So What? - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the problem with David Fincher

Fincher distinguishes himself from other similarly over-rated American directors in that he actually has talent, but appears to be afraid to use it, and for this reason, is more annoying than any of the others. The only way I could attempt to quantify my sniffiness to his films would be to do it individually in context with the newly released The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

All of his films are, to various degrees, macabre, including Tattoo, but macabre, an auteur does not make. Clearly, by the standard of ‘good’ film-making concerned with craft, Fincher has done well. Most of his films look exceptional and are edited sensibly, but not all. Se7en accentuates an already grim story with its grimy and rainy imagery, which seemed to work, whereas what he did with Fight Club seems to be like painting each frame with mud.

Se7en also builds up beautifully to a literally heart-pounding final sequence but, infuriatingly, Fight Club, Zodiac, Benjamin Button and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo suffer from too consistent pacing. I don’t necessarily have a problem with 3 hour films, but the pace can change so much that that time can fly by. I can feel myself being guided to each shot, I’m appreciating the cinematography with each frame, constantly wanting to be with the film because of its craft, but mostly ending up disappointed. I want to like these films but they do nothing for me.

Originally titled before the novel’s publication “Men Who Hate Women”, Dragon Tattoo’s core theme is of the deranged and despicable areas of real peoples’ personality. Somehow the same paradigm that worked so well in Se7en results in a completely different film, and not in a good way. Tattoo is a grinding, depressing film that leaves one with neither a glimmer of hope nor a sense of forboding. It’s not really my fault that the film was without any cinematic pleasure for most of the nearly 3-hour running time but I still felt like apologising to my girlfriend for putting her through it. Much like Fight Club, the film is a chore and without humanity. The subject matter is dark, but the way it is presented only seems to dwell on it.

There are two rather graphic rape scenes. I have seen worse but there doesn’t seem to be any kind of respite. The content is not especially objectible, but the way it is presented is toe-curling. It’s also incredibly violent. It is appropriate, I guess, but appropriate doesn’t necessarily equate to enjoyable.

Rooney Mara seems to embody the character of Lisbeth Salander, and is someone that we actually empathise with in contrast to the horrific events of the present and past. Daniel Craig is perfectly fine as Mikael Blomkvist, the controversial journalist out to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl. They are both cold characters, and whilst they both spark whilst they are together, the working out of the case doesn’t amount to very much emotional satisfaction.

The movie is another ‘so what?’

The film which draws best comparison with Dragon Tattoo, and Fincher’s best work, Se7en can be most characterized by the word ‘black’. It depicts the detective team of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, on the hunt for a serial killer who personalises his killings with the seven mortal sins. Both films try their best to accurately portray the darkest areas of life one would rather not think about. Se7en, even after showing us the horrific corpses of the victims, goes as far to induce the audience to consider that the killer actually has a point. Pitt’s frustration at Spacey’s cold, mocking treatise on his philosophy is quite real and perhaps reflects the audience’s feelings.

On the contrary, this sense of human disconnection seemed to work well with The Social Network, where the continuing lack of empathy was kind of the point. The rest of Fincher’s repertoire I wouldn’t want to watch more than once unless I had to. I feel challenged and attacked by the film, as if Fincher wants me to feel as horrible and depressed as possible. Is this the feeling I’m supposed to have at the cinema? This is not including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which is so strange I can’t really categorise it. However, it has the same problem in that the film carries itself along without really asserting itself, by the end, again, I feel like screaming ‘so what?’.

Finally, Alien 3 is a bit of an enigma. It is pretty much a mediocre film, no controversy there, but I will watch it every few years til the day I die. I keep rolling it over and over in my head: how exactly did they screw up the Alien franchise? The reason the film isn’t quite the train-wreck people make out is because Fincher seems to respect the original Alien’s knack for suspense, the mythology of the Xenomorph creature and Ripley’s character. Conversely, the film has little to no respect for anything that happened in Aliens. By the end, the film is a disappointment. So what? So what David? (actually the original idea for Alien 3 involved monks who lived in a wooden space station/moon and saw the Xenomorph as a demon, but it was in fact the studio who changed the setting to a prison where the prisoners saw Ripley as a sex object. This is stupid and pandering which fell back on their faces).

The key question though is: so what? David Fincher doesn’t seem to make films about ideas, he seems to make films about the extremes of humanity, as forcefully as possible. His main aim seems to be to be a reactionary, but happens to be really skilled with it. For now I won’t be able to embrace him. As I keep saying whenever I see a Fincher: I’m still waiting for that masterpiece.