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

[cat_eyed_fox]

I caught "Let the Right One In" last summer when it was released on DVD and it was amazing. Odd and beautiful and complicated. As a video clerk I took it upon myself to recommend it to all my Indie and horror customers. Also some Twilighters b/c I'm a mean bad woman. I also had a major shit fit when the Hollywood Corporate Powers that Be took it off the shelves for a week b/c of one scene (I'm guessing isn't in the US version) that some people complained was actually illegal porn. It wasn't. It was completely odd and offputting and it was MEANT TO BE! Plus, hello R rating anyone? Anywhoodle I'd love to hear your thoughts on that scene in conjunction with your analysis of the flick after you see the Swedish version

[cleolinda]

Yeah, the Eli/Abby gender thing isn't in there, but it's strangely alluded to, if you wanted to look at it that way--she keeps telling him she's "not a girl," meaning, "a vampire," but there a point where he looks into the bathroom when she's changing clothes and kind of gets this weirded-out look on his face that isn't addressed any further. I wondered if that was acknowledging that scene in the original without actually making it "canon" for the American.

[madeline_may]

Yeah, I guess that's... I don't know. I suppose I'm more disappointed because you and I both know that it was more than likely left out, not because the story went in a different direction, but because American audiences couldn't "handle it".

[cleolinda]

I think that's true, but the more we discuss it here, the more I think they just wanted to leave the pedophilia and mutilation (isn't that what it was? Someone may need to fill me in on the specifics, I've forgotten what I read a long while back) aspects out and put Owen and the father (he doesn't have a name in this version) on equal footing, which changes the theme.

And it allows the second version to do something different. And I like that, because now we have two interesting movies instead of just one.

[notemily]

See, I like the way the original film did it. It didn't say Hakan was a pedophile and it didn't say he wasn't, either. And it didn't say what was going to happen to Oskar after the end of the movie. It let you draw your own conclusions. I liked that a lot. I haven't read the book, though.

Oh, I forgot about the cat scene. Cleo, disregard what I said about the special effects being subtle and well-done, but only for the cat scene. The rest of the movie is still great.

[notemily]

WHAT. They changed the pool scene? THEY CHANGED THE POOL SCENE? That's one of the best WTF moments of the original movie, if not the best.

They have him cutting out stories about serial killers in the original movie, but they don't say why. Another thing the movie subtly alludes to instead of spelling out, which I like, but knowing about the book puts new perspectives on the movie, which I also like.

[cleolinda]

Yeah--what that sounds like to me is that Oskar is already really disturbed, in addition to being bullied. Whereas you're not really shown any disturbance on Owen's part that you can't track directly to his parents' divorce or the bullying. Which changes the way they relate to Eli/Abby and the kind of futures they'll have, really.

[notemily]

Yeah, that's what I mean. What made the pool scene so great is that everything is happening in the background, not shoved into your face. You're just like "what.... OH HOLY CRAP."

[cleolinda]

I will say, the movie doesn't actually say, "Owen is going to have exactly the same life." There is the idea that maybe Owen is different from the other companion, that maybe he's more suited to it, that maybe the "father" never liked killing at all. And a lot of people seem to think that she'll turn him, although I'd think she'd want to have someone who could move around in daylight to protect her. So I don't know. But it's not really as definite as my interpretation of it sounds.

[mudpuppy83]

To be fair, that shot was very jarring to me when I saw the original movie. I couldn't think of any good reason for a split-second shot of Eli's crotch and it was only after researching the movie online did I find out the whole "Eli is actually a castrated boy" thing.

As far as pedophilia and mutilation, well, I'm sure it's implicit in both films--but it's explicit in the book. I just read it recently, after hearing people say it was far superior to the first film. It isn't, in my opinion. Partially because it becomes far too bogged down in extraneous characters we don't give a shit about, and partially because it just plain wallows in unpleasantness.

[redcoast]

That was actually my biggest question about the remake - I was wondering if the MPAA would let the movie show a brief glimpse of a child's genitals, or actually lack of, in this context. I mean, it would be nonsexual in context, and also a special effect instead of an actual nude scene, plus it's important to the plot. But ... the MPAA!

[cleolinda]

And a twelve-year-old character. I don't think there's any way in hell that a mainstream movie could get away with that. Even if the MPAA let it through (which I doubt), you'd have people hearing about it out of context and screaming bloody murder.

What I found myself saying a few comments ago is that Abby is so different when she's in vampire mode, and when she's screaming at her "father" in this terrifying, adult, possibly even male voice, is that it almost comes off as an inhuman thing wearing a little girl's body, if you think about it. "I'm not a girl. I'm nothing." It's still a story about a boy who falls in love with a girl who isn't a girl. It's just that... "isn't a girl" means something very different, and kind of horrifying, in this case.

[redcoast]

From what you said, with the boy giving her a funny look while she's changing, they might have wanted to imply it.

I'd be interested to hear how you think this works in the original, where they dubbed over the actress's voice and what-not. Eli is kind of ambiguously gendered, at the end, but you still get the idea that "not a girl" has much more to do with her being a vampire than anything else. If you think about it, vampires don't have genders or sexes.