Discuss Let Me In
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Superior to the Original
posted by FilmFan1983STAFFMOD on February 7, 2017 at 8:24 PM
I love the original Let the Right One In so much that I bought it twice on blu ray. My first copy had incorrect subtitles so I had to import another copy from the UK which had the correct subtitles and a commentary track. It's a great film with an awesome soundtrack (especially Eli's theme) that I can watch over and over again.
That said, I still prefer the remake even if just by a hair. Kodi and Chloe gave some of the best child performances I have ever seen and Richard Jenkins was damn good as well.
The scenes I liked better in the remake are:
The scene with Owen and his father on the phone was just as effective, if not more so, than the scenes with Oskar and his father in the original. Credit must be given to Kodi for some magnificent acting there.
The bullies were far more threatening and abusive in the American version but perhaps some people might like that the original kids looked so innocent in the original. I thought the scenes with the bullies in Let Me in were terrifying.
All the scenes with Richard Jenkins were much better in Let Me In, particularly the scene in the car. I watched it with my home theater set up, and the sound blew me away.
I love the scene with the vampire woman dying by accident (while chewing her arm, very nice touch) far better than the scene where she dies willingly.
The CGI was a bit intrusive but it looked far better than using another actress for Eli in certain scenes in Let the Right One In.
I loved that we see more of Owen's POV throughout the film.
I love all the 80's references. Superficial reason I know.
All in all, both are terrific films which I recommend and Let the Right One In deserves credit for doing so much right the first time but I still prefer the remake.
Reply by Infected By Eli
on February 20, 2017 at 6:29 PM
Yes, the scene he didn't use due to him having to have a live pig killed to accomplish. Not the scene he dropped after realising that a female vampire couldn't be emasculated ... oh wait, that never happened because Eli is a boy.
There was no "guesswork", what else does "timelessness" mean other than constant and unchanging? A status quo character.
"Ergo" means "therefore", as in a conclusion to the previous sentences, or "tl:dr". I don't know why you're trying to suggest that it is some kind of "shady ploy" ... or maybe I do.
"There is a 1 second shot of a crotch with no explanation" Correction, there's a one second shot of a mutilated male crotch which needs no further explanation as this is a sexless love between two prepubescent children.
You're guessing that he's talking about Eli's mental age when he could quite easily be talking about his chronological age.
Tomas also says in that video...
And later...
You also have to understand that Tomas did not speak very precise English in 2008, and that the Swedish language (and the Swedes that speak it) can be extremely vague about gender to the point of it almost not being an issue. This is how John was able to mask Eli's gender in the book without raising anyone's suspicion as they were reading it, without the sentences being clunky and strangely worded (it doesn't work quite as well in the English translation). It is natural for there not to be many personal pronouns in Swedish sentences as they can often be omitted due to context. Don't roll your eyes. There was an interview where Tomas was explaining his lack of English speaking skills while filming Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in which he said that he often couldn't find the words to describe what he wanted so he had to act it out himself and the actors took their cues from that. An example from the quote above "That it's a castrated boy", not "That he's a castrated boy". Swedes just think slightly differently to Brits and Americans.
Reply by Infected By Eli
on February 20, 2017 at 6:44 PM
Explain that, because I don't know what you mean. Actions are actions, actions are inspired by many things. Actions are inspired by fear, hate, envy, love, compassion, and many other stimuli.
That was Eli being a killer, not Oskar. Oskar can be okay with Eli being a killer (there's that acceptance thing) without suddenly wanting to kill as well. Where that would work is if we see Oskar on the train with his knife handle sticking out of his pocket to symbolise his change of heart, but that's not what we get.
Reply by Harpospoke
on February 23, 2017 at 7:50 PM
And don't forget that TA then made no effort to get that message into the movie in any other way either. If he wanted it in the movie, it would have been there. There is more than one way to do it. He obviously did not think it was that important.
"Timelessness" can obviously mean immortal. And I already know what JAL thought when TA elaborated on JAL's thoughts.
But there is no debate about " I wanted the vampire to be a very old woman in a 12 year old body." There is no need to try and figure out what that means since it is very plain and precise in its meaning.
That's your opinion. You knew what it meant because you read the book. For anyone else, it's a 1 second shot of a crotch that explains nothing. Almost everyone who saw the movie thinks Eli is female. TA even talks about that character in female terms and makes no effort to correct anyone when they refer to Eli as a girl. If TA really wanted Eli to be a castrated boy, he could have put it in the movie. But he didn't.
I don't have to guess anything. He said what he said. "I wanted the vampire to be a very old woman in a 12 year old body." He spelled it out very carefully what he meant. A very old woman in a 12 year body means what it means.
That doesn't say anything about the mental age of the character. You are ignoring his very careful explanation in favor of something vague because you don't want to accept what he said.
That is also not about mental age. Other than the "the older and" part. He talks about the gender of the book version and how he wanted to complicate the movie version. Or "her" as he said there. He wanted to leave the door open for the book fans....or "complicate her". "Complicate her" doesn't mean "She was like the book". It means what it says....up for interpretation.
He certainly knows what "old woman in a 12 year old body" means. And I'm not sure it's feasible to claim he always accidentally uses the female pronoun when talking about Eli either. Shouldn't he accidentally use the male pronoun occasionally? Or how about accidentally using the female pronoun for Oskar now and then if he was struggling with that so badly?
Reply by Oldnewbie
on May 11, 2017 at 11:00 PM
The original was far superior. While the American remake had some interesting scenes that were not in the Swedish film, there was a surreal quality to the Swedish film that the American movie did not have as subtlety is not a trait our films are known for. The horror in the Swedish film crept up on you. In the American film it smacks you right in the face. That is just one aspect. Oh and neither film is as good as the book!