Cold Nights in Sweden Heat Up as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Comes to DVD

What I find about foreign films is that the directors tend to take their time in developing the characters and unfolding the story.  

The thing about watching foreign films is that you need to stick with them long enough to allow the story and the characters to work their slow magic on you. When this happens, you are captivated until the end. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is no exception. This Swedish film comes with an English soundtrack and subtitles. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a murder mystery that starts slow, allowing the viewer to get accustom to the climate, the story and characters. Within the first 20 minutes or so, the action, the heat, and drama pick up captivating the audience into this "Whodunit." The film stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist as an investigative team intent on solving a 40-year-old murder mystery. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is not rated but does contain violence, mature language, and sexual content.
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Movie Data

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Year:  2009

Staring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber 

Director: Niels Arden Oplev

Producer(s): Søren Stærmose

Writer: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, Stieg Larsson (Novel)

Rating: R

Running Time: 152 minutes

Release Date: 2/27/2009

I Saw the Devil Review

Revenge is for Movies (Contains spoilers)

V iolence, revenge, redemption, all three of these words came to mind when I screened "I Saw the Devil". Jee-woon Kim's diabolical thriller out does M. Night Shyamalan's "The Devil" easily, hands down. Are there devils in this film? I guarantee you that there are, and these are real. Choi Min-sik plays the evil Kyung-Chul, a serial killer that would give the BAU Team of "Criminal Minds" a run for their money. Byung-hun Lee plays the secret agent whose pregnant fiancée is brutally murdered in the first ten minutes of the film, and he seeks revenge. Unlike the Bronson or the Eastwood films of the 70's, I Saw the Devil is wicked, suspenseful, vicious, and most of all moral. For almost two hours of watching this story unfold in the most unusual and engaging way, subtitled in English, and violent to the core. Not rated, but take my word for it, this film is rated at least R.

The film starts out typically enough; it is a cold South Korean winter night. A young women, stuck in the mud and snow, waiting for a tow truck, is talking to her fiancée on the phone. A school bus approaches, a lone occupant, is within. The woman rolls down her window just a crack, and the guy, hooded, tells her that he can change her tire and get her out. Her fiancée, on the other end of the phone, singing love songs to her, cautions her to wait for the truck. Kim Soo-hyeon, Joo-yeon's soon to be husband, is well dressed in a nondescript suit, visible behind his ear is a wire leading to an ear-bud, in his left ear. He is either working for an equivalent to the US secret service, FBI, or CIA. Joo-yeon tells the helpful gentleman that she will wait. However, not taking her refusal, he breaks the window, and savagely beats the woman, in the head, shoulders, or anywhere he can. The rage that Choi Min-sik portrays makes Hannibal Lecter seem like your everyday Julia Childs. Beaten, naked, and bloody, the killer takes the young woman back to his lair and chains her up. At this point, the audience is hoping for a rape scene, or more beating. What happens instead would make the Marquis de Sade proud (I can't believe I just wrote that). Joo-yeon, pleading for her life, with what little life she has left, tells Kyung-Chul that she is pregnant. It doesn't matter; Kyung-Chul dismembers her. First are the hands, then the legs, and finally the head. The next scene displays how differently cultures handle homicides, in the United States we are used to seeing police barricading off a police scene from the press. Here, Jee-woon Kim shows us pure pandemonium; a crowd has gathered along the shore of a wash, running under a freeway bridge. The girl's father, Jang (Jeon Kuk-hwan), is there in what soon becomes a heart wrenching scene, as one of the searchers finds his daughter's head. Also, there in the distance is Soo-hyun, stands, and vows vengeance. Although vengeance is one of the main themes, Jee-woon Kim and writer Hoon-jung Park never forget their Confucius; "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." This theme lies just beneath the surface at all times, and Soo-hyun is almost constantly reminded of this fact throughout the film. 

Joo-yeon's father, a Detective on the police force for over 30 years, gives his almost future son in-law the case files. Taking off from being a secret agent for two weeks, Soo-hyun goes after the obvious suspects, ones that have already been investigated for similar crimes in the past. Like the psychotic Dark Knight - Batman, Soo-hyun takes out the first two suspects brutally and without prejudice. While checking out the third suspect, Soo-hyun stumbles upon Kyung-Chul's locked cabinet full of trophies. Purses, shoes, clothing of the women that Kyung-Chul has killed over the years, all found. In another room, Soo-hyun discovers the torture chamber where the woman he loved, died. In a drainage hole, Soo-hyun finds Joo-yeon's engagement ring. Canvasing the farm area behind the house, he comes across Kyung-Chul in the process of committing another rape and torture of a young schoolgirl. Before the girl is truly harmed, Soo-hyun and Kyung-Chul fight it out; in an action sequence that I can honestly say was as good as, if not better than a Jason Bourne battle. No documentary, shaky camera, no over acting that is typical of Asian films of the past, Soo-hyun triumphs over Kyung-Chul.

Like an R rated version of Shakespeare, the story doesn't end here. Instead of ending Kyung-Chul pathetic and evil life, Soo-hyun instead shoves a GPS tracker down the creature's throat, and breaks the man's wrist. Leaving evil alive, rather than ending the story here, director Jee-woon Kim wants us to question the morality of his protagonist, Soo-hyun. Giving his prey some money to live on with, Kyung-Chul hitches a ride on a taxi cab that for some reason is traveling the back roads outside of Seoul. The cab stops for him as he walks along the road in the dark. The driver is uncannily happy, and Kyung-Chul is prepared to take the unsuspecting cabbie. However, the cab driver reveals that there is another passenger in the cab, who, like the driver looks somewhat unnerving and suspicious. Kyung-Chul attacks both the driver and his passenger, with a knife hidden in his boot. Stabbing, anywhere and everywhere he can on both of the victims, careening out of control, the car smashing into a rail, and crashing into a ditch. Looking for supplies Kyung-Chul checks the trunk to discover that the two passengers are, in fact, killers themselves. Killers upon killers walk onto the stage in this film -- Jee-woon Kim has plenty of them, ready for your inspection. Another assault on a young nurse in a small-town doctor's office, and once again, Soo-hyun arrives, beats the killer, and saves the day. Like a blood hound, the tracking device keeping Soo-hyun on target, the punishment that he inflicts on Kyung-Chul turns more gruesome and less human. 

Once again, after catching his prey, the hunter returns the prey to hunt another day. Like a cat playing with a mouse, we question who the real devil in this movie is. Which character is truly evil; the killer or the hunter? 

Sinking deeper into depravity, Kyung-Chul seeks out some former comrades from his militant old days, and we discover that his big burley friend and his pretty lady friend are cannibals. The story progresses and with each capture and release Kyung-Chul takes a bigger beating and is released again into the world. The police are closing in on both Kyung-Chul and Soo-hyun and time is running out for the both of them. Kyung-Chul does not stop, each time he murders or beats someone to a bloody pulp, he does so with apathy, and utilizing anger as a motivation, you could see in the man's eyes that like a killer white shark that his soul is dead, and his moral compass is utterly broken. No remorse, no pity for his victims, he laughs and mocks them as they lay on the ground bleeding. Once the hunted and now the hunted Kyung-Chul reverses positions and takes control of the Soo-hyun's mind and soul, driving him even deeper into immorality and perdition.

The story of murder, revenge, duty, and justice is well thought out and not afraid to show the audience the truth of this kind of absolute evil. Like Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers of the 80's horror genre, I Saw the Devil embraces all of them in the character of Kyung-Chul. Credit must go to actor Min-sik Choi. His portrayal of a psychotic serial killer is dead on. His facial expressions portray a man whose only reason to live, is to kill. Portraying a man, beaten, battered, stabbed, broken, and humiliated, Min-sik Choi is creepier than Anthony Hopkins, discussing fava beans, a man's liver, and a fine Chianti. Byung-hun Lee's Soo-hyun character on the other hand goes through the film with almost expressionless grim determination. Only near the end when the stakes have risen beyond his control does he finally show emotion. Part of those emotions is for the horrors that he has committed in the name of justice. Other emotions that Byung-hun Lee portrays are because he realizes that he is losing his sanity and for the loss of his soul. Both actors play their parts with a sense of subtlety and sincerity that is both believable and scary. Unlike horror films made here in the West, the violence in not gratuitous, it is necessary to show the sheer lack of humanity that evil incarnate has for his random victims. I Saw the Devil also teaches us that not everything happens for a reason. Sometimes, these random acts of violence are, in fact, just that, random acts of violence. No rhyme, no reason, just death for those in Kyung-Chul's way. In making a rash promise to his dead beloved, Soo-hyun at that moment sells his soul to the Devil. In doing so he takes on many of the qualities of which he is sworn to fight and despise. The greatest evil in the world is to become what you hate, and Soo-hyun's soul now belongs to Kyung-Chul. 

Released on March 4, 2011, I Saw the Devil played in only selected cities throughout the world. Despite the violence and the subject matter, I liked I Saw the Devil as a film that reminds us that evil is not a supernatural entity, nor is it necessary that evil is portrayed in the traditional imagery of the cloven hoofed, horned, pan-like creature. Evil resides in all of us to a degree, and sometimes individuals like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Kyung-Chul are, in fact, Evil Incarnate.

"I Saw the Devil" came out to South Korean audiences on August 12, 2010. US audiences didn't see the film until the Sundance film festival in January of 2011. The US distributor, Magnet Releasing, allowed US viewers to see the film in selected theaters around the country.


Movie Data

Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller

Year:  2010

Staring:  Min-sik Choi, Byung-hun Lee, In-seo Kim 

Director: Kim Jee-woon

Producer(s): Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner

Writer: Hoon-jung Park 

Rating: R

Running Time: 98 minutes

Release Date: 8/12/2010

Originally published on Associated Content on  Apr 11, 2011 by Robert Barbere

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Sensual and Exotic

T he thing about watching foreign films is that you need to stick with them long enough to allow the story and the characters to work their slow magic on you.  When this happens, you are captivated until the end.  "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is no exception.  This Swedish film comes with an English soundtrack and subtitles.  "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a murder mystery that starts slow, allowing the viewer to get accustom to the climate, the story and characters.  Within the first 20 minutes or so, the action, the heat, and drama pick up captivating the audience into this Whodunit.  The film stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist as a investigative team intent on solving a 40 year-old murder mystery. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not rated but does contain violence, mature language and sexual content. 

The first thing when renting the DVD, is to check out the bonus material first and take a look at the Vanger family tree.  Checking out this material first will help in figuring out the complicated relations of the rich, greedy, and powerful Vanger family corporation. The story centers on Swedish journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), who is about to go to jail for libeling corporate magnate Hans-Erik Wennerström, in his magazines' article about the man. With his sources for the information gone, Blomkvist is set to turn himself in for some jail time. However, with a month remaining before he is incarcerated, Blomkvist takes on an assignment for  friend of his father's, the powerful Henrik Vanger to help him determine who killed his niece, Harriet Vanger in 1964.  Dirch Frode, lawyer for Vanger, has hired a troubled 24 year-old investigator and computer hacker to check out Blomkvist, and his troubles with the Hans-Erik Wennerström fiasco. The hacker is  Lisbeth Salander, a goth inspired, pierced, and tattoo woman living on the edge. While checking in and reporting on Blomkvist,  Although Lisbeth reports that Blomkvist is clean, she thinks there is something more to his story and that he may have been framed.  After about the first hour the Blomkvist and Lisbeth finally come together to investigate the death of Vanger's niece.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" runs 152 minutes (2.5 hours), giving plenty of time in the first hour to show Blomkvist, giving details about his issues with the libel affair, and the beginnings of the investigation of the Vanger family. Upon watching actor Michael Nyqvist, portray Blomkvist, one naturally thinks of James Bond and Daniel Craig. Although Nyqvist is older, he and Craig look and act similar.  As it turns out, Craig is scheduled to play Blomkvist in the American version of the film with David Fincher directing. Another immediate recognition is that Sven-Bertil Taube, the actor that plays Henrik Vanger looks a great deal like Max von Sydow. While the story around Blomkvist prior to them coming together is deliberate, Lisbeth's story is more tortured and violent.  Being under the supervision of a guardian, either probate or parole, I couldn't quite tell, the government informs her that her current one had a stroke.  Meeting with the new guardian Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson), Lisbeth realizes that Bjurman intends to extort her for sex.  The scenes are blatant and horrific, however, one finds that Lisbeth not only can take it, she can dish it out. When the middle-aged journalist, and the vivacious cyber-punk join forces to figure out the murder, not only are the scenes deliberate and suspenseful.  Director Niels Arden Oplev, does a good job with this lengthy adaptation of Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson, and tell a captivating story. with compelling characters. Working his way through the maze of possible suspects in the Vanger family, the suspense builds as you run your own theories in your head.  Watching 31 year-old actress Noomi Rapace play the title character, Lisbeth Salander, you begin to wonder when director Oplev is going to let us have a peek at that tattoo, and how? 

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is only the first in of a series of films that star both Rapace and Nyqvist, however, the two succeeding films are directed by others.  Oplev must be commended on bringing excellent photography, good pacing, and an excellent score together to make another good Swedish film that Americans can like since 2008's "Let the Right One In."

Movie Data

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Year:  2009

Staring:  Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber 

Director: Niels Arden Oplev

Producer(s):  Søren Stærmose

Writer: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, Stieg Larsson (Novel)

Rating: R

Running Time: 152 minutes

Release Date: 2/29/2009
Originally published on Yahoo.Voices on 7/12/2010