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More reflections on LMI and LTROI

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:15 pm
by BurgerPrince
Last week, I came across a thematic analysis of LMI and LTROI on WTI's Facebook page. It helped lead me to re-watch Let Me In for the first time in a few years on Sunday. Since, then I've commented elsewhere about how it illustrates losing innocence, sharing some criticism of the film, and why I still think Owen would turn. One element that stood out to me from the analysis was the contrasting religious dynamics between the two movies. Religious overtones are observable throughout LMI while absent in LTROI. In the book, Staffan's religious devotion repulses Tommy. Reeves commented that the irreligious nature of Blackeberg had "left people completely unprepared for what was going to happen there."
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I didn't go to church growing up. Looking back, I think it left me unprepared for dealing with evil in my early adolescence, which I also think is why LMI resonated with me so strongly back then. Ironically, Reeves partially inverts the theme, demonstrating how religion was used to externalize evil and internally overlook it. Owen's mother intoxicated herself on televised sermons while neglecting her son. The "notion that evil is somehow other, outside us," Reeves said, left Owen "very confused about what that says about him." He also described Abby was an "unleashed" version of Owen. When she kills the detective, he doesn't just back away in fear -- he steps in to help her.

An interesting touch I noticed was Owen's eyes lighting up the way Abby's did when he spied on his neighbors. LTROI's cinematography is more beautiful, showing off Sweden's natural landscape while retaining an appropriately cold atmosphere for the story. LMI features red and gold more prominently, respectively at certain indoor (Owen's apartment) and outdoor locations (the apartment complex and school). The latter aspect seems to stem from unfiltered light pollution. You can see it in a production shot of the film:

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Ironically, when I first saw LMI, my room was dimly lit the same way. (Small yellow lamp, red curtains.) Whether or not intentional, I think the film's lighting suits the story's critique of suburbanism. It also has its own type of beauty, especially in the snowfall. The ambulance scene did an amazing job of showcasing New Mexico's landscape.

The soundtrack was best in LTROI -- it was subtle yet effectively conveyed the film's mood while maintaining an organic theme. I used to fall asleep to some of its songs. LMI's soundtrack tended to be overbearing sometimes. Its melodies weren't as consistent and some weren't memorable, but others were done really well. The tracks for the intro, the horror scenes, and especially the ending were really good.

Re: More reflections on LMI and LTROI

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:11 pm
by jetboy
I was brought up Catholic and maybe that's one of the reasons I resonated with LTROI. Religion likes to hijack love and anything good, as if God is only in some building with a cross on it. LTROI showed that love can be found even in the darkest of places. I think that's why the color palette is more stark in LTROI like the pure white snow against the pitch black sky and maybe Oskars white blonde hair vs Eli's black hair?? The warmer colors of LMI I think convey the muddying of the waters. LTROI is about love itself, using the story of Oskar and Eli to convey it almost symbolically. I think LMI is more about how complicated love is to the individual feeling it. Is it real or am I being used etc..

Hello all Infected

Re: More reflections on LMI and LTROI

Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 1:34 pm
by danielmann861
Man I haven't seen LMI in so long...try release year was the last time I rewatched it. Between the two, I do find myself just going back LTROI more often.

I don't know if my opinion would have changed on LMI. The last thing I remember thinking about it was it was just plagued by being way too "me too" about itself. (Not the #metoo movement, more so "look at me, I can do that too")

I mean my hate boner for it has long since died. I really was an obnoxious prick on IMDB about it at times :lol: :lol: :lol: (ahhh, to be young and stupid) but yeah, I haven't seen it in so long and I honestly don't know what I would think about it now. Maybe I should go back and rewatch it at some point and see if I feel any differently about it.

Re: More reflections on LMI and LTROI

Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:47 pm
by sauvin
danielmann861 wrote:
Sun Nov 07, 2021 1:34 pm
Man I haven't seen LMI in so long...try release year was the last time I rewatched it. Between the two, I do find myself just going back LTROI more often.

I don't know if my opinion would have changed on LMI. The last thing I remember thinking about it was it was just plagued by being way too "me too" about itself. (Not the #metoo movement, more so "look at me, I can do that too")

I mean my hate boner for it has long since died. I really was an obnoxious prick on IMDB about it at times :lol: :lol: :lol: (ahhh, to be young and stupid) but yeah, I haven't seen it in so long and I honestly don't know what I would think about it now. Maybe I should go back and rewatch it at some point and see if I feel any differently about it.
Times change, people change, personal circumstances change; likes and dislikes change, and sometimes we look at things we used to love or hate with new eyes or listen to old things with new ears. I think it's sometimes instructive to look at old stuff and see how much our reaction to it might have drifted and try to figure out what caused the drift where it happens.

I remember going to see LMI on the Big Screen regretting that I hadn't seen LTROI on it, and my two initial negative reactions to it were "it's all YELLOW!" and "the music is too SCREECHY!" However, Abby's greater "slinkiness" eventually offset Eli's nearly seamlessly wooden presentation to yield two somewhat different windows into the character that JAL created and gave us a slightly off-angle perspective into what that kind of life must be like.

I say give it a shot! See what might have changed for you!

Re: More reflections on LMI and LTROI

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:10 am
by danielmann861
So I finally went back and watched it. I actually watched it last night.

I tried to keep my mind free of all bias and just accept it for what it is. Which is a different take on a familiar story.

I can't say its a bad film. It's actually very well made for the most part and is probably up there with The Ring in terms of being a decent remake. But again, much like The Ring, I have issues with the way it does certain things. I think I will always prefer the subdued and subtle nature of Alfredson's film.

The "me too" problem is still there for me. No matter how much I try to block Alfredson's film out of mind, I just can't help but see the "me too" factor. But that's a problem with Alfredson's film being so burnt into my brain at this point.

But lets not focus on that. Let's focus on what LMI does right.

I do think that LMI is a little closer to the book in terms of the Pulp-Horror tone it has. LMI does feel more like a horror film with its visual design and choices. Whereas Alfredson's film feels more like a Drama first/Horror film second. Kudos to Reeves on tone. The film is far moodier than I remember it being. Although I still don't really like the orange color palette but whatever.

I actually do like the car sequence in LMI. When I first saw it way back when, I thought it was garish and loud for the sake of being in your face. But on this most recent re-watch, I actually kind of appreciated it more for what it was.

I still don't really like Chloe Moretz as Abbey. But I still think this all just boils down to the fundamental change in story. That being Abbey is most certainly grooming Owen in this take. It's just hard to overlook that and it is still hard for me to like Abbey as a whole. I still think Kodi Smit McPhee as Owen is a mostly fine pick though. Same with Richard Jenkins. I still think Richard Jenkins steals the show from everyone in this movie and I wish they had given him more to do or more character to explore. He's so damn good in this movie and I really do wish they had given his character more.

As such, I still feel the same problem lies for LMI. It's stuck between being faithful to the original film while strengthening certain interpretations but not going far enough with those changes to really make it interesting on its own two feet. I walked away this time feeling less annoyed by those changes and more disappointed it didn't go further with them to truly make it its own thing.

Other things I liked? I still like the change in bullying. In the original film, it's much more psychologically driven. As in they own Oskar mentally and he is at a point where he literally has no self worth and that's the worst torment of all. Whereas I do like the change to it being more physical in the American version and truer to the book in that sense. Neither is a bad take, but I did like the more physical approach in the American version.

I still think I prefer Alfredson's take on Abbey's vampire-state though. Reeves full on vampire-make up is nice and all but I don't know...I like the off-kilter take Alfredson had a little better.

I guess at the end of it, I still had a lot of the same thoughts I had back then. It's not terrible. But for someone who fell so madly in love with the original film, it just never elevated beyond being very "me too." And the few changes it does make are kind of interesting but almost at odds with it trying to remain so faithful to the original film that you almost kind of wish it just did take its own direction.

Anyways, remove my bias for LTROI and I would say LMI is up there with The Ring in terms of being a decent remake. But much like The Ring/Ringu, I still find myself liking LTROI over LMI as a whole.