Let The Right One In (1 Viewer)

[Josh Pounds]

I did a search for a thread about this wonderfully haunting movie and to my amazement didn't find one.

Surely people have seen it! I haven't been this excited about a movie since I can remember.

It's scary and effective not because of the devices used to tell the story (vampires) but because it illustrates the very real horrors of adolescence that absolutely everyone goes through. Coupled with the normal horrors of growing up are the added horrors of being an outcast, being unwanted by parents and generally cast off and forced to endure a very painful loneliness.

It's got a vampire in it, but it's not ABOUT vampires.

The themes of the movie aside, the technical talent present is very obvious. I very much wished I could step into the world the director created. Use of sound, natural-feeling lighting and texture all contributed to the illusion of it.

I doubt this movie is still playing where you are, but if it is, GO SEE IT! I hear rumors that it will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray in March (March 9 I think). If you love movies, please see this one.

EDIT: Why the heck didn't the search function bring this thread up? Doggone it.

 

[David Forbes]

There is a thread about it here, just a little further down the first page.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...right-one.html

 

[ScreaminJay]

This way this film have been analysed and I've read much about it, is becoming quite disturbing.

Now try to see those subtexts in this movie:

1- Pro-Terrorism Agenda
2- Far-Left Agenda
3- Totalitarian Swedish Matriarchy
4- Radical Feminism

If you find out a few of those elements like some scandinavian critics have, good job. Solution to cleanse society of it's evil men would be... castration and murder? I'll let you decide. Eli is a boy, Oskar is a girl. And gender is apparently just a "social construct".

 

[Josh Pounds]

Could you please explain this? I didn't see ANY of these things in this movie.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Yeah, a lot of that sounds like reaching, although Eli does in fact seem to be a boy - a castrato, that is. I didn't realize that until the second time I saw the movie, having been told by someone else, although it really can't be made more obvious in retrospect - there's a close-up shot of the scar that I'd missed the first time through because I've been pretty well-trained to look away from a 12-year-old girl's privates (and the guy who told be can rot in hell for having me on the lookout for them throughout my second viewing), and "she" has been saying "I'm not a girl" throughout the entire movie. The original novel apparently goes into much more detail on this point; I'll have to read it sometime.

Anyway, I did find that the film was more concerned with sexual orientation the second time through (or, more accurately, pointedly not concerned), and I've no doubt that I'll find more to it when the Blu-ray arrives in March. If I were the type to make best-of lists, this would probably have a spot on my best-of-2008 list in part because repeated viewings do reveal more detail and thematic weight.

 

[EricSchulz]

I don't know the names of the two new hosts of "At The Movies" (one is from TCM and one from E!), but the guy from E! named "Let The Right One In" his #7 pick of the Ten Best Films of 2008!

 

[DavidPla]

I don't know if I would consider that a positive endorsement

 

[Jeff Adkins]

This sounds really interesting. I can't wait to see it.

It's currently the 10th best-reviewed movie of the year based on this chart which scores all the major critics Top 10 Lists.

2008 Scoreboard

 

[Michael Reuben]

It takes some degree of independence to include Miracle at St. Anna, considering the critical drubbing that film received (largely undeserved IMO). And In Bruges isn't likely to show up on many other critics' lists, except maybe Richard Roeper's -- he championed it from the time it was released until almost his last show.

(Ben Mankiewicz from TCM didn't include Let the Right One In, but he had his own share of unconventional choices, including Happy-Go-Lucky and Towelhead.)

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The local arthouse theater finally brought this one in for a one-week engagement. Incredible.

What does everything think about Eli's relationship with Oskar:Is she truly befriending him, is she luring him in to be her next blood harvester, or is she doing both? Is her current blood harvester a pedophile or did was he once an 11-year-old boy that she seduced, too?

 

[ErichH]

I'd say the latter. It certainly adds to the tragic circumstance in one sense. The US audience might let this twist knock them around. After a second view, I suspect Eli's selection process is well tuned after what could be several hundred years or more practice and not as random as it might seem first time around, I.E. 'The Right One'

This is a very interesting film. The title plays into various aspects of the story. Entrance rules are one

 

[Joel C]

I don't know, I think there was something more genuine with Oskar. Remember, Eli is still basically a child, albeit a very old one. S/he can't really take care of herself very well, as basically lives in squalor, as a kid would without someone capable to care for her. There was definitely a predator vibe with the guy (expanded in the book) that wouldn't exist with Oskar, who might love Eli but probably isn't a pedophile.

 

[ErichH]

The only thing about Eli that's a kid is her size. Did you miss the 2 scenes where her face shows extreme age?
The pedophile talk is off base.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I don't know, I think (in the movie, at least), it's telling that she describes herself as "12... for a very long time". She's not a regular kid, but I think that the combination of never physically maturing and never having to interact with others as an adult has kept her thinking like a child, to a certain extent.

 

[Steve Y]

I came to your latter conclusion, which certainly gives leaves one with an ambivalent feeling. We're not exactly sure how to feel about it all.

This was a marvelous film, one of the best of 2008, "genre" film or not.

 

[ErichH]

Clearly, the act works when procuring the next caretaker.
There are a number of reviewers that see this as a tender love story with the Vamp stuff as a sidebar. The act is working on them IMO

There are a few very subtle scenes when she acts very much like a wise old adult, but you're watching real kids in the film, so it's easy to miss.

A second pass on the stitch and the "Be me, for a little while" charm moment might change your mind, but either take on the film doesn't diminish how great it is.

 

[Henry Gale]

My Google phone combined with my single malt does not allow me to create spoilers. But, you are having a pronoun confusion.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Yeah, we know. It's easier to discuss the film in mixed spoiler-status company that way.

 

[EricSchulz]

I received an email from Music Box Theater in Chicago (on Southport near Addison) that this is running as the Midnight Movie on Fri/Sat nights for the next several weeks.

 

[TonyD]

comes to blu this tuesday.
I hope I have time to watch it this weekend.