*Note:  I, Patrick the critic, am in a quasi-annual (semi-annual) manic phase that has been going on for 24 days.  Over the past seven years, since April 2003, I have had a psychiatric condition that requires medicine.  This medicine is good for the soul.  Adhering to a strict and sometimes intense medical regimen places one in a category of formal adherence to societal requirements. 

     These requirements are not as painstaking as one would be led to believe.  As with the new medicine aripiprazole, one discovers that it helps the heart.  It feels as if the medicine gives the heart the nudge it needs to pump blood.  Aripiprazole is a new atypical "psychotropic" medicine used to treat schizophrenia.

     As with a high-level manic phase that I'm experiencing now, Seroquel can level off the expected over-stimulation caused by aripiprazole (Abilify).  Seroquel is a strong antipsychotic that has a soporific effect.  Liquor, the edible form of alcohol, absolutely does not mix with Seroquel.  This probably goes double for the stimulating Abilify.  I had experienced some weight gain with mixing Seroquel and alcohol earlier in 2009.  I still have strong, broad shoulders though like most men.  I am down to 217 lbs at Weight Watchers and expect to be thin again someday soon.

     Now onto my review of the adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo:

     The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is stylish, grim arthouse entertainment along the likes of Run, Lola, Run.  The film's psychological tension resembles Bruno Dumont's L'Humanite.  The main character Lisbeth Salander is a tough rogue of a computer hacker who possesses a relentless formal rigor.  As played by Noomi Rapace (in a bracing performance),  Salander has a spunky attitude and physique.

     At first glance this character resembles one of the twin sisters of the singing duo Tegan & Sara.  As more study of this exquisitely bleak face shows, she is pierced to the nines.  (Spoiler warning) The film progresses with a deliberate pace.  Character development shows that Salander is fresh out of prison and must report to a chauvinistic parole officer who demands sexual favors in exchange for moneys and financial stasis.  This leads to a stomach-churning scene, but don't worry...  this monster receives quite a comeuppance when the tables are turned.

     The computer hacker Salander meets a private detective through various sources and channels.  The two become a couple of sorts and this gives the audience a chance to regard the elegant and disturbing tattoo of a fire-breathing dragon on Salander's back.  The chain-smoking Salander tries to be reasonable and keep her grit intact while the two navigate through the logic of a missing person's case.  This turns the film into a police procedural with gripping suspense and tension. 

     The preposterous and sublimely labyrinthine plot at times require a cartographer's skill.  The case of the missing young lady, from Sweden in Scandinavia where the story is set, zigzags all over the place.  This leads the two detectives, sleuth and gritty novice Salander, to the mansion of a morally bankrupt sadist.  The detectives gain the upperhand through much turmoil.  (Major spoiler alert)  The plucky duo find the missing girl somewhere in Africa, as I recall.  This leads to a cathartic finale showing the wigged, incognito Salander walking free from the clutches of institutions.  Poetic justice indeed. 

Tags: Film Review Psychiatry Psychology Mental Health Awareness Brain Dis-ease