Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

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Bloody Mary
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by Bloody Mary » Fri Aug 15, 2014 1:41 am

dongregg wrote:
metoo wrote:
Bloody Mary wrote:The author of that link had good points. When I saw LTROI, I couldn't figure out why Oskar seemed to suddenly trust the bullies after all those years of taking abuse from them, or why he agreed to the contest. He chopped off Conny's ear in front of a bunch of witnesses, but he couldn't walk away from the brother and his knife.
I have to agree about being sceptical to Oskar trusting that phone call. But that he obeyed Jimmy in the pool is very believable. He was scared, and fear is a very powerful demotivator.
The bullies set Oskar up nicely. First Martin joked with him at the pool. Then they let it slide in the schoolyard when Oskar mocked Conny for being deaf from the whack on the ear. Martin made the phone call. When Oskar showed skepticism, Martin won him over by saying he approved of what Oskar did to Conny. Also, he pretended to be speaking for Mr. Ávila, whom Oskar trusts. Give the bullies credit for meticulous planning, including the fire to get Mr. Ávila out of the pool area. Psychopaths can be very focused. As I've said in other places on the forum, psychopaths can usually manage to stay one step ahead of all of us because they are monomaniacal when there is something they want. I don't think Oskar was being overly trusting, just easily fooled by very evil kids who were bent on seriously hurting him. At first I thought a little better of Conny and Martin because they wanted Jimmy to stop. Now I think it wasn't because they were concerned that Oskar was about to drown. I think the little monsters were just chickening out, afraid of how much trouble they would get into.

Oh, and don't go messing with a kid whose BFF is a serial killer. It won't turn out well for you.
That's right, I had forgotten about the phone call. But wasn't Conny there when Oskar started grinning in the pool like they were his best friends? Even if he trusted Martin, why would he feel more friendly towards Conny, the ringleader?
"Do not go gentle into that good night . . . Rage, rage against the dying of the light." -Dylan Thomas

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drakkar
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by drakkar » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:16 am

I can't remember, but probably not, since his ear was hurt.
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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metoo
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by metoo » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:19 am

Bloody Mary wrote:That's right, I had forgotten about the phone call. But wasn't Conny there when Oskar started grinning in the pool like they were his best friends?
No.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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be-me-a-little
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by be-me-a-little » Thu Nov 22, 2018 8:11 pm

I may have a soft spot for Let Me In because it was shot in my home state of New Mexico, so it really captures the atmosphere of how life felt when I was growing up and makes the character of Owen extra relatable to myself.
I feel that Matt Reeves was an appropriate choice to direct this film because he has so much love and respect for the novel and the original film.
I love the cinematography of this film, I feel the constant blurriness in almost every shot really focuses the viewer on how isolated Owen and Abby both feel, and the lighting is superb, I particularly like the use of the amber light at nighttime instead of the traditional blue.
I also love the direct focus on the story of Abby and Owen.

I do think that LTROI shows Eli's pain, something I missed in LMI. Particularly the shot after the tunnel kill in LTROI when Eli bends her head down into a sob, really shows how hard killing is for her, but how she must do it in order to survive. I would have liked more emotion in Abby's character.

Just a few thoughts of my own. I do feel that I love both LMI and LTROI equally. (: :wub:
perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood

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gkmoberg1
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by gkmoberg1 » Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:01 pm

I had no such soft spot as you did. I liked how LMI started off but overall I disagreed with how it progressed. When I first saw it, I was angry by the end on how the director and [edit: "had"] reshaped the story. So, it was a long time before I came to like LMI. But I've watched LMI many times since and have come to appreciate that angle of how to tell what is a similar story to LTROI. I'm glad you like them both - equally - as you say.

And I would someday like to get to New Mexico. There are places I'd like to see there. Perhaps where they filmed this, if there is an actual location. Then maybe I'll have a better soft spot for LMI.

Oh, and Welcome to the forum :!: :!:

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be-me-a-little
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by be-me-a-little » Sat Nov 24, 2018 4:35 am

gkmoberg1 wrote:
Fri Nov 23, 2018 11:01 pm
I had no such soft spot as you did. I liked how LMI started off but overall I disagreed with how it progressed. When I first saw it, I was angry by the end on how the director and reshaped the story. So, it was a long time before I came to like LMI. But I've watched LMI many times since and have come to appreciate that angle of how to tell what is a similar story to LTROI. I'm glad you like them both - equally - as you say.

And I would someday like to get to New Mexico. There are places I'd like to see there. Perhaps where they filmed this, if there is an actual location. Then maybe I'll have a better soft spot for LMI.

Oh, and Welcome to the forum :!: :!:
I completely understand! I am glad you have come to appreciate them both (:

I actually went to visit the apartment building where LMI was shot here! That was a very happy day for me! I'd like to find some other locations to visit if I can...

And thank you! It's so wonderful to have a LTROI/LMI community again!
perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood

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cmfireflies
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by cmfireflies » Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:14 am

hi be-me-a-little, glad you're here.

In my head canon, Abby will always be Eli's evil twin, a manipulative vampire looking for another servant. She just wasn't likeable because in LMI, Reeves changed Thomas's backstory to make him be together with Abby since he was young.

Also, I think Reeves deliberately changed a few shots to make Abby less sympathetic, like how she drops the Rubik's cube in the yard and how she doesn't cry over the jogger's body.

But I'm glad you enjoyed them both.
"When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it."

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gkmoberg1
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by gkmoberg1 » Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:56 pm

Sometimes I wonder whether we (this forum) would have had a kinder reaction to LMI if it had been a project of one of the group here who makes vids. What if Matt Reeves had been a member and had built LMI in a manner we discussed it as it was created? But of course that didn't happen. And as well LMI was not a fan art creation; it was a for-profit production with a multi million $$ budget - which means its producers made decisions in ways other than how our fan art / fan writers approach their contributions. :sigh:

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be-me-a-little
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by be-me-a-little » Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:26 pm

gkmoberg1 wrote:
Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:56 pm
Sometimes I wonder whether we (this forum) would have had a kinder reaction to LMI if it had been a project of one of the group here who makes vids. What if Matt Reeves had been a member and had built LMI in a manner we discussed it as it was created? But of course that didn't happen. And as well LMI was not a fan art creation; it was a for-profit production with a multi million $$ budget - which means its producers made decisions in ways other than how our fan art / fan writers approach their contributions. :sigh:

It would be fascinating to see a very independently fan produced version of LMI!
perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood

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Wolfchild
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Re: Did anyone else like LMI better as a film?

Post by Wolfchild » Thu Nov 29, 2018 4:40 am

cmfireflies wrote:
Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:14 am
hi be-me-a-little, glad you're here.

In my head canon, Abby will always be Eli's evil twin, a manipulative vampire looking for another servant. She just wasn't likeable because in LMI, Reeves changed Thomas's backstory to make him be together with Abby since he was young.

Also, I think Reeves deliberately changed a few shots to make Abby less sympathetic, like how she drops the Rubik's cube in the yard and how she doesn't cry over the jogger's body.
I hope this was not true, because I believe that it was a very poor choice. I hate to think that it was done on purpose. I think this story can really only work if the audience understands that Oskar falling in love with Eli was Oskar's choice, and we can identify with that choice. Lina was a brilliant casting choice because there is just something inherently likeable about her, and she was able to transfer some of that to Eli. Eli is a mix of self-confidence and horror and shyness and vulnerability. Despite what she is, we can understand liking Eli because she comes across as being a sort of ambiguously sympathetic figure. Not only do we understand Oskar's choice, but we feel good for Eli as well. It is easy to think she has waiting for someone to love her. Isn't looking for love inherently sympathetic trait?

I never sensed any vulnerability in Abby. Owen seems to end up with her out of desperation, not necessarily by choice (except that perhaps he has no other choice). I didn't really identify with his choice, so much as I pitied it. Chloe may be a likeable person, but I don't feel that Abby came across as likeable or sympathetic. Moreover, Matt rules out the possibility that Abby is waiting for someone to love her. She is just waiting for the next one to love her. So maybe cmfireflies is right, and Matt Reeves did this on purpose. He did purposely close off one story aspect that could have led me to sympathize with Abby.

Also, I have always felt that it was a fatal error for him to delete the scene where Abby gives Owen the vision of when she got turned:
Not only was that scene masterfully done, but in the space of two minutes it would have added a crucial dimension to the character of Abby. By revealing her to be a victim, it would have cast all of her previous scenes in a new light. It would have likely opened my heart a little bit to Abby, which in turn might have changed my view of Owen's choice, which in turn might have made the whole film work a bit more for me.
...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

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