Tawdry is as tawdry does, yet The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest often seems at a loss over how to channel its sleazy impulses.
The story slowly exposes the brutal details of Lisbeth’s torturous formative years with This Is Your Life!-caliber sloppiness.
The contrast between the harsh chiaroscuro of the character’s reality and the overexposed brightness of his hallucinations is palpably felt.
From Strindberg to von Trier, there has always been a distinctively pokerfaced humor streak running through Scandinavian dourness.