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Let The Right One In

post #1 of 66
12/4/08 at 6:47pm
Thread Starter 
I realize this film is in limited release, but I cannot believe there's no discussion about it at HTF! Has anyone seen "Let The Right One In" yet? If you haven't, RUN (or hop on a plane, bus, whatever) to the nearest theater that's screening it and prepare yourself for one of the most haunting, eerie, creepy, and touching spins on vampire lore that you've ever seen. It's playing at the Harkins Valley Art in Tempe, AZ and I was fortunate enough to catch it this afternoon. I was the ONLY person in the theater until just before showtime, when two women walked in and sat down. It was just the three if us.

It's been a long time since I've seen a film that got under my skin the way "Let The Right One In" did. I had my doubts for the first 20-30 minutes, but unbeknownst to me it had been secretly planting its hooks all along and then completely reeled me in for the duration. Time passed unnoticed. It is haunting, atmospheric, and disturbing, due in no small part to Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar and PARTICULARLY Lina Leandersson as Eli, the strange "girl" who moves into the apartment next door to him. She is absolutely a revelation in the role and manages to create a subtly layered character who is vulnerable, sweet, ferocious, dangerous, and disgusting. You feel revulsion at her acts of violence and animalistic tendencies, yet sympathy for her in the tenderness she's capable of, despite her nature. What a wonderful, wonderful film. One of the best I've seen in quite a while. HIGHLY recommended.
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post #2 of 66
12/5/08 at 8:31am

Re: Let The Right One In

The previews for this one were one of the HDNet trailer shows - it looked really good. This may be a blind buy when it comes out on DVD...

The "at the movies" guys reviewed this on the same show as Twilight - "this is the movie for adults to see while the masses are seeing Twilight..." They both really liked it.

They also said that it is being adapted by the Cloverfield director into English...
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post #3 of 66
12/5/08 at 10:16am

Re: Let The Right One In

A recent issue of Rue Morgue magazine featured it on the cover and they LOVED it...it's in my "saved" section of my Netflix queue!
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post #4 of 66
12/6/08 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by Martino
The previews for this one were one of the HDNet trailer shows - it looked really good. This may be a blind buy when it comes out on DVD...

The "at the movies" guys reviewed this on the same show as Twilight - "this is the movie for adults to see while the masses are seeing Twilight..." They both really liked it.

They also said that it is being adapted by the Cloverfield director into English...
I've heard about the remake and can't imagine that it will be anything but a disaster compared to Alfredson's original film. This is one of those movies that should simply be left alone. Everything that needs to be said about the story has already been said. Let The Right One In certainly isn't perfect, but it's perfect the way it is.

As for the trailer, be aware that it paints a fairly "actiony" picture compared to the actual pacing and narrative flavor of the film.
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post #5 of 66
12/6/08 at 3:46pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricSchulz
A recent issue of Rue Morgue magazine featured it on the cover and they LOVED it...it's in my "saved" section of my Netflix queue!
Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I did. It's a shame that it's not getting a wider theatrical distribution, because IMO this is a film that benefits from being viewed on the big screen.
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post #6 of 66
12/6/08 at 4:22pm

Re: Let The Right One In

It's expected on SD DVD and Blu-ray (March, 10th, 2009).


Cees
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post #7 of 66
12/6/08 at 5:47pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Good for Magnolia. I saw this film at Fantasia back in July, and it knocked me flat. It's a darn shame that, on its third week here in Boston, it's down to one show a day (two last week).
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post #8 of 66
12/6/08 at 10:25pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Saw this a couple of weeks ago in Austin, I loved it, and I agree, we don't need a version for non-readers.
One problem I see is the lousy title, I can never get it right. I was praising the movie to a friend just today and called it, "Choose the Right One."
Anyway, if you can remember what it's called, go see it!
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post #9 of 66
12/7/08 at 1:20pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by dpippel
IMO this is a film that benefits from being viewed on the big screen.
Agreed. A well-mastered Blu-ray will be nice, but this film works best if you settle down in a darkened theater and surrender yourself to it. That's true of most films, but some truly require it, and this is one of them.
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post #10 of 66
12/8/08 at 7:48am

Re: Let The Right One In

I watched the preview online a little while ago and it's in my Netflix queue. No place showing it around here, unfortunately.
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post #11 of 66
12/11/08 at 3:56pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Reuben
Agreed. A well-mastered Blu-ray will be nice, but this film works best if you settle down in a darkened theater and surrender yourself to it. That's true of most films, but some truly require it, and this is one of them.
It is without a doubt, and my opinion was re-enforced yesterday when I saw it for the second time (dragged a friend's wife along with me who had expressed some interest - she loved it). I picked up on some subtleties that I missed on my first viewing, which is always a treat. I just can't recommend this film highly enough. One of the best of 2008 as far as I'm concerned.
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post #12 of 66
12/12/08 at 1:51pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Please stop talking about how you have to see this in a theater. My options are either Madison WI or Chicago---about 60 miles one way to either place. Milwaukee sucks.
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post #13 of 66
12/12/08 at 6:28pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricSchulz
Please stop talking about how you have to see this in a theater. My options are either Madison WI or Chicago---about 60 miles one way to either place. Milwaukee sucks.

I'd ask you to quit whining but then I realized you'd probably be driving on ice.
That really does suck.
It's 85 miles one way to the art theater I usually visit in northwest Austin.
Still, I'm there every couple of weeks. I'll be there with a friend this Monday night.
You must learn to enjoy the journey and, for me, a big part of that was getting out of the midwest and later out of the northeast.
I love central Texas, very nice smooth roads, no salt, no ice, no chains, no studded tires, (I may be dating myself, do people still use chains and studded tires?).
I was out in a t-shirt today.

I think Milwaukee is pretty neat during your 6 weeks of summer, loved the art museum.
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post #14 of 66
12/16/08 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricSchulz
Please stop talking about how you have to see this in a theater. My options are either Madison WI or Chicago---about 60 miles one way to either place. Milwaukee sucks.
Road trip! A weekend in Chicago would give you the opportunity to see a GREAT film and afterwards some good blues and great beer. Not to mention the food. I know, easy for me to say!

I love Phoenix...
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post #15 of 66
12/16/08 at 10:39pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by dpippel
Road trip! A weekend in Chicago would give you the opportunity to see a GREAT film and afterwards some good blues and great beer. Not to mention the food. I know, easy for me to say!

I love Phoenix...

GREAT IDEA!!! Unfortunately, once I got down there I would find a MILLION things to do and probably miss the movie! (I am a HUGE foodie and LOVE exploring the great restaurants in the Windy City!)
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post #16 of 66
12/18/08 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricSchulz
GREAT IDEA!!! Unfortunately, once I got down there I would find a MILLION things to do and probably miss the movie! (I am a HUGE foodie and LOVE exploring the great restaurants in the Windy City!)
Discipline Eric, discipline.
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post #17 of 66
12/25/08 at 10:21am

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by dpippel
I realize this film is in limited release, but I cannot believe there's no discussion about it at HTF! Has anyone seen "Let The Right One In" yet? If you haven't, RUN (or hop on a plane, bus, whatever) to the nearest theater that's screening it and prepare yourself for one of the most haunting, eerie, creepy, and touching spins on vampire lore that you've ever seen. It's playing at the Harkins Valley Art in Tempe, AZ and I was fortunate enough to catch it this afternoon. I was the ONLY person in the theater until just before showtime, when two women walked in and sat down. It was just the three if us.

It's been a long time since I've seen a film that got under my skin the way "Let The Right One In" did. I had my doubts for the first 20-30 minutes, but unbeknownst to me it had been secretly planting its hooks all along and then completely reeled me in for the duration. Time passed unnoticed. It is haunting, atmospheric, and disturbing, due in no small part to Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar and PARTICULARLY Lina Leandersson as Eli, the strange "girl" who moves into the apartment next door to him. She is absolutely a revelation in the role and manages to create a subtly layered character who is vulnerable, sweet, ferocious, dangerous, and disgusting. You feel revulsion at her acts of violence and animalistic tendencies, yet sympathy for her in the tenderness she's capable of, despite her nature. What a wonderful, wonderful film. One of the best I've seen in quite a while. HIGHLY recommended.

Doug, your summary is "dead on" target . . . I couldn't agree more! I saw this about 5 weeks ago, and it is still playing at the local "art house" theater (Angelika Film Center in Dallas).

I'm not a fan of vampire movies per se, but when I read the review in the local paper (Dallas Morning News) and checked out ratings on Rotten Tomatoes (it got a 97% positive rating: 91 fresh reviews, only 3 rotten), I decided "why not?"

I didn't know what to expect, but I mesmerized by this movie . . . it is unpredictable and suspenseful. It is one of the best movies of the year, and yet everyone is streaming to AMC and Cinemark theaters to see recycled, cliched special-effects-at-expense-of-character-development movies!

The ending . . . that is to die for. Highly, highly recommended.
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post #18 of 66
12/25/08 at 10:53am

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by townsend

The ending . . . that is to die for. Highly, highly recommended.

Speaking of the ending, don't you wish you knew how to translate Swedish Morse Code?
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post #19 of 66
12/25/08 at 1:28pm

Re: Let The Right One In

I think Eli sends the message "puss" and Oscar replies with the same. It means "kiss". This particular word is often used in the sense of a innocent, cute or brief kiss.
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post #20 of 66
12/25/08 at 2:23pm

Re: Let The Right One In

Thanks Mattias,

It was one of those times when you didn't really need to know the "language" to understand what was going on, but still, nice to know.
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post #21 of 66
12/28/08 at 10:28pm

Let The Right One In

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.
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post #22 of 66
12/29/08 at 5:22am

Re: Let The Right One In

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

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...right-one.html
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post #23 of 66
12/29/08 at 2:50pm

Re: Let The Right One In

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".
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post #24 of 66
12/30/08 at 7:38am

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by 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".

Could you please explain this? I didn't see ANY of these things in this movie.
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post #25 of 66
12/30/08 at 9:11am

Re: Let The Right One In

Yeah, a lot of that sounds like reaching, although Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
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.
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post #26 of 66
1/5/09 at 8:50am

Re: Let The Right One In

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!
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post #27 of 66
1/5/09 at 8:55am

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricSchulz
but the guy from E! named "Let The Right One In" his #7 pick of the Ten Best Films of 2008!

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


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post #28 of 66
1/6/09 at 9:47am

Re: Let The Right One In

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
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post #29 of 66
1/6/09 at 10:04am

Re: Let The Right One In

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricSchulz
but the guy from E! named "Let The Right One In" his #7 pick of the Ten Best Films of 2008!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidPla
I don't know if I would consider that a positive endorsement
Ben Lyons.

When the new hosts took over, I might have said the same thing. But I was impressed with their lists, each of which has some unexpected choices. Lyons' entire list was:

Quote:
10 In Bruges
9 Miracle at St. Anna
8 The Reader
7 Let the Right One In
6 Frost/Nixon
5 The Dark Knight
4 The Wrestler
3 Milk
2 Slumdog Millionaire
1 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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.)
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post #30 of 66
2/27/09 at 10:20pm

Re: Let The Right One In

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: Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
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?
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