Wee Su Ying

Managed to catch up with this movie during the quarantine period. And to be honest, I question why I didn't hear about this movie earlier. The movie is simply breathtaking. It is such a smart combination between Chinese fantasy, mystery and also romance. This may sound cheesy at first, but each element and theme is so beautifully woven together, it becomes this work of art. The movie has also sort of film noir elements to it, which I really love. The movie is based on a book which revolves around a Japanese monk and a Chinese poet investigating the story behind a cat spirit. And on their adventure, they start to dig up secrets of the past that sets to re-illustrate and rewrite what they had perceived of past history. I must say the cinematography is breath taking, accompanied by the unparalleled acting done by the actors, although the story is based off a fantasy, it makes it all seem so surreal. It may be boring for some especially the beginning, but give it a little chance, let the story build up and eventually you will be intrigued.

Let's get straight to the point, this movie is actually not that bad in contrast with the recent, more notable reviews. There has been some mention of how Claire Foy didn't do the character of Lisbeth justice and how this movie didn't live up to the expectations of its Hollywood predecessor and how this movie was somewhat like a conventional thriller film. However, I do beg to differ. If you had watched the first movie, it actually focuses more on the character development of Lisbeth. How she became the vigilante to fight for women and how she came to the disappointment of love. On that note, it would have a 'drier' and much more of a drama genre to it. Whereas the sequel, shows us what Lisbeth has molded into. It is really like the 'calm before the storm'. Looking at it from a more literature perspective, Lisbeth has changed into a more ruthless character, but that is shortlived until she met her sister. As such, I definitely did anticipate a predominantly thriller rather than drama film. Aside from the character development of Lisbeth, Camilia herself was also decent. My interpretation of the entire movie, is that from the beginning after the surveillance of Lisbeth meeting up with the programmer, Camilia had set up this entire thing to fish out answers from Lisbeth which is actually heavily implied at the ending scene. In which, Camilia threw the software to Lisbeth, it sort of hints that at the end of the day, she could not care less about it. She could have very well jumped off with it, so Lisbeth will never get her hands on it, if it was that important. But it isn't. She mentioned on how she could not understand why for the past 16 years, Lisbeth never came to her rescue despite saving all these women. Hence, the Camilia that we see would be less 'tough' compared to the books because she still has this soft spot for Lisbeth. I think that between these 2 characters the aspect that killed their relationship is misinterpretation of each other. As a viewer, we get this 3rd person view. From my perspective, what I feel is that Camilia was waiting for a chance for Lisbeth to save her after she escaped. Especially since that if both of them escaped, it was highly likely that their father would have sent men to chase after them then none of them would have escaped. However, Lisbeth was looking things from a more superficial way, which is kind of ironic considering their epic chess scene. At the end of it all, Camilia finally jumped off, fulfilling what Lisbeth wanted her to do when they were children, to act as a reminder for Lisbeth what her decision has caused her, however, this time she will never get a second chance to save her again. Generally, i think this movie should be receiving more credit than it is right now. In addition, heads up to the choice of costumes and colour, with Camilia donning a Scarlett red outfit. Oh and also, that incredible soundtrack, particularly near the beginning of the movie where the soundtrack played against the music of the nightclub to reflect what Lisbeth was actually feeling and the current state she was in, as to compared with the more hyped feeling of the nightclub.