Movies like Let the Right One In
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Decent-novel
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Movies like Let the Right One In
I have been a big fan of LTROI for awhile now and have still not found anything that compares. As LTROI fans, what other movies to hold to the same level or believe are similar (besides let me in)?
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
Comparable in what way? Emotional impact? Craftsmanship? Storyline/plot?
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Decent-novel
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Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
Could any of those things really. Maybe more so plot line and metaphor of a vampire. Just a movie you’ve seen that makes you think of ltroi or a movie that comes to mind as down the same ally. A movie that someone who likes let the right one in would probably like.a_contemplative_life wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:54 amComparable in what way? Emotional impact? Craftsmanship? Storyline/plot?
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
I know there is a thread about this somewhere, but how we'll ever find it--that's another question! 
Maybe someone around here will find it for you. Personally, I am struggling to think of a comparable film.
Maybe someone around here will find it for you. Personally, I am struggling to think of a comparable film.-
a_contemplative_life
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Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
Welcome, Decent-novel. And thanks a_c_l for the link. Here's what I posted there:
Another word about becoming jaded. LTROI has grown in my mind and heart year after year. Even other undeniably great films seem to fall short of Tomas Alfredson's creation.
Musing on your post, Decent-novel, it occurs to me that I have become jaded. I mean that I have inducted so many people into seeing LTROI with me, and not one has become infected, The flip side of that is getting to know and admire so many multifaceted people on this site.Good question, but here's the thing: the aspects that you mentioned -- the scenes seem so grounded and normal and yet are part of an ethereal whole that Hoyt and Tomas have conjured, including the incidental sounds along with the soundtrack -- these aspects are what really make the film hard to compare to other film experiences I've had. I guess Wings of Desire comes to mind. The poem of Peter Handke (Song of childhood). The great cast. Peter Faulk's cameo role.
That love story is surely just as fraught with obstacles for Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Marion (Solveig Dommartin) as the love story in LTROI is for Oskar and Eli.
Another word about becoming jaded. LTROI has grown in my mind and heart year after year. Even other undeniably great films seem to fall short of Tomas Alfredson's creation.
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”
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sauvin
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Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
I'd want to know the same thing: "similar in what way?"
Three blind men looking at an elephant come away saying an elephant is most like a tree trunk, a wall, a vine or a boa (depends on which of these men you ask, and who's telling this story), and even if they're individually wrong, they're right anyway because to the blind dude who gave the elephant's flank a few good slaps, it probably DOES seem like a wall, and if you're the visually impaired dude who hugged one of the elephant's legs, yeah, it probably does seem like an oak to him. The scary thought is that somebody whose eyes are in perfect working order still probably has no idea of what that elephant's totality is like because all he sees is size, shape and colour - he can't tell you what kinds of stories the elephant could tell (if the elephant could tell stories), can't tell you what the elephant might be thinking, what it likes or doesn't like or what its dreams are like.
We're all blind, and each of us carries away a sense of Eli being like a wall or an oak or something.
That said, I'm rather struck by what I find to be strong similarities between LTROI and Leon the Professional (Jean Reno, Natalie Portman), but with some interesting character trait displacements between the Oskar and Eli dynamic and the parallel between Leon and Mathilde (sp?). She's a bullied girl of about 12 hanging out in the stairwell of the apartment building when he comes up the stairs asking "What are you doing?" - only, while Leon is silent, secretive and deadly, he's also the emotional child when compared to Mathilde in the relationship that develops between them. At twelve, she's finished growing up, now she's just getting older, where he admits at fiftysomething (I think) that he's old enough, but he still needs to grow up. Like Oskar and Eli, the love that develops between them is the most basic and enduring kind in a world that otherwise has neither warmth nor sense.
Three blind men looking at an elephant come away saying an elephant is most like a tree trunk, a wall, a vine or a boa (depends on which of these men you ask, and who's telling this story), and even if they're individually wrong, they're right anyway because to the blind dude who gave the elephant's flank a few good slaps, it probably DOES seem like a wall, and if you're the visually impaired dude who hugged one of the elephant's legs, yeah, it probably does seem like an oak to him. The scary thought is that somebody whose eyes are in perfect working order still probably has no idea of what that elephant's totality is like because all he sees is size, shape and colour - he can't tell you what kinds of stories the elephant could tell (if the elephant could tell stories), can't tell you what the elephant might be thinking, what it likes or doesn't like or what its dreams are like.
We're all blind, and each of us carries away a sense of Eli being like a wall or an oak or something.
That said, I'm rather struck by what I find to be strong similarities between LTROI and Leon the Professional (Jean Reno, Natalie Portman), but with some interesting character trait displacements between the Oskar and Eli dynamic and the parallel between Leon and Mathilde (sp?). She's a bullied girl of about 12 hanging out in the stairwell of the apartment building when he comes up the stairs asking "What are you doing?" - only, while Leon is silent, secretive and deadly, he's also the emotional child when compared to Mathilde in the relationship that develops between them. At twelve, she's finished growing up, now she's just getting older, where he admits at fiftysomething (I think) that he's old enough, but he still needs to grow up. Like Oskar and Eli, the love that develops between them is the most basic and enduring kind in a world that otherwise has neither warmth nor sense.
Fais tomber les barrières entre nous qui sommes tous des frères
Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
I agree. It's Oskar and Eli in reverse: Mathilde, even at twelve, is the darker character--the one seeking revenge--while Leon, who is a professional killer, seems the more innocent of the two. Eli shows Oskar how to fight back; Leon shows Mathilde how to fight back using more lethal weapons.sauvin wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:17 amI'd want to know the same thing: "similar in what way?"
---That said, I'm rather struck by what I find to be strong similarities between LTROI and Leon the Professional (Jean Reno, Natalie Portman), but with some interesting character trait displacements between the Oskar and Eli dynamic and the parallel between Leon and Mathilde (sp?). She's a bullied girl of about 12 hanging out in the stairwell of the apartment building when he comes up the stairs asking "What are you doing?" - only, while Leon is silent, secretive and deadly, he's also the emotional child when compared to Mathilde in the relationship that develops between them. At twelve, she's finished growing up, now she's just getting older, where he admits at fiftysomething (I think) that he's old enough, but he still needs to grow up. Like Oskar and Eli, the love that develops between them is the most basic and enduring kind in a world that otherwise has neither warmth nor sense.
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)
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CyberGhostface
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Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
Two Swedish films I can think of...
My Life as a Dog
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089606/
This is a pretty charming coming of age film. The main character is friends with an androgynous girl; although it wasn't intentional I wasn't paying close enough attention to the subtitles and thought she was a boy up until a certain point. So it was kind of a reverse LTROI there.
Alena
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3792884/
This is about a high school outcast and her friend who serves as a dark guardian angel. If you have Shudder it's on there.
My Life as a Dog
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089606/
This is a pretty charming coming of age film. The main character is friends with an androgynous girl; although it wasn't intentional I wasn't paying close enough attention to the subtitles and thought she was a boy up until a certain point. So it was kind of a reverse LTROI there.
Alena
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3792884/
This is about a high school outcast and her friend who serves as a dark guardian angel. If you have Shudder it's on there.
No banaaaanas?
Re: Movies like Let the Right One In
Alena means “alone”...CyberGhostface wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:13 pmAlena
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3792884/
This is about a high school outcast and her friend who serves as a dark guardian angel. If you have Shudder it's on there.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist