The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Mar 21

Mar 28

Mar 14

Mar 14

Courtesy of Music Box Films
Sweden • 2009 • in Swedish w/ English Subtitles • 152 min • Not Rated

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger’s are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Author Stieg Larsson, who died suddenly in 2004, left behind three unpublished novels, known as the "Millennium" trilogy, which have become a global sensation, elevating Larsson to the world's second best-selling author last year (behind "The Kite Runner"'s Khaled Hosseini). "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is one of the decade's major literary success stories, selling over 8,000,000 copies worldwide and the film adaptation is the highest grossing Swedish film in history and 2009's highest-grossing film in Europe.

Club reactions by city:

moderated by Matthew Bernstein

Excellent. Fast paced, well acted, time flew by--there will be some who say it was too violent, but the film was showing the dark side of some people--murderers live among us, but we can't see them because they wear the mask of a normal human being.

Fantastic film! The mutliple layers--mystery, thriller, romance, family drama, and more--left me wanting to see/read more.

A solid unnerving thriller. A sort of Swedish take on SE7EN. Well-paced and thoroughly entertaining, even if it plays close to conventions.

moderated by Mike Budd
with guest Lynn Appleton

Best movie of the season. Just as good as the book.

Just what a movie should be: taut, suspenseful, complex, adult. Finally a thinking-woman's heroine: tough, smart, interesting.

Difficult movie with violent scenes almost unbearable, but a good story and a decent adaptation of the book.

moderated by Michael Kerbel

One of the best dark movies I have seen in years. Fantastic adaptation of the book…Numerous plots intertwined. Love it!

Another movie I'd never have seen without the club. In spite of the rape scene, which I ducked, it was excellent. Can't believe I'm saying this.

Perfection on many levels. Hitchcock montage and sound track. Textbook Jungian analysis is the underlying structure.

moderated by Peter Brunette

Not since Sophie's Choice have I been so happy with the movie version of a book that I cherish. And yes, I've read all 3 books.

What movies should be… on the edge of your seat, riveting, excellent acting and writing, a tour-de-force in every way.

Excellent, disturbing, triumphant!