tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838136167254236268.post5625290271317275335..comments2023-12-21T07:15:40.719-05:00Comments on The Daley Screening: Vampire Weekend! LET THE RIGHT ONE IN vs LET ME INAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07580847839860657534noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838136167254236268.post-47755415585097921402013-04-22T17:59:20.628-04:002013-04-22T17:59:20.628-04:00Yes, I saw them in the correct order. ;)Yes, I saw them in the correct order. ;)KRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03719167098567089586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838136167254236268.post-34921431212057000032013-04-22T14:40:54.982-04:002013-04-22T14:40:54.982-04:00Thanks for this! Great response. I'll assume...Thanks for this! Great response. I'll assume since you're Swedish you saw LTROI before LMI?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07580847839860657534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838136167254236268.post-58337660543728127102013-04-20T12:08:06.771-04:002013-04-20T12:08:06.771-04:00I've seen both films and, like you, I much pre...I've seen both films and, like you, I much prefer the original. Not surprising in my case, I suppose, as I'm Swedish and don't have the subtitle problem and am also tuned into the pensive Swedish style of film-making.<br /><br />I also think Let Me In is a good movie (which has two of my all-time favourite actors in it, Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas) but find it a bit redundant. I tend to agree with Mark Kermode that what works in LMI does so because it's basically copying LTROI. The changes Reeves made are, to my mind, mostly for the worse. He decided to do away with the local barflies which not only meant a loss of some of the humor in LTROI but also a loss of some of the subversive emotional wringer that LTROI puts you through. When Eli kills Jocke in the underpass, it's not just some random vampire-fodder getting served up - it's a person we've met and can empathize with.<br /><br />Eli lures him in by appealing to his concern for a child in distress and then murders him horribly before our eyes - and we still come out rooting for and sympathizing with the monster. That's quite a feat - and Alfredson pulls this off time and again. In LMI, all the CG, make-up and scary contact lenses are seemingly there to separate The Girl from The Monster which to me looks like a rather cheap way to make it easier for us to like The Girl. In LTROI it's obvious that The Girl IS The Monster but we're OK with that as long as Eli is there for Oskar.<br /><br />Another major change is substituting The Cop for Lacke. I agree that Elias Koteas has been given a hopeless part. The Cop isn't even dignified with a name which sort of underlines that he's not actually a character but merely a plot device to provide some kind of threat to Abby. I had no connection to this cop and felt nothing when he was killed by Abby. Now contrast this with Lacke's death, which brings all kinds of conflicting emotions. Seeing his dead stare you know that by rights he should be the tragic hero of the story - the man who loses his best friend, his lover and ultimately his life at the hands of a bloodthirsty vampire. Still, we perceive him as a threat to our little vampire girl and feel relieved that she comes out on top. Alfredson plays us like a violin.<br /><br />I also don't like how Reeves cheapens or even removes a couple of crucial choices that the characters of the story are faced with. In the case of Oskar/Owen I feel that Oskar's situation is really bad but not hopeless - he actually has a choice between staying with his mom or going with Eli. His parents are basically clueless about what's going on in his life but they do seem to care about him. Owen's parents are not just distant - they barely seem to exist. We never see his mom's face and his dad is just a disembodied voice on the phone.<br /><br />Add to this that Owen's bullies are not just nasty and brutal but completely over-the-top evil and you get the feeling that Owen is more pushed towards Abby than actually making a choice. When he looks up at Abby at the pool, it's not the look of joy and love we see on Oskar's face but more a look of shock and awe, maybe even fear. The other choice I'm thinking about is Virginia's choice in LTROI to hold onto her humanity by taking her own life rather than living as a vampire. In LMI, her death plays out as just a freak (in more ways than one) accident. Sorry for the long post, LTROI just happens to be one of my favourite films (can ya tell?).<br /> KRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03719167098567089586noreply@blogger.com