Isn’t Sweden supposed to be a nice place?
It took us a solid year or so to finally watch what everyone was calling, ‘the best’. It didn’t take long to realize that we had indeed been missing something very, very special.
First matter of discussion. This movie feels timeless. Although it is very clearly set in ‘82 or something, this movie was made to wear. We know for a fact that twenty years down the line this movie will hold as a personal favorite. Not to mention, the fashion in Sweden in the early eighties is very mid-seventies Americana, and it all looks so god damn amazing.
Secondly, regardless of this being a vampire flick this movie is creepy. We can personally say that seeing a man hang another man by a tree and pursue in a LOT of bloodletting is a little stomach turning with or without creatures that lure you into dark alleyways only to suck your blood. Just the idea of a vampire killing a human is a little more romanticized than a middle aged man trying to blood-let someone FOR a vampire.
The absence of horror-cheese made Let The Right One In feel eerily real. Although it’s important to remember, and we’ve said this before, that when watching foreign films, as a foreigner, you lack the ability to understand what’s shitty acting and what’s true to life. As far as we can tell, this movie is real feeling because of the great acting, but as far as we know, it could be considered a shitty monster movie in it’s home country.
In situations like this, I laugh it off. Especially if it’s chillingly creepy. For example, the first time someone showed me [REC] I laughed at all the scary parts as though it was another run of the mill shit zombie movie. The first time I watched it with Becca, we peed our pants.
***SPOILER***Also, wondering if anyone else is ever going to mention the vampire vag? Gross! Greg Explosion told me that in the book, Eli is a boy…which means…the v.v. is actually dick scars. Gross.
Don’t wait a year to watch it. Watch it now.
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#1 by Al on August 20, 2009 - 8:25 pm
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“Although it’s important to remember, and we’ve said this before, that when watching foreign films, as a foreigner, you lack the ability to understand what’s shitty acting and what’s true to life. As far as we can tell, this movie is real feeling because of the great acting, but as far as we know, it could be considered a shitty monster movie in it’s home country.”
I strongly disagree. Truly great acting transcends language, as does truly terrible acting. To me, what makes an actor great is there ability to communicate with or without words. Am I wrong?
#2 by frostmedia on August 21, 2009 - 8:51 am
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Al, there are exceptions to every rule. But in a modern world, where things are just force fed in front of you, most people see a foreign film and immediately say how ‘true to life’ it was. This is because of ALL of the subtle movements in body language that can not be determined by people outside of it’s culture. I also agree, a great actor SHOULD transcend a language, but let’s also be honest with that statement…there AREN’T a lot of great actors…more specifically in HORROR movies.
I think to prove my point further, Al, you should rent a foreign film, watch it with the ENGLISH dubbed track, as well as with ENGLISH subtitles. Go ahead and watch what an AMAZING difference there is in how the movie is portrayed in front of us. Take for example a movie like KUNG FU HUSTLE. Most definitely a ridiculous movie, but with the English subtitles on it’s a JOKE! If you watch it in it’s original language it becomes a movie that is FAR cooler and more entertaining.
Also, do you think if BILL MURRAY played his now standard, overly sarcastic and dry character in a foriegn film that it wouldn’t be lost in translation along the way?
I do appreciate your feedback. But I still hold true to my guns.
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