I wanted to love the film of
The Girl who Played with Fire (in Swedish with subtitles) but maybe I wasn't in the mood, maybe it tried to encompass too much of the plot, maybe there were too many characters, maybe the book was just so long and intricate that inevitably much of the sutbtleties were lost on screen. I worked out which character was who and why they were doing what they did, but I'm not sure anyone who hadn't read the books would have had a clue what was going on. One of the many things I liked about the novels was the detail about Salander hacking blithely into everyone's computers, but that was glossed over somewhat in the film. I did think that Noomi was good, a fascinating face, the other actors were fine, but there wasn't much time for character development and somehow Salander's concern for the trafficked girls was also missing. It will be interesting to see what Hollywood makes of it all - even more subtleties lost, I suspect, while concentrating on violence'n'sex and Volvo car chases.
Had a problem finding the film in the first place as I thought m'computer said it was on in Basingstoke but I'd failed to notice that my 'favourite Vue cinema' had mysteriously changed itself to Fulham Road, London, so we had a wasted trip and tour of B'stoke multi-storey car park (an experience in itself, maybe they should set a film there.) So next evening we tried Winchester, lovely cinema, but roads mysteriously closed on the way home due to night road works and hence long detours. Maybe that's what made me feel so jaded. Can't stand people who tailgate along country roads in the dark - could have been that tall blond Swedish pyschopath after us.
In contrast, earlier last week I was cheered by the interesting Swedish background of
Christina Courtenay's historical romance
Trade Winds, with a suitably sexy and swashbuckling Scottish hero and sympathetic unusual heroine. Well-researched and a good read - I wish her and her publisher Choc Lit every success.
3 comments:
Oh boy what an evening, Basingstoke is a ghastly place no character, so that set you off on the wrong foot for the evening. Dare I admit that we have all three vols here sitting on our bookshelves waiting to be read, we seem to avoid over hyped books for ages, but maybe should get on with them, now the film is out!
Actually, LLM, Basingstoke is quite OK when you know it. It has two museums, two theatres, two multi-plex cinemas and good middle range shops. It's just the multi storey car park that's excessively complicated. I think they ought to set driving tests in multi storeys actually.
I did not mean it lacked facilities just character in certain areas:)
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