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20 I Tuesday, August 24,2010
BOOK REVIEW
‘The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo’
Reviewed by Sky Friedlander
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
In “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg
Larsson, Mikael Blomkvist is asked by aging
industrialist Henrik Vanger to live for one year in
a remote spot in the
Swedish countryside to
solve a decades-old mystery.
That’s about how long it
feels like it takes to read.
Fbr real.
For a mystery-thriller, it
doesn’t hold attention well.
It rounds out at 590 pages
(not including the excerpt
from Larsson’s next book),
and only about two hundred
of those can hold the read-
er’s interest.
Blomkvist is a journalist, and at the beginning
of the book he is found guilty of libel and spends a
short time in jail. If only that was the end of that
plot but no, Blomkvist refuses to call it quits
and launches an attack against the same man he
libeled in the first place.
The novel ends with this plot, and it’s a real
shame. It’s by far the dullest portion of the book,
and it almost erases the good parts.
The good stuff is the plot with Vanger. The
mystery Blomkvist is commissioned to solve con
cerns the disappearance of Vanger’s beloved
grand-niece, Harriet, who many believe.
In finding the truth about Harriet, Blomkvist is
joined by Lisbeth Salander (the girl with the
dragon tattoo). Salander was by far the best char
acter. At one point she is described as “a taciturn
girl with hostile vibrations.”
That being said, even the mystery drags at
points. It’s simply too long. The Vanger family is
a complicated web that is hard to keep track of.
Plus, the novel is just too wordy. There was one
passage where Larsson describes the contents of
a little cabin, down to the type and year of the
magazines inside.
It’s kind of hard to characterize a book like this,
with long boring parts that I just wanted to skip,
but also with parts so gripping I couldn’t stop
reading. And then there were the gruesome
parts that made me gasp out loud.
I know, I know this book is super popular
(it’s the No. 1 trade paperback book on the New
York Times bestseller list), with a Swedish movie
based on the book already out (a pretty good one,
too, by the way). And I see why. There is a good
mystery buried in here between all the boring
stuff, the reader just has to wade through it.
Grade: C+
To e-mail reporter: safsl4B@psu.edu
MOVIE REVIEW
‘Mother and Child’
Reviewed by Lauren Ingeno
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Finally, a movie has arrived that portrays
women neither as witches nor saints, but as real
people.
In director Rodrigo
Garcia’s newest film,
“Mother and Child,” the
emotions and actions of
three women, the main
characters, are so intense
and so heartbreaking that
you can’t help but be
bumped around on the
emotional ride.
The film portrays the
lives of three women who
are each grappling with
issues of motherhood. The
story centers around Karen (Annette Bening),
who had her daughter when she was 14 and gave
her up for adoption. Now a middle-aged woman,
who never married or had any other children,
Karen works at a rehabilitation center in Los
Angeles. She spends most of her time taking care
of her elderly mother Nora (Eileen Ryan). Karen
is scarred by the thought of her unknown daugh
ter to whom she writes unsent letters. The film
then cuts to her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi
Watts), who is now 37 and interviewing for a job
at a law firm, also in LA. It is undeniable that the
two characters are related both determined
not to bare emotions to strangers, both cold and
smart.
“I’m a difficult person,” Karen admits to her
male coworker when he tries to break her shell.
Difficult may be an understatement, as Karen
often blows small situations out of proportion.
But Bening is such an incredible actress that is
impossible not to sympathize with her character,
haunted by the daughter she gave up.
Watts may be an even colder and more com
pelling character. She is powerful and knows
exactly what she wants.
In a scene where Watts is making love to her
new boss, she gives a performance so compelling
it is hard to not feel a little voyeuristic and not
a single article of clothing is removed from either
actor.
The third story receives significantly less air
time than the other two, but it is just as interest
ing. Lucy (Kerry Washington) is a wife going
through the stressful and often agonizing process
of trying to adopt a child. While she seems
insignificant at the beginning of the film, she is
more dynamic and interesting by the end of the
film. The three women’s stories intertwine beau
tifully, in twists of fate and tragedy. By the end of
the movie come quiet tears and a breath of hope
fulness.
The director and actresses achieve have made
a film in which the audience feels so intimately
connected to these women and their stories that
the film will stay burned in audience’s minds for
a long while.
Grade: A
To email reporter: ImlsolB@psu.edu
i
I
Film strays
Reviewed by Hannah Rishel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Adapting books to film is
always a challenge.
On occasion, the movie
usurps the book’s fame,
such as “Gone with the
Wind” or “The Godfather”
—but more often than not,
the film falls flat compared
to its written word.
Such is the case with
“Eat, Pray, Love,” based on
the 2006 memoir by
Elizabeth Gilbert. ‘
The story follows Liz
Gilbert (Julia Roberts) as
she visits Italy, India and
the Indonesian island of
Bali to get away from her
difficult relationships with
her ex-husband (Billy
Crudup) and romantic
interest David (James
Franco), a younger man
with whom Liz had a fling.
ovie plot trite,
Lauren Ingeno
“B%
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ire recent
and
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heighten her spirituality.
In Bali, she begins teach
ing English to a medicine
man named Ketut (Hadi
Subiyanto), and in return he
teaches her everything he
knows about living a bal-
anced life.
While in Bali she meets
the charming, albeit sappy,
Felipe (Javier Bardem) and
must figure out how to fac
tor romance into her life
without losing her identity,
as she did with her ex-hus
band and David.
While Roberts retains her
“America’s sweetheart”
appeal, the real star of the
movie is the scenery. The
ruins of Rome, slums of
India and lush landscapes
of Bali steal every
scene and often
overshadow the actors. But
beautiful scenery—which
SWITCHING IT UP
went to go see “The
Switch,” a movie that
turned out almost how I
expected it to: not com
pletely awful, yet forget
table.
In the
movie, New
Yorker Kassie
(Jennifer
Aniston) is a
30-something
singlewho
wants to get
pregnant She
decides on a
whim to give
up searching
for a husband
and get preg
nant with a donor’s sperm,
though she manages to
hunt best friend Wally’s
(Jason Bateman) feelings
when she turns down his
offer for donation, also call
ing him un-dateable.
Instead, Kassie decides to
use the sperm of Roland
OPatrickWilson), a good
looking, married stranger.
During Kassie’s insemi
(do these
to have
obses
—with
than
ire
differ-
own
tile
aoatofthe
, (conveniently
_ right on the bath
mom counter) and replaces
itwithhisown.
from
Channel —does not a good
movie make.
This isn’t Roberts’ fault,
nor does the blame belong
to director Ryan Murphy,
the creator of “Glee.” The
original memoir dealt with
Liz’s feelings and spirituali
ty, which are intangible
things that are often hard to
depict on film. The audience
sees Roberts smile, cry and
meditate, but it all leaves
the viewer wondering if that
translates to inner peace
and balance in her life.
But spiritual journeys are
often riddled with potholes.
In the book, where Gilbert
could explain her feelings, it
felt more realistic but in
the movie it seems like Liz
just falls into inner peace
after only failing a handful
of times.
Even “Richard from
Texas” (Richard Jenkins),
whom Liz meets at the
ashram in India, doesn’t
help much. His past is tragi
cally altered from the book
to make things more dra
matic, though he still
“speaks in bumper stickers”
to Liz.
As he did in the memoir,
Richard tells Liz she has
“the power to love the
whole world” if she stops
obsessing about David. It’s
a very moving part of the
book. In the movie it comes
off as cheesy.
During her trip to Italy,
sitting around a table piled
with Italian food, Liz tells
her new friends the word
that describes her is
“writer.” But in the film the
only writing she does
involves e-mails home to
David and her friends. An
Flash forward eight years
to when the movie fmaQy
picks up. Kassie, who since
moved with her son to
Minnesota, is coming back
to New \brk.
When Wally
meets Kassie’s
son Sebastian
(Thomas
between,
andthechM
Eventually;"
figures out
Sebastian is bis.
Despite his
unforgivable
actions, Kassie finally
decides sht
be with hei
friend—thi
happily ever
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The Daily Collegian
article she’s writing and a
book she is publishing are
mentioned merely in pass
ing and never touched upon
again.
The memoir is not men
tioned at all in the movie. In
the beginning of the film,
during Liz’s first visit to
Bali, Ketut tells her that she
will lose all her money, but
then get it back.
The movie touches upon
her losing her money in her
divorce, but does not men
tion the book Gilbert prom
ised to her publisher upon
the return of her trip that
became “Eat, Pray, Love.”
It was this book deal that
allowed Gilbert to take her
trip in the first place, so it
seems odd that it was left
out of the film. The movie
makes it appear that Gilbert
has endless funds to take
this world-round journey.
While “Eat, Pray, Love” is
beautifully filmed, the story
is probably best left on the
page.
Grade: B-
Robinson), be
starts noticing
similarities '
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To e-mail reporter:
hmrso27@psu.edu