My son and I went back downtown for our last couple of movies, to see the line for GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO going down state st., wrapping around 2 corners to the parking ramp entrances. Wild. The house was completely packed, which was great. We ended up with a couple of really good seats, both in terms of view, and the fact that the row of elderly women in front of us were all playing games on their iphones.
There were so many people going to the bathroom downstairs that the women were lining up in the men’s bathroom to go. Many dudes confused. Many thanks for urinals.
The crowd was huge, buzzing and completely electric. Totally a blast….1000+ people watching a film, totally into it…completely intoxicating.
GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
I had been hearing a lot of buzz leading up to this movie, so we were pretty excited to be at the screening. I was a little unsure as to whether or not I should be at something else, like RE-CUT, screening at the same time, since this was a little more high profile, and will be easier to see…by the end I was not disappointed in the least.
The film revolves around a really compelling female protagonist – Lisbeth Salandar – a mid 20s computer whiz who is a professional hacker, making her living investigation clients for a security firm. She ends up contacting an investigative reporter whom she had been following, and gets involved in a 40 year old disappearance of a niece of a member of a very powerful family. This investigation is the driving plot, but there a many threads interwoven in a very compelling mystery and character study.
Lisbeth has a lot of emotional baggage, and demons to go along with it, but she is never portrayed as victim. She is strong while damaged, likeable but cold…and really fascinating. I found myself really drawn to her more than anything. The cold Swedish landscape is gorgeous, and really gives an added isolation to the proceedings as well as a metaphor for a lot of the emotional detachment that runs throughout.
The story evolves over the course of the runtime in a very organic and exciting way, and I really enjoyed it. The film is brutal and violent at times. There are themes and scenes of abuse and rape, that are hard to sit through. None of it felt as exploitative to me, though. One character does some despicable things, and later suffers a “revenge moment”. The audience cheered. It was pretty funny. The other great audience moment that occurred was during a quiet tense scene of a character investigating a house at night, when someone moves past the camera, pretty classic jump moment (Lewton bus)…and ONE solitary woman screamed. The crowd erupted in laughter. Pretty fantastic.
–From there my son and I hiked toward the Cinematheque for our last feature INTO THE PIT, but were starving and needed food. We ended up getting wraps from FAT SANDWICH, which we inhaled on the walk to Vilas Hall. Most unsatisfying meal of the week…but hey I wasn’t hungry any more.
INTO THE PIT
This is a documentary made by a couple of local filmmakers, about a couple of guys in Kentucky, Aaron and Wes, who produce an internet radio horror show, for deadpit.com. We basically meet these guys, kinda follow them around their town, and watch their relationship, how they work their show, why they do it, etc. We meet their families, and hear them talk about their childhood’s, how horror helped shape them growing up.
Basically, it’s about 2 guys with a passion and what they do with it. How they make it meaningful for them. It was really well done and a nice watch. I was probably drawn in instantly due to my own passion for horror, and a lot of their stories about watching these movies as teens, trolling mom and pop video stores, really triggered memories for me. This was a really cool story. Earthshattering? Hardhitting? No. Completely enjoyable? Yup.
The Q&A helped to put a lot of things into context that weren’t in the film, like how they fit into the internet horror scene, etc., which was really a great addition from the filmmakers.
Can’t lie…it was hard to stay awake at 1am at that point after 4 movies…but glad I did.
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