"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

The Loft is Tucson's cine' arts theatre. This is where we go to see the new , the unusual and extreme. These are movies that will not come to the local or mainstream cinemas.The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one such movie. Based on the first in the trilogy of novels by Swedish writer Stiegg Larsson, this movie is an engrossing but violent mystery.

Friends said "loved the book but wouldn't see the film. Hated the book and wouldn't see the movie:". I did not read the book, although it is on my bookshelf, but was brave enough to see the movie. It is, indeed, very violent. But is a good movie. Set in the cold of Sweden it tells the story of a mystery involving the disappearance of Harriet, a member of an influential business family of Sweden. The Swedish cast is excellent, as is the script and direction.

In Swedish with English subtitles. 3 and 1/2 stars. Caution would be the violence; necessary to the story but difficult to watch.