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This has been an idea circling my brain for quite a while now. Reviewing movies I've already seen!
now originally I was just gonna pick a movie at random off my shelves (theres lots of them) and rewatch it, then review it. but that seemed biased. so I found a completely random movie generator online, went to it and hoped it gave me something good.
It gave me Let the Right One In.
My 5th favorite movie of all time. I'm not lying, this thing knew me. I then rerolled and got a movie from the 50's no one's heard of. so I went with Let the Right one In.
so how this is gonna work is I'll watch the movie again. (If I need to) then write a review of it! I'll be adding in a few more offshoot critique categories to these ones as well, such as "does it still hold up?" where some movies will utterly fail. they may have been great back in 1998, but now, not so much.
I'm also gonna buck the trend of Pros and Cons, just to differentiate it a bit from my new movie reviews.
I'm actually rather excited about this Idea, I have a list of movies wet up to review, so without further ado, lets Let the Right one In!
One final note on these retro reviews. I'm doing these under the pretense that most people have seen them already, so Spoilers will be abound in most of them.
The Good:
First off, if you can't already tell i absolutely love this movie. It's been a few months since I've watched it, But I honestly don't need to rewatch it. it's one of those movies that just hit me and pulled me in from the very first shot.
which is snow falling, literally just snow falling.
Let the right one in is an extremely subtle movie. the whole thing is done with a very quiet and somber tone, and keeps up a creepy kind of tension throughout it without ever devolving into any horror cliches or needing to be overtly gory or extreme. It takes a spectator view of the violence, which makes it even creepier and skin crawling when the gore actually does show up late in the movie.
So besides the very unnerving, yet somehow calming feel to the movie this movie has some very impressive acting. The two leads are great as Eli (Elias) and Oskar. Particularly Lina Leandersson as Eli. She has an air of naivety and innocence, yet also a very haunted feel to her. I'll get into her character a bit more in a later part of the review. Now Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar is the opposite, while he's still naive he also feels like a child that's beyond his years. then for some scenes he feels like a child. It's a very odd pair of acting roles, especially for child actors.
One other thing I really liked was the way they did the vampirism. it's not gimmicky like Twilight, nor is it gritty and gruesome like 30 Days of Night or the Blade series. Eli's Vampirism feels more like a curse, she never really vamps out, and when she does you feel bad for her. especially when it's with Oskar in the basement room. I've always liked how Oskar teases her about it. for example not inviting her in and watching as she starts bleeding. (my personal favorite scene) but then he realizes that she's in pain and wants to protect her. somehow it makes you feel for this character who really shouldn't be sympathetic.
The Bad:
I'll be honest, this movie will be extremely lacking in bads. I personally loved everything about it. Everything.
But if I must come up with a few negatives i can. For example, the Pacing. It's a very slow paced movie. there is hardly any action throughout and when there is it's so subtle that most people don't catch it. This is not a movie for short attention spans.
It's also in Swedish, with subtitles. not a problem for me, but well, some people can't read. how do dyslexic people watch foreign films?
The Ugly:
This is a special category. It's for things that I'd like to point out that aren't particularly good or bad, and over the years I've heard lots of complaints about. let's go.
The fact that Eli is actually Elias. Now, i get that 80% of the audience never noticed this. but I've read the book. I love the book. and in the book there is a whole chapter about a young BOY named Elias. it goes on to reveal that this boy was turned into a vampire. then for the next few decades he was repeatedly raped and tortured by his alpha. or whatever you call the vampire that converts you. anyway at some point the alpha was bored with him and wanted him to be a girl, so Elias got castrated and sewn together.
theres a reason this is under 'the Ugly'
anyway, from there Elias was renamed Eli. (Elly) he eventually escaped and ran away, getting Hakan to be her father figure to help get her blood to drink.
now what many people don't see is after Eli walks in and starts bleeding everywhere because Oskar didn't let her in, there is a split second shot of her (I'm using Her because she's Identified as a girl) putting on a shirt, and a short shot of her vagina...or, post castration scar....trust me, it goes goes the wrong direction...
anyway that is the only reference to the transgender storyline in the movie. besides the ambiguous 'im not a girl' lines that can be taken as 'im a vampire' rather easily.
I love the fact that they kept in this plot point. it adds a sense of depth to the story that you wouldn't get otherwise.
Another odd plotline is the relationship of Hakan to Eli. It's very subtle but he's actually her lover. well, kinda. he first met Eli when he was young (like Oskar) and he fell in love with her. and for a very long time he's been taking care of her, getting blood for her. making sure she's safe. that kind of thing. well he dies. Eli needs a new keeper, so she turns to Oskar, who will ultimately become an old man too, and die.
this point gives the movie a very bleak outcome. The fact that Eli is just using Oskar as a replacement for Hakan is quite a bit different than Oskar's point of view, where he's running away with his girlfriend.
Comparisons:
No-one can review this movie without mentioning the remake. I can't either. Even though I enjoyed the remake. it's nowhere near the level of the original.
Let Me In starring Chloe Grace Moretz is extremely watered down. besides one really cool car crash shot it has no stand out moments. Eli is renamed Abby, her backstory is gone, her hermaphroditic storyline is gone. She's glammed up so she's attractive, where as Eli is portrayed as simply a kid, and shot like a boy instead of a girl. Abby is attractive.
Oskar is now Owen. he's almost the exact same.
And the vampirism is now a hyperactive lizard. She springs on people like a monkey and grows scales. The hell is that? all subtleness is removed and replaced with shock value. sigh.
Final Notes:
I'm happy I rolled this one first, It gave me a chance to fully explain my love for it in a way i cant do otherwise.
FINAL VERDICT: 99
Near Perfect Movie, but definitely not for everyone.
so that was my first Retro Review, not to sit back and watch the views pour in. If you have any ideas for movies to review Post below!
This has been an idea circling my brain for quite a while now. Reviewing movies I've already seen!
now originally I was just gonna pick a movie at random off my shelves (theres lots of them) and rewatch it, then review it. but that seemed biased. so I found a completely random movie generator online, went to it and hoped it gave me something good.
It gave me Let the Right One In.
My 5th favorite movie of all time. I'm not lying, this thing knew me. I then rerolled and got a movie from the 50's no one's heard of. so I went with Let the Right one In.
so how this is gonna work is I'll watch the movie again. (If I need to) then write a review of it! I'll be adding in a few more offshoot critique categories to these ones as well, such as "does it still hold up?" where some movies will utterly fail. they may have been great back in 1998, but now, not so much.
I'm also gonna buck the trend of Pros and Cons, just to differentiate it a bit from my new movie reviews.
I'm actually rather excited about this Idea, I have a list of movies wet up to review, so without further ado, lets Let the Right one In!
One final note on these retro reviews. I'm doing these under the pretense that most people have seen them already, so Spoilers will be abound in most of them.
Retro Review: Let The Right One In
The Good:
First off, if you can't already tell i absolutely love this movie. It's been a few months since I've watched it, But I honestly don't need to rewatch it. it's one of those movies that just hit me and pulled me in from the very first shot.
which is snow falling, literally just snow falling.
Let the right one in is an extremely subtle movie. the whole thing is done with a very quiet and somber tone, and keeps up a creepy kind of tension throughout it without ever devolving into any horror cliches or needing to be overtly gory or extreme. It takes a spectator view of the violence, which makes it even creepier and skin crawling when the gore actually does show up late in the movie.
So besides the very unnerving, yet somehow calming feel to the movie this movie has some very impressive acting. The two leads are great as Eli (Elias) and Oskar. Particularly Lina Leandersson as Eli. She has an air of naivety and innocence, yet also a very haunted feel to her. I'll get into her character a bit more in a later part of the review. Now Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar is the opposite, while he's still naive he also feels like a child that's beyond his years. then for some scenes he feels like a child. It's a very odd pair of acting roles, especially for child actors.
One other thing I really liked was the way they did the vampirism. it's not gimmicky like Twilight, nor is it gritty and gruesome like 30 Days of Night or the Blade series. Eli's Vampirism feels more like a curse, she never really vamps out, and when she does you feel bad for her. especially when it's with Oskar in the basement room. I've always liked how Oskar teases her about it. for example not inviting her in and watching as she starts bleeding. (my personal favorite scene) but then he realizes that she's in pain and wants to protect her. somehow it makes you feel for this character who really shouldn't be sympathetic.
The Bad:
I'll be honest, this movie will be extremely lacking in bads. I personally loved everything about it. Everything.
But if I must come up with a few negatives i can. For example, the Pacing. It's a very slow paced movie. there is hardly any action throughout and when there is it's so subtle that most people don't catch it. This is not a movie for short attention spans.
It's also in Swedish, with subtitles. not a problem for me, but well, some people can't read. how do dyslexic people watch foreign films?
The Ugly:
This is a special category. It's for things that I'd like to point out that aren't particularly good or bad, and over the years I've heard lots of complaints about. let's go.
The fact that Eli is actually Elias. Now, i get that 80% of the audience never noticed this. but I've read the book. I love the book. and in the book there is a whole chapter about a young BOY named Elias. it goes on to reveal that this boy was turned into a vampire. then for the next few decades he was repeatedly raped and tortured by his alpha. or whatever you call the vampire that converts you. anyway at some point the alpha was bored with him and wanted him to be a girl, so Elias got castrated and sewn together.
theres a reason this is under 'the Ugly'
anyway, from there Elias was renamed Eli. (Elly) he eventually escaped and ran away, getting Hakan to be her father figure to help get her blood to drink.
now what many people don't see is after Eli walks in and starts bleeding everywhere because Oskar didn't let her in, there is a split second shot of her (I'm using Her because she's Identified as a girl) putting on a shirt, and a short shot of her vagina...or, post castration scar....trust me, it goes goes the wrong direction...
anyway that is the only reference to the transgender storyline in the movie. besides the ambiguous 'im not a girl' lines that can be taken as 'im a vampire' rather easily.
I love the fact that they kept in this plot point. it adds a sense of depth to the story that you wouldn't get otherwise.
Another odd plotline is the relationship of Hakan to Eli. It's very subtle but he's actually her lover. well, kinda. he first met Eli when he was young (like Oskar) and he fell in love with her. and for a very long time he's been taking care of her, getting blood for her. making sure she's safe. that kind of thing. well he dies. Eli needs a new keeper, so she turns to Oskar, who will ultimately become an old man too, and die.
this point gives the movie a very bleak outcome. The fact that Eli is just using Oskar as a replacement for Hakan is quite a bit different than Oskar's point of view, where he's running away with his girlfriend.
Comparisons:
No-one can review this movie without mentioning the remake. I can't either. Even though I enjoyed the remake. it's nowhere near the level of the original.
Let Me In starring Chloe Grace Moretz is extremely watered down. besides one really cool car crash shot it has no stand out moments. Eli is renamed Abby, her backstory is gone, her hermaphroditic storyline is gone. She's glammed up so she's attractive, where as Eli is portrayed as simply a kid, and shot like a boy instead of a girl. Abby is attractive.
Oskar is now Owen. he's almost the exact same.
And the vampirism is now a hyperactive lizard. She springs on people like a monkey and grows scales. The hell is that? all subtleness is removed and replaced with shock value. sigh.
Final Notes:
I'm happy I rolled this one first, It gave me a chance to fully explain my love for it in a way i cant do otherwise.
FINAL VERDICT: 99
Near Perfect Movie, but definitely not for everyone.
so that was my first Retro Review, not to sit back and watch the views pour in. If you have any ideas for movies to review Post below!
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