About Let me in

For discussion of Matt Reeve's Film Let Me In

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crazychristina
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Re: About Let me in

Post by crazychristina » Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:48 am

Hi folks, just wanted to make a few observations about the whole LTROI/LMI phenomenon. First, how I came to it all. I'm not really a movie buff, although I've started watching movies a lot this year. A friend recommended 'Kick Ass', which I think is one of the most entertaining films I have ever seen. I rate movies by how often I've watched them, and KA is up to about 20. I was very impressed with the performance of Chloe Grace Moretz in that film, and was interested to see her next effort was LMI, not yet released here (Australia) at that time. So I did some research. I hadn't heard of the original book or film, but found the whole premise so interesting that I bought the book, and just about read it all in a sitting. Riveting. A few days later I saw LMI at the cinema when it opened. Loved it. And about a week after that the DVD of LTROI arrived. I've watched that now about 20 times too, and there's only one other movie (apart from Kick Ass) that comes close. So, long story short, I was introduced to the original via the remake, and I believe a lot of other people will be too. As the producers said, bring a great story to a new audience. Right on. As for the comic book - I embrace postmodernism, obviously (KA is the ultimate in postmodern cinema). The story transcends any medium it is committed to. I think JAL will thrive.

Having read/seen a lot of interviews with author/directors I'm impressed that they all seemed to have had a similar adolesence. Lindqvist said he loved writing the pool scene because it gave him a chance to get back at the three bullies who made his life hell. Both directors connected with the loneliness of Oskar/Owen, and at least one of them probably suffered a fair amount of bullying too. So, the real source material was the lived experience of writer/directors.

I found the book fascinating because I could relate to nearly all the major characters. I wan't bullied at school but I am the victim of serious emotional neglect in childhood and that leaves deep scars in inability to form robust relationships. I was a loner. For a large part of my life I've also been cursed with a 'condition' that would have made me an outcast if people knew about it. Not morally reprehensible, but certainly socially unaccpetable. I know what it's like to be driven in a way that makes society an enemy. I can sympathise with Hakan and Eli. Both were cursed. Both tried to be as noble as possible, within their constraints. Probably not a popular view, but some things are not a choice.

Alfredson produced a beautiful film, taking a somewhat detached view of the developing relationship and referencing it's social context without exploring that in the depth that the book had done. Well, that's a constraint of film vs book. Reeves said he was going to make 'a different story'. Many have criticesed him for making the same story, but I believe what he originally intended was to make a more personal story, not one that had significantly different events. When Oskar is bullied we feel pity. When Owen is bullied we feel fear. Very different story.

On the whole issue of love/manipulation - a point Eli mentioned in the book was that Eli slept for very long periods, was very weak on awakening, and AT THAT POINT needed help to survive. Hence Hakan. Implication is that Eli doesn't always need a protector/procurer. The story is not just about Oskar/Owen letting Eli/Abby in. It is aso about the reverse. In LTROI the most significant scene for me was the one where Oskar asks Eli if she is a vampire, and she says yes. Then she opens the glass door and lets Oskar in (to the inner room). I also love the scene where she comes out of Oskars mothers bedroom (just after 'that' scene) and does a small pirouette. Such a 'do I look good?' moment. Just begging for approval and love. Oskar give Eli something she has never had before. I can't remember how this plays out in LMI, but for me it was a very poignant moment. Ditto for when she dances (ever so slightly, as she comes out of the shower) to music. One senses that she hasn't done that very often.

kahx
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Re: About Let me in

Post by kahx » Sun Nov 14, 2010 3:10 pm

stormbringer951 wrote:To quote Mark Kermode:
Let The Right One In is a story about growing up, which just happens to have vampires in it. Let Me In is a vampire movie which just happens to have children in it.

What do you guys think?
It's more like Let me in a story about the horrors of growing up-how horrible adolescence can be such that you would gladly become an accomplice to murder and potentially a serial one. The move even ends in this sort of requiem sounding soundtrack. This is kind of a bait and switch really, because the movie tries to make you think that it's a love story between 2 lonely people. This worked in the first movie, because Hakan could be interpreted as just some guy that helps her. In let Me In you are explicitly shown that the father used to be like Owen. So you are left with this feeling that Abby is just working on getting herself a new servant, yet they play this sappy romantic music when Owen and her are together.

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Harls
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Re: About Let me in

Post by Harls » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:17 pm

Welcome to the forums crazy(?)christina and kahx :D You'll find lots to comment on here!
crazychristina wrote:I also love the scene where she comes out of Oskars mothers bedroom (just after 'that' scene) and does a small pirouette. Such a 'do I look good?' moment. Just begging for approval and love.
My avatar is from that very same scene - she has such a beautiful smile, it was just begging to be captured :mrgreen:
'Lucky is he who has such a friend...'

DMt.

Re: About Let me in

Post by DMt. » Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:08 am

Go, go, more of this please.

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drakkar
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Re: About Let me in

Post by drakkar » Mon Nov 15, 2010 7:51 am

crazychristina wrote:I also love the scene where she comes out of Oskars mothers bedroom (just after 'that' scene) and does a small pirouette. Such a 'do I look good?' moment. Just begging for approval and love.
Welcome :D
My take on this scene is that Eli now has got Oskar's approval and love. Until this point in the film, I've had a fairly good overview over their relationship, but now I am being left behind. From now on, Eli and Oskar have somthing together they don't (want to) share with me.
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

athome
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Re: About Let me in

Post by athome » Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:53 am

VU...LMI
perso je n'est pus m'empêcher de comparer les 2 films.
verdict la suède remporte haut la mains.
-la scène de la piscine (le visage d'éli que oscar sort la tête de l'eau)
-la scène du sous-sol (oscar ne ce coupe pas le bout du doigt lol)
-la scène des bonbons (le excuse moi oscar n'a pas la mêmes profondeur "excuse-moi oscar de ne pas être comme toi")

pour le reste je trouve le jeu d'acteur de lmi moins bon que dans morse.
le reste est affaire de gout.

ColBlair
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Re: About Let me in

Post by ColBlair » Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:37 am

Let Me In is what pretty much introduced me to the world of Let The Right One IN. I seen the Swedish version after Let Me IN and I found the movie amazing. i really liked the cinematography with that version as well cause it reminded me of those films of the 1970s and 1980s. Then I read the book, and i found it very interesting, especially the part of the squirrel.

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God of Vampires
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Re: About Let me in

Post by God of Vampires » Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:26 am

Well, I have seen Let Me In now, though I had to admit, I saw it on the internet with a very bad video quality, so I probably never got to see its full potential. I will have to see this again in the cinema in the spring to form a real picture of it.

I have to admit that LTROI is clearly the better movie for me, Though what I think of LMI is still undecided. Though I can say that it really has a dark atmosphere, both figurly and literally :) . By the way it was shot I could feel Owen's isolation, we never get to know any other person in this movie exept for Abby, which I first saw as a flaw, before I realized that it was the point in order to symbolize lonliness. This entire movie is dark, much darker than LTROI, the Abby's vampiric nature seem darker than Eli's, Owens bullies are crueler than Oskar's. Though, I did expect this version to be a more mainstream version of LTROI, I found that the opposite is true. LMI is actually an artsy film in a higher degree than LTROI, which means that I feel that this is not the right path to bring the story to a mainstream audience. That is at least my feeling on the matter ;) .

Also, for some reason LMI gave more the impression of being an indie movie than a hollywood production, more so than LTROI, this may be the video quality or culture differences however.
"I think Eli, just as me, is a fan of multicoloured equines. You need this to get through an eternity of bloodshed."
_God of Vampires/Prince Darkmoon, Proud infected, proud brony.

ColBlair
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Re: About Let me in

Post by ColBlair » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:52 am

God of Vampires wrote:Well, I have seen Let Me In now, though I had to admit, I saw it on the internet with a very bad video quality, so I probably never got to see its full potential. I will have to see this again in the cinema in the spring to form a real picture of it.

I have to admit that LTROI is clearly the better movie for me, Though what I think of LMI is still undecided. Though I can say that it really has a dark atmosphere, both figurly and literally :) . By the way it was shot I could feel Owen's isolation, we never get to know any other person in this movie exept for Abby, which I first saw as a flaw, before I realized that it was the point in order to symbolize lonliness. This entire movie is dark, much darker than LTROI, the Abby's vampiric nature seem darker than Eli's, Owens bullies are crueler than Oskar's. Though, I did expect this version to be a more mainstream version of LTROI, I found that the opposite is true. LMI is actually an artsy film in a higher degree than LTROI, which means that I feel that this is not the right path to bring the story to a mainstream audience. That is at least my feeling on the matter ;) .

Also, for some reason LMI gave more the impression of being an indie movie than a hollywood production, more so than LTROI, this may be the video quality or culture differences however.
Yeah, I believe it was made as an independent film. Some parts of the lighting remind me of the movie Running Scared that starred Paul Walker. I do agree, Abby's vampiric nature did feel dark and so were the bullies. Though in my mind when I think about it, she probably had a rough life, so I think her vampiric nature reflected that. I liked the bullies in LMI than in LTROI. That's also how I viewed the bullies in the book as well when Jonny is about to kill Oskar at the subway station. Interestingly enough, when I read the novel, I pictured Oskar was about as dark as Abby was, but not Owen cause his character changes during the movie. At least I thought when I seen it. ;)

To me, I thought that every character is dark in their own way in LMI and in the book of LTROI.

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Wolfchild
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Re: About Let me in

Post by Wolfchild » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:53 am

God of Vampires wrote:Though, I did expect this version to be a more mainstream version of LTROI, I found that the opposite is true. LMI is actually an artsy film in a higher degree than LTROI, which means that I feel that this is not the right path to bring the story to a mainstream audience. That is at least my feeling on the matter ;) .
You aren't the only one. I have read an article where some film industry pundit makes the same observation. That person said that while Matt set out to make the story more accessible, by modeling so many of his shots so closely to the corresponding shots in Tomas' film, he ended up making an arthouse film without even trying. Instead of making it more accessible for the mainstream, he inadvertently went in the opposite direction. This pundit used this to explain the poor showing that LMI had at the box office. I think there was probably more to it than just this, but LMI does have an arthouse feel to it.
...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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