So I saw Let Me In

[cleolinda]

I have to preface this by saying--well:

As the Lovely Emily, The Lovely Husband, and I walked out of the theater, and apparently one of her husband's friends was near us, because he shouted out to him, "So you guys just saw Let the Right One In [sic] too?" They talked about it a little back and fort as we crossed the street, and the guy ended with

Comments

[linda_lupos]

Yay! I want to see this version now, too.

Are you planning on seeing the original eventually?

[cleolinda]

I'm dying to; I just don't have a copy yet.

[connielane]

If you have Netflix, it's available on instant streaming.

I saw the original a couple of years ago and loved this version. The only thing is that the new version leans really heavily on things that are much subtler in the original. But then again, the original might be *too* subtle. I mean, I didn't even catch that the man Eli lived with was not her father until afterward when I thought about it and realized he couldn't be (because she's probably been a vampire so long that her actual, human father was long dead).

[cleolinda]

I didn't even mind things like "He's not my father"; the heavy-handedness was really in the music and the thing with the TV. I honestly think that if you could turn off the music, the movie would instantly be 200% more subtle.

[meleth]

I never bothered to find out what "Let the Right One In" was about whenever I heard the name, because I thought it was a romantic comedy, possibly featuring an older woman who had been disappointed in love before. Something like Stella getting her Groove Back.

[shoiryu]

This.... pretty much makes it sound like the remake missed the mark on the entire story, all the way through, on all counts. Wow.

[cmdr_zoom]

And yet, it sounds like it tells a worthy story of its own.

Thanks for the review, Cleo.

[shoiryu]

Yeah I don't know about that.

[cleolinda]

Well, to me it actually makes sense to take the opportunity to tell a different story.

Actually, reading some of the other comments--the aspect of longing and acceptance that the original seems to deal with are here too. Keep in mind that, having not seen the original, I don't know which things to say they left in or changed.

[morganwolf]

Despite not being interested in children of your own, I'm pretty sure you're a better parent than... well, most people whose kids I deal with every day.

The notion of vampirism as a metaphor for the perpetual cycle of abuse/neglect is, I think, spot on; it's probably one of the reasons I liked Let the Right One In so much not just as a film but as a vampire story, when normally I am really, really, profoundly not into vampires. It is a very nuanced story, despite its pretty spare trappings, and I appreciate that tremendously.

Can I ask where your icon is from? It's fascinating.

[cleolinda]

It's Anne Yvonne Gilbert artwork; I think if you search her name on Flickr, it ought to come up.

(Oh, and it's from her Dracula illustrations.)

[cleolinda]

Well, that's one of the reasons I think it's helpful that I haven't seen the original, because I can say without any bias that yes, the American score is annoying. Not because I'm comparing it to anything, but just--seriously, it's annoying.