The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

In the Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Music Box Films), the character of Lisbeth Salander (the eponymous Girl, played by Noomi Rapace) brings her own beguiling sense of open mystery to a plot already brimming with unanswered questions, unsolved murders and family secrets. Anywhere else, this would probably annoy or tease, but this expertly handled film is a brilliant exception, as is Rapace. From one scene to the next, she is able to exude the boyish don't-fuck-with-me toughness of a biker dyke followed by the tender-if not exactly feminine-vulnerability of someone who's been seriously victimized. And even though we don't see the whole picture of who this person is (we may never be allowed to get that vantage point), we are somehow completely enthralled nonetheless.

The film's storyline-a journalist wrongfully accused of libel investigates the disappearance of a young woman from a powerful family 40 years ago-unfolds with a similar sense of patience and moderation that is often missing in American film. This confident adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson's wildly successful novel takes such a fresh and thrilling stab at mystery and intrigue that it might be compared to The Silence of the Lambs.

As a side note, the film's Swedish title translates to Men Who Hate Women. Expect a pretty horrific rape sequence here, followed by the best revenge scene since Kurt Russell's undoing at the end of Tarantino's Death Proof. Talk about a rapist getting his, er, just desserts!