Let Me In (2010)

norrie rugger

Basq wrote: »

God, I completely forgot about that.. they were shocking!

For anyone who didn't know about this..



VS

Which is what is part of my problem. I am always worried that I am getting something this bad

norrie rugger

norrie rugger wrote: »

Which is what is part of my problem. I am always worried that I am getting something this bad

It's rare that such abominations are let through but sadly not that rare. Ghost in the Shell Innocence is pretty much unwatchable with the subtitles included in the Blu Ray. It makes you wonder if anyone bothered to check the release before it was released. I tried contacting the company behind the release but they didn't even have the decency to respond and are not offering a disc replacement program.

At least companies such as Arrow are ready to admit when they mess up, anyone who bought the initial pressing of the Beyond can get a replacement disc no problem. A move which made me very generous toward their releases, even when superior releases are available I find myself picking up the Arrow release as I know that if there's a problem it won't be a bother getting it sorted.

Sad Professor

The poorly translated subs was isolated to the US DVD/Blu-ray release. The UK Blu-ray that I have is perfect and has a commentary track to boot.

As for subtitles distracting you from the image, I'm not sure I agree. Maybe if the film is very talky, which Let the Right One In isn't. But in many cases with a subtitled film I find myself focusing more on the images. In the case of LTROI, I can't speak Swedish so I can't really assess how well the actors delivered their lines, but that just made me focus more on their facial expressions and body language.

In fact, watching the remake I couldn't help but notice how inferior the film was visually compared to the original. Alfredson has a very strong sense of composition and knows how to use body language and makeup to maximum effect. Reeves is good at the broad stuff, but I found it striking how he copied the composition of the original in many instances but completely missed some of the most visually powerful moments.

Still, these two films are fascinating to compare just as an example of the many subtle things that a director can do to totally change the tone and meaning of a film.

johnny_ultimate

The 'hospital' sequence stands out as the worst moment in the remake. In the original it was one of the most haunting, beautifully composed shots in the film. Here, the CGI is beyond dodgy. But then there's that fantastic shot in the car which an extremely cleverly filmed setpiece. On the whole though, it definitely loses some of the subtlety of the first, but is definitely far from a bad film or remake.

I always feel that subtitles are the only way to watch world cinema. Indeed, bad subtitles aren't something I've come across all that often. There are people who can't read them, yes, but for everyone else it's the best solution to the problem until we find actual Babel Fish somewhere out there. Distracting? Very occasionally (I tend to find myself forgetting it's even subtitled within the first five minutes) but dubbing is many times more distracting and unnatural. I still think the remake culture stinks of laziness though, and resources would be better spent raising audience awareness and acceptance of foreign cinema than simply spending millions remaking it in a different language. The result are expensive and often redundant films designed to appeal to an audience that reject the usually superior original merely on the basis that they have to do some reading. And there are certainly times in Let Me In when you can't help but feel you're watching a worse photocopy of the original (pool scene, anyone?)

Sad Professor

One thing that really annoyed me in the remake was the scene where Owen finds a picture of Abby with a young boy with a birthmark on his face. The same birthmark that "The Father" has. I mean, WTF? The original film left the relationship between Eli and Hakan ambiguous. I always sensed dark undercurrents from it, but on the commentary track the director suggests that Hakan might have been a former childhood love of Eli's. But the important thing is he doesn't spell it out in the film so you free to have your own interpretation. What possessed Reeves to change this to make it so blatant?

Handsome Bob

I bought this on blu ray and while it looked beautiful, it didn't quite carry the tension of the original.

That being said, I have to disagree with the posters who said Abby wasn't creepy. I mean when Owen sees the picture of Abby and "The Father" as a child, it said an awful lot about Abby. Like the original, I didn't really feel it was a happy ending. I couldn't help but feel that Owen was setting himself up to become the new "Father".

Sad Professor

Handsome Bob wrote: »

Like the original, I didn't really feel it was a happy ending. I couldn't help but feel that Owen was setting himself up to become the new "Father".

**Spoilers ahead**

In the remake, arguably yes, but not in the original. Reeves somewhat heavy handily draws comparisons between Owen and “The Father”, strongly suggesting that Owen could be a future serial killer, but the original implies the opposite IMO.

Pay attention to the staging in the scene at the end of the original when Lacke finds Eli in the bathtub. If Alfredson wanted to suggest that Oskar is a future serial killer this was the time to do so. However, Oskar when faced with Lacke actually lowers his own knife. Then when Eli attacks Lacke, Oskar walks away (turning his back on the violence) and throws the knife on the floor. In the following scene at the pool he is also very submissive toward the bullies and puts up no struggle whatsoever, a complete reversal of his earlier aggressiveness.

In contrast, in the remake, Owen is fascinated by Elias Koteas’s death and stares into his eyes as he dies. He doesn’t have a knife to throw away, so he doesn’t renounce violence as clearly as Oskar does. And unlike Oskar, he puts up one helluva a fight in the pool scene.

I might be reading too much into this, but Alfredson’s use of props and body language in the original is very specific and has a lot of meaning. I think the fact that Eli comes back for Oskar at the end and kills to protect him suggests if anything that she is the new Hakan. Although what the future holds for either of them is a mystery.

marklazarcovic

Just rewatched after a few years,it really is a fantastic film,I've seen both,the chemistry.is amazing for child actors,such a dark beautiful movie.