affect much of the proceedings at all.
The reason this film has any redeeming qualities is purely because of Fincher's trademark detail-oriented directing. He gives the film a look that highlights the cold Swedish setting (even though everyone speaks English for some reason), and the ins and outs of the meticulous investigative process that is eventually more interesting than the resolution of the mystery itself. The tone is detached and there is little to none emotion that is implied by the great music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a wonderful work of pure craftsmanship, but the movie never seems to get past the problem it has telling its story. The themes of the movie are hinted at in the opening credits, but they're never explored all that well mostly due to the fact that Fincher always has to go back to continue telling the story, and the movie is already two-and-a-half hours as it is. In 20-30 years when Fincher's status one of the great American directors of the early 21st Century is cemented, I predict that when critics and fans talk about Fincher's Dragon Tattoo, they'll describe it as one that is for Fincher completists only.
Grade: B-
Homeland: Season One (Alex Gansa & Howard Gordon, USA, 2011): It's been said many times before, but this show really is a more cerebral, smarter, and realistic version of FOX's 24. Now if you haven't seen 24, what that means is that Homeland is a show that has patience in its story, and is willing to examine multiple sides of a fairly high concept political plot while focusing on real and flawed characters. In the first episode we are introduced to the main concept of the show, which is that a prisoner of war was just found alive in Iraq after being held captive for eight years. A CIA agent who got word much earlier that an American soldier had been turned now begins to suspect this man, Nick Brody, as a terror suspect who has been released by a terror cell to inflict damage in America. This is a plot of a standard political thriller, but this show takes that story and turns all the mystery and questions onto the characters, and it provides a splendid twisty plot in the process.
The most brilliant aspect of this show is certainly the CIA agent played by Claire Daines. Carrie Matheson is a CIA agent who loves her job too much but is also very good at it. What makes her unique though is that she is slightly unhinged, and the word "slightly" is very important there, because she's not a crazy mad woman (though we do see a bit of that), instead she is just slightly crazy and so she is able to continue working but that mental disorder enters her life in increments and affects everything in increments. Claire Danes puts in one of the best performances on television, man or woman, especially in the later episodes when her condition starts to reveal itself more. Her character goes against much of what constitutes normal (or Jack Bauer) hero characteristics and arc.
Her unique condition also creates a great dichotomy and relationship with Brody. Brody's post-traumatic stress and challenges in adapting to a new life are extremely well realized. The show spends a lot of time on Brody's challenges and by the end of the shows run, the show becomes a two character show about two people who are recovering from work-induced stress and must complete their work under that stress. The relationship that develops between them is one that is immensely complicated due to the fact that one or both of them may be using each other, and also both of them are unhinged, so figuring out how much of the emotion between them is real is very hard to decipher. Any problems I have with this show stem from the terrorist plot, everything about the characters on this show is amazingly well done. Characters are always the hardest to master, but Homeland has done a great job. Many have been wary of a second season considering the high expectations set by this season, but I have faith because of the great character work these writers and actors have done. I don't think this is a show that can last for many many seasons, but I'm definitely interested in where it goes from here.
Grade: A-
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