at what point did u love the movie

[drakkar]

After it ended. I was reflecting on it increasingly the rest of the day, and when I woke up the next morning I knew I'd witnessed something very special.

[ihatethinkingofnames]

For me it was before I actually watched the movie. It was when I read what the ending was on wikipedia. (I had to make sure the movie wasn't going to lift my spirits only to ruin my good mood at the end; I get more than enough of that in real life.)

[DMt.]

I knew right away it was something exceptional; the long silence at the start, the snow, the beauty of the children, the glorious cinematography; but I think my heart broke for the first time at the sleepover scene. A child vampire, freshly bloodied from a kill, comes to a lonely boy's bed, not to kill him, but to hold him; and he asks if they can 'go steady', and s/he says 'yes'...s/he doesn't reveal the truth, but doesn't lie to him, either...and holds him until s/he has to flee the dawn...

Who else has done anything like this, in film or literature? No-one, that's who.

[sauvin]

I knew right away it was something exceptional; the long silence at the start, the snow, the beauty of the children, the glorious cinematography; but I think my heart broke for the first time at the sleepover scene. A child vampire, freshly bloodied from a kill, comes to a lonely boy's bed, not to kill him, but to hold him; and he asks if they can 'go steady', and s/he says 'yes'...s/he doesn't reveal the truth, but doesn't lie to him, either...and holds him until s/he has to flee the dawn...

Who else has done anything like this, in film or literature? No-one, that's who.

I don't remember that the bedroom scene touched me in any particular way, except maybe in the usual American prudish snobbish way of assuming that they're going to Do Something. Takes a while for the subtleties of such a scene to get under the skin of a tired and calloused factory worker. It wasn't until the first time I really watched the movie (probably about the fourth or fifth time I spun it up) that I understood there was some subtext here that needed closer scrutiny.

Looking back, as best my foggy memory allows, one of the major things that kept me spinning the movie up was just to listen to the music.

Somewhere shortly after the introductory theme starts playing, and the opening credits are rolling by, there's a clarinet or two singing out a tired, resigned kind of warning, as if it'd sung out this warning too uncountably many times before to ears too sleepy with the belief they know all the monsters the world can harbour under the sun and stars - and of believing none of them could ever possibly invade their homes as they lay snugly in their heavily blanketed wintertime beds - the warning the clarinet knows with bone-wearying certainty it'll still be singing out long after the borders to the nations it visits have been redrawn several times, and some of the cities it's slept in crumbled to rubble.

It's a warning, and it's a soft wail, and in all this time, I've not managed to get it to quit bouncing around inside my head.

[DMt.]

I can't talk about the music, I'd just get silly. Nice to read that, though.

[drakkar]

The scene that first blew me away I think was the secont meeting, where Eli did not kill Oskar.
It's the setting, the dialog, the music - it's plain fantastic. What also adds to this scene, is that later on we learn that Eli does not hesitate when hungry - she kills the first person showing up. Except here.

[zephonate]

I liked the movie from the start. Keyword "liked". There were plenty of "aww" moments for me, both happy and sad, I'm sure I don't need to pinpoint which ones. I saw a lot of things that were excellently done, fantastic cinematography, wonderful music, great acting and pacing. All the ingredients for the recipe of a good movie.

However...my first clue that this would someday (soon) become my favorite movie of all time came in the bedroom scene. It wasn't until I was re-watching it with a friend that we noticed this beautiful subtlety of the scene together.

If you watch the bedroom scene very carefully, once Eli agrees to go steady with Oskar, and he goes to bed nothing but smiles, the camera cuts back to Eli before it shows her grabbing his hand. And if you watch her very closely...you can see her throat tighten. You can see a glassy shimmer in her eyes.

She was trying so hard no to cry.

That moment hit me like a punch to the chest once I realized it was there. 25 (estimated) viewings later, it's my number one film of all time.

[DMt.]

You've got it bad.

And that's good.

[OUTSIDER]

For me the hook was set when Oskar and Eli met after the Rubik's Cube was solved.
Eli was waiting for Oskar atop the jungle gym, and as he approached a broad smile came to her face. She then hopped down and sat good and close to him and asked, "Do I smell better?" Then the continuing scene with Eli not celebrating her birthday, a great look of sorrow on her face. (gattoparde59's avatar) And finally, the look in Oskar's eyes as Eli showed him how to solve the cube. You could see that was when the "Love Bug" bit him.
(and me as well)

[Struan]

Somewhere shortly after the introductory theme starts playing, and the opening credits are rolling by, there's a clarinet or two singing out a tired, resigned kind of warning, as if it'd sung out this warning too uncountably many times...

YES. Resigned, fatalistic even. It was the ending that got me, the point where I realized I had watched something very special.
And the music had a lot to do with it. Eli may not volunteer much about herself during the film, but I feel the music (and her theme) does most of the talking for her. And what a sad tale it tells!