Have You Infected a Friend?

For discussion of Tomas Alfredson's Film Låt den rätte komma in
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CyberGhostface
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by CyberGhostface » Sun Dec 27, 2020 1:59 am

I have a friend who saw the film but never read the book so I lent her a copy. So it’s 50/50.
No banaaaanas?

danielmann861
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by danielmann861 » Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:44 am

I've always been hesitant to introduce the film to people. Not because I'm ashamed of it or anything but it's more so because I have such a love for it that I fear if I hype it up to someone it can't possibly live up to that hype for them and ultimately it will kind of backfire on me. So no, I kind of keep this one to myself and am kind of happy to keep this one to myself.

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Wolfchild
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by Wolfchild » Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:18 am

I never recommend it to people anymore. When pressed about it, I tell people that, "It won't meet your expectations, because your expectations will be wrong." I came to the conclusion that most recommendees were so disappointed or confused about not seeing what they expected, or spent so much time watching for their expectations to be fulfilled, that the meat of the film passed right by them unnoticed. :roll: + :lol: = :|

I mean seriously, can any of us a come up with a good, one-line synopsis of this film? One that would interest someone without setting their expectations in the wrong direction? You have only to mention the word "vampire" once and all is lost.
  1. It's a vampire movie. This will usually only sell it to horror fans - who won't expect a slow burn drama.
  2. It's a love story between two children. You know - like an after school special. A wholesome Young Adult type of thing. You are in for a surprise.
  3. It's a love story between two children, and one is a vampire. For fans of wholesome, Young Adult, horror. This will be just what they are looking for. Riiiiiiiight.
I think that this story (film or novel) must find you. It can't be brought to you. You can't be sent in search of it. Perhaps the only exception to this was Tomas Alfredson, but then again, can he be considered an Infected?
...the story derives a lot of its appeal from its sense of despair and a darkness in which the love of Eli and Oskar seems to shine with a strange and disturbing light.
-Lacenaire

Visit My LTROI fan page.

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NigelNinja
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by NigelNinja » Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:25 pm

Wolfchild wrote:
Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:18 am


I think that this story (film or novel) must find you. It can't be brought to you. You can't be sent in search of it. Perhaps the only exception to this was Tomas Alfredson, but then again, can he be considered an Infected?
This sentiment is PERFECT. I believe the story will find its way to those who are capable of understanding and loving its subtle, beautiful eloquence.
Hit back. Hard.

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NigelNinja
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by NigelNinja » Tue Jan 05, 2021 12:38 pm

Wolfchild wrote:
Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:18 am


I mean seriously, can any of us a come up with a good, one-line synopsis of this film? One that would interest someone without setting their expectations in the wrong direction? You have only to mention the word "vampire" once and all is lost.
The best one line description I've came up with is its "a modern dark fairy tale"

Unfortunately, that still doesn't do anything to convince those that aren't capable of "getting it" :roll:
Hit back. Hard.

danielmann861
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by danielmann861 » Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:37 pm

Wolfchild wrote:
Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:18 am

  1. It's a vampire movie. This will usually only sell it to horror fans - who won't expect a slow burn drama.
  2. It's a love story between two children. You know - like an after school special. A wholesome Young Adult type of thing. You are in for a surprise.
  3. It's a love story between two children, and one is a vampire. For fans of wholesome, Young Adult, horror. This will be just what they are looking for. Riiiiiiiight.
I think that this story (film or novel) must find you. It can't be brought to you. You can't be sent in search of it. Perhaps the only exception to this was Tomas Alfredson, but then again, can he be considered an Infected?
It's a story of child grooming...oh wait :shock: :D :lol:

Seriously, I think that last sentence sums it up best though. It's a story that finds you, the viewer. Not the other way around. For anyone who has ever been bullied, this story will probably appeal to you. For anyone who has ever felt lonely and misunderstood or felt like an outsider, this story will appeal to you. For anyone who wants a serious vampire story that doesn't resort to the sex appeal of the vampire or the shlock of vampire stories, this one will appeal to you. For anyone who likes a potentially bittersweet story of a boy being led down a grim path. This one may appeal to you (if you read the story that Oskar is being groomed mind you)

I think I very much agree though. Much like the book found me when I was suffering a bout of depression, I think this story will find its audience naturally if that audience is looking for this type of story. I found this story because I could relate Oskar. I could relate to feeling like an outsider. I could relate to his bullying in more ways than I maybe care to admit (let's just say the whipping scene always makes me cringe and tear up because I've been there before as a child). I related to his pent up anger and rage. And I related to him finding a friend that understood him better than anyone. I related to Oskar and that's what drew me to it.

It's one of those stories.

As much as I love it and still do to this day, I just fear it will never live up to what I see in it for another person if I hype it up.

Case in point, I did hype it up massively the year it came out. I think my friends grew tired of me talking about it. But I was passionate about it back then. I mean, fuck, I was on the IMDB message boards talking about it daily before finding this place. And then my friends finally did see it when it came out on DVD and the reaction was a lukewarm "meh, we don't know what all the fuss is about." I think Anne Rice and Twilight were more their cup of tea. I think the girls in my group just liked the tortured sexy vampire image. Or the romanticism or eroticism of vampirism. Which was partially why I fell in love with LTROI because it was refreshing to see a vampire story that actually treated it as a disease and not something to be romanticised. And the guys of my friends group were just non fussed about it as none of them were really horror fans. They were way more into Sci-Fi. So it was that thing that I wound up absolutely adoring all to myself.

I remember being in Japan a few years back and finally picking up a Japanese copy of the Blu Ray (I was studying Japanese and wanted to hear the Japanese dub and try reading the Japanese subs for it) and a friend of mine who lives over there had invited me over for dinner. He mentioned "oh I saw you bought that film! You should have brought it over and we (he and his girlfriend) could have watched it for the first time. I kind of went shy on that. Because I didn't think a somewhat slow vampire drama would make for good "hey, let's have fun eating dinner and watching a movie together" night and opted for Terrorvision instead because at least we could all get a laugh from it.

So that kind of put it into me that hyping it up is not the best way to go. Because if you do, chances are it will never meet the hype you set for it. But I've met other people right here who all found it organically and all fell in love with it. So it's probably best to let it find the viewer and let it have its way with the viewer. This is a film I will cherish and I'm perfectly okay with it not being something to hype up for everyone.

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BurgerPrince
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by BurgerPrince » Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:39 pm

I infected my mother. She read the novel and saw both versions of the movie. Her favorite character was Tommy and she loved the "parrot among crows" metaphor.
...But if you meet a friendly horse, will you communicate by Morse?

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Siggdalos
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by Siggdalos » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:05 pm

I originally discovered and fell in love with the novel—followed by the film, LTODD, and the rest of JAL's bibliography—when I chose to read it for Swedish class in the gymnasium (kind of a long story that I won't get into here). I subsequently discussed them a lot with my Swedish teacher and eventually convinced her to watch the movie. She thought it was really scary, but still liked it. She later told me that, thanks to me introducing the story to her, she was planning to show the film to a class and have the students analyze it. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit—prompting all the gymnasium education to move online—and I finished my studies before I could hear how it went.

I also got my dad to watch the film once. He enjoyed it, but that was all. Interestingly, his initial interpretation of the whole thing was that Eli was part of Oskar's imagination, due to the "Who are you?"/"The same as you" scene.

More recently, I got one of my aunts to listen to the audiobook, and she really liked it. She found the love story endearing and, contrary to my expectations, wasn't bothered by the violence and horror elements. She did say that she found the matter of Eli's gender and the pronoun switch to be weird, though. She also had trouble keeping some of the similarly-named side characters apart, like Jonny and Tommy (which is something I also had trouble with with a few of the characters the first time I read the book). When I asked for her opinion on the ending and what she thought happened to O&E afterwards, she was convinced that Oskar would become a new Håkan and said that she didn't know how the two would manage to get by since Oskar is just a child, but still thought it was a sweet ending. I've convinced her to listen to LTODD as well (while being careful not to spoil anything from it, other than that I think it's the best thing JAL has written), so it'll be interesting to hear her reaction to that.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.

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dongregg
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by dongregg » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:08 pm

I, too, have posted here that LTODD is his best written work. I only read translations, so I could be wrong. I studied Swedish by memorizing LTROI, then bought English and Swedish copies of LTODD. No go. I couldn't read much of it.

I didn't see the film until 2013. Showtime. I was so taken by the night snow storm that I called to my wife ti watch it with me. When Eli cocks her head at 11 minutes and asks what are you doing? I fell hopelessly in love with her,

I've watched it with dozens of people, but none got infected, In another post, I wondered if most don't have the aesthetic headroom to take in all the levels of excellence.
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

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abner_mohl
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Re: Have You Infected a Friend?

Post by abner_mohl » Tue Jun 08, 2021 1:16 am

I tried to get a dear friend of mine to watch it, she was a vampire movie fan. So we watched a double feature one night of LTROI and LMI, and she loved the latter. All I can think of was my reaction like Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith when he killed Mace Windu: "What have I done!"

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