Triumph vs. Tragedy

For discussion of Matt Reeve's Film Let Me In

Moderator: LMI Moderator

Post Reply
User avatar
broken1
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:50 am
Location: Virginia

Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by broken1 » Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:34 am

While I am new here, I have looked over quite a few threads. I'll eventually get to them all as time goes by, as there is definitely an abundance of insight to be had in regards to the novel and the two films, and just what it is that touches all that are here so much.

What continues to baffle me is the lack of love for "Let Me In". I saw LTROI first, and was captivated by the film. After learning that it was based on a novel, I bought and read that too, and was just as enthralled, if not more-so. Then came LMI, and I have to say, I was very skeptical upon hearing the news that there was going to be a re-make. As a matter of fact I was a bit ticked off.

Then I saw that Chloe Moretz would be playing Eli; or at least whatever the character would be in the new movie. That fact alone made me think that things just might be OK, based entirely on my personal opinion of her ability as an actor to somehow simply "become" who she was portraying.

She did not disappoint. Neither did Cody. Say what you will about the changes that Matt Reeves made, but those two kids were stellar in their portrayal of his particular take on the subject matter.

That being said, can it be possibly that there is so much disdain for LMI simply because of the fact that it leads the viewer to be more open to the potential tragedy of Owens future situation, and the mere thought of that tragedy is too hurtful to contemplate?

On the other hand, we are completely at ease with the fact that Eli will in all likelihood, turn Oskar, which should be seen to be just as tragic given Eli's own feelings about her condition, and yet the consensus say's otherwise.

To me personally, I am finding that all three stories are paradoxical, and don't really know that there can truly be a "happy ending". And that pisses me off a bit.

Regards,

SS
"The only thing we'll have to fear, is the dawn as the night turns to day..."
-----"Stay" by Jeremey Hunsicker

"An open mind and an open heart are at once both the strongest and weakest qualities a person can have."
- Me

User avatar
drakkar
Posts: 3833
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:26 am
Location: Trondheim, Norway

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by drakkar » Fri Oct 03, 2014 6:48 pm

broken1 wrote:On the other hand, we are completely at ease with the fact that Eli will in all likelihood, turn Oskar, which should be seen to be just as tragic given Eli's own feelings about her condition, and yet the consensus say's otherwise.

I think the point is: Love is offered, accepted and returned, from both parts. Already then you've come a long way. It sure won't last forever, but hey, nothing does. Have you read JAL's novel Little Star? The author regards that having a happy ending too. However here it is cut to the bone, expected to last for some thirty seconds after the story ends.

JAL's own words (by the courtesy of the We, the Infected group on facebook: My script is about being lifted out of the darkness by love. About going under and suddenly being rescued by a helping hand. A totally unexpected helping hand. It's about a boy, Oskar. Intimidation and living in a dysfunctional home has made his life hell. He's 12 and he wants revenge.
Above all it's a love story. Of how Eli's love releases Oskar, how she makes him look upon himself in a different light. Not as the scared one, not as the victim. How she gives him courage to stand up for himself. But Eli is a vampire. A real one, one that lives on blood. The title touches on what I think is the most interesting moral aspect on vampires. They have to be invited to get to you ...

Why Let Me In can get disregarded in this context? Because of the cycle - Abby and Owen isn't equal, and poof the magic of the story is gone for me.
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

User avatar
metoo
Posts: 3677
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2011 12:36 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by metoo » Sat Oct 04, 2014 6:24 am

drakkar wrote:Why Let Me In can get disregarded in this context? Because of the cycle - Abby and Owen isn't equal, and poof the magic of the story is gone for me.
I feel the same. This is my single objection to LMI, but it blocks me completely.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

User avatar
broken1
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:50 am
Location: Virginia

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by broken1 » Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:29 am

I very much agree with what you all have said. But what I want to know is if you feel that Eli and Oskar's story is triumphant, and Abby and Owens story is tragic. And is the implied tragic nature of LMI the reason why you don't like it.

To say that there is no cyclical nature in regards to Eli is erroneous. It's pretty much a given that Eli has had other people helping her throughout the years, just like Abby. The difference between the two is that it seems that Eli's cycle of "companions", until Oskar of course, have been the dregs of society, and somewhat morally "compromised" individuals, whereas Abby's seem to have been simply a boy her "age" that she has fallen for. Granted, having no backstory for Thomas may make this argument slightly tenuous,

The inherent tragedy in the Abby/Owen situation is two-fold : Abby herself is subject to finding a companion that will only outgrow her, over and over again, and all the while she has the ability to stop that growing old aspect by making her companion a vampire. And yet, she doesn't do it. She sure didn't turn Thomas, and I think it's safe to say that 40-ish years prior, she loved him just like she now loves Owen. Suffice it to say, she will not turn Owen either.

At the same time you have Owen...and before him Thomas, who loves this girl completely and yet knows that with every passing day, they are growing further and further apart, and the one thing that can stop that inevitable growing apart, she can't bring herself to do because she can't do to him what was done to her.

This is the implication of the photo strip, not some ulterior motive.

If that isn't tragedy, then I don't know what is.
"The only thing we'll have to fear, is the dawn as the night turns to day..."
-----"Stay" by Jeremey Hunsicker

"An open mind and an open heart are at once both the strongest and weakest qualities a person can have."
- Me

User avatar
drakkar
Posts: 3833
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:26 am
Location: Trondheim, Norway

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by drakkar » Sun Oct 05, 2014 7:26 am

broken1 wrote:But what I want to know is if you feel that Eli and Oskar's story is triumphant, and Abby and Owens story is tragic.

In LTROI I do find love triuphant, but I feel the word is too strong word to use about Eli and Oskar, because of the omnipresent tragic element in the story.
In LMI, because of the cycle, i feel that love has an agenda - making it tragic rather than triumphant.
broken1 wrote:To say that there is no cyclical nature in regards to Eli is erroneous.
But Eli contracts adult helpers, who have chosen to help him - for various reasons (in the LTROI film the reason is of paedophilic nature).
In LTROI the cycles are broken - Eli and Oskar finds true friendship and love.
broken1 wrote:The inherent tragedy in the Abby/Owen situation is two-fold : Abby herself is subject to finding a companion that will only outgrow her, over and over again, and all the while she has the ability to stop that growing old aspect by making her companion a vampire. And yet, she doesn't do it. She sure didn't turn Thomas, and I think it's safe to say that 40-ish years prior, she loved him just like she now loves Owen. Suffice it to say, she will not turn Owen either.
LMI mixes the stories of Håkan and Oskar into one - Thomas was once an Owen, and Owen might become a new Thomas - which IMO is a Cardinal Sin and destroys the magic of the story completely.
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

User avatar
a_contemplative_life
Moderator
Posts: 5896
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 2:06 am
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by a_contemplative_life » Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:14 pm

I basically agree with draakar's views.
Image

User avatar
PeteMork
Posts: 3781
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:56 pm
Location: Menlo Park, California

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by PeteMork » Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:56 pm

drakkar wrote: LMI mixes the stories of Håkan and Oskar into one - Thomas was once an Owen, and Owen might become a new Thomas - which IMO is a Cardinal Sin and destroys the magic of the story completely.
QFT. This sums it up quite nicely for me also.
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)

User avatar
cmfireflies
Posts: 1152
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:39 pm

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by cmfireflies » Mon Oct 06, 2014 3:29 am

Almost everything Owen does is reactive: Oskar leaves his father and hitchhikes to Eli; Owen's father rejects him. Instead of making up the lie about how he got the scratch on his face, the bully feeds Owen the line and he dutifully repeats it. Oskar's mom tries to spend time with him, Owen's mom is passed out drunk. The whole effect is that Owen is pushed towards Abby because society has failed him way before the massacre at the pool.

At times it felt like the movie was one step above a PSA about the importance of two-parent families, strong social institutions, and having a clear moral compass. ("Do you know where your child is" plays accusingly on the TV at one point, LMI shows the school "blaming the victim" and Owen deliberately closing the door on the cop-none of which is present in LtROI.) I came away with the impression that Owen did everything possible NOT to go with Abby but everyone else rejected him and he thought he had no choice.

Listening to interviews, it seems like Reeves was interested in why Owen and Thomas made the decision to leave with Abby and came up with the answer that Abby's companions are sad-sacks losers that society had ignored, bullied, or worse. If society had not failed them first, Abby (and the evil that she represents) would have no attraction.

It's an interesting theme, but it cheapens Eli/Abby's character. Oskar fell in love with Eli-he cut his ties one by one to try and forge his own happiness because he thought that life would be better with Eli-as vampires. I don't think that Reeves was interested in exploring Owen and Abby's love so much as he wanted to draw parallels between Thomas and Owen and their mutual desire to escape whatever their lives had been prior to Abby. In a sense it is more Thomas's story, retold through Owen.

I don't think that LMI has the same empathy for outsiders that LtROI had. I thought that LtROI was radical in that Eli and Oskar reject conventional morality and chose to defy the laws of god and men for love-kind of romantic, in a fairy-tale-like way. In LMI's world, there is no escape, no forging new beginnings, just running from one hell to another.
"When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it."

User avatar
EEA
Posts: 4739
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 5:53 pm

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by EEA » Mon Oct 06, 2014 4:52 am

I also feel the same way. I just can't connect with Abby or Owen. I only saw the movie once. I felt that Owen is just doomed to go with Abby and become her next caretaker. The movie points to that direction, that Owen in the future will be discarded just like Thomas was.

User avatar
lombano
Posts: 2993
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:56 pm
Location: Xalapa, Mexico
Contact:

Re: Triumph vs. Tragedy

Post by lombano » Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:01 pm

When Owen is rescued at the pool, his face suggests to me that he would have rather drowned because he knows the horror that awaits him as he lies at Abby's blood-covered feet. With Oskar, the imagery is of birth or baptism, of starting a new life. It's just one scene, but one that illustrates the fundamental difference between both films: the cycle is just about the worst possible outcome, far worse than a suicide pact, for a example. Abby, obviously profoundly unhappy, clings to life seemingly solely out of survival instinct, while Owen is too weak-willed to defy her. LMI is thus the darkest, most pessimistic incarnation of the story. That, aside from other faults like a much weaker score and cinematography (and I wasn't that impressed with Owen as a character) and a lack of subtlety, is why I far prefer LTROI.
Bli mig lite.

Post Reply

Return to “Let Me In”