Screen Rant » let the right one in

Three More Join ‘Let Me In’ Cast As Shooting Begins

Ross Miller — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:23:27 +0000

Whether fans of the original Swedish language film Let The Right One In like it or not, the American remake, entitled Let Me In, is firmly going ahead, with filming already started a couple of days ago in New Mexico. But just as that news appeared, another piece surfaced that three more actors have joined the cast: Elias Koteas (playing a policeman), Cara Bruono (playing the main character’s mother) and Sasha Barrese (playing a character called “Virginia”). They join the previously announced Kodi-Smit McPhee, Chloe Moritz, and Richard Jenkins.

The basic synopsis for Let Me In is as follows: “In the haunting and provocative Let Me In, an alienated 12-year-old boy (Smit-McPhee) befriends a mysterious young newcomer (Moretz) in his small New Mexico town and discovers an unconventional path to adulthood.” It’s based on the original book “Lat den Ratte Komma In” by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, which was turned into the fantastic Swedish language film, Let The Right One In released last year. I know, the remakes are getting made quicker and quicker…

The cast they’ve assembled so far I have to admit is impressive, with particularly Jenkins (an extremely talented, Oscar-nominated character actor) and Koteas (who you’ll recognize from movies all over the place) bringing some much needed legitimacy to it.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the majority of fans of the the original Let The Right One In are not happy that Hollywood is remaking it. But fear not, as from the filmmakers comes word that it’s not a remake but rather a new adaptation of the book (I’m SURE they would still be making it if the original film hadn’t have been made – sarcasm alert ). The press release reads:

“The filmmakers note that while the new film will pay respect to the original Swedish version, they intend to forge a unique identity for LET ME IN, placing it firmly in an American context.”

And the President and CEO of Hammer Films, Simon Oakes, had this to say about the project:

“This project is very personal to Matt [Reeves - director] as it is to the many passionate fans of the original story… The brilliance of that story deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale and we are excited that the pieces are in place to make that a reality.”

There’s that annoying and pesky “subtitle-phobia” rearing its head once again…

Even though I’m amongst those irritated they’re remaking Let The Right One In (as much as they say it’s not, to me it’s still a remake at the end of the day), I must still admit I’m curious to see how they transfer it from a Swedish to an American context. And on top of that, as I’ve said many times before, much of the success of the film will fall to the feet of the two teenage leads, being played by The Road’s Kodi-Smit McPhee and Kick-Ass‘ Chloe Moritz.

In the original, Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson played their parts so well, with a sweet and subtle dynamic allowing us to really invest in their relationship. Somehow I can’t see this remake keeping all the nuances of the original but rather they’ll play up some of the showier elements (read: dumbing it down).

I really don’t think this will be the case but they really need to prove that remaking such a great film is truly warranted…

What do you think of the latest three cast members to be added to Let Me In, and the overall cast in general? Do you think a remake of Let The Right One In is warranted? Or should it be left well alone?

Let Me In is currently filming and is set for a release sometime in 2010.

Sources: Bloody-Disgusting and Collider

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Three Join Cast of ‘Let The Right One In’ Remake

Ross Miller — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:07:50 +0000

A few months ago we reported on the possibility of The Road star, Kodi Smith-McPhee, starring in the upcoming unnecessary remake of the Swedish language horror-romance, Let The Right One In, this time titled Let Me In (there was a recent short-lived name change to “Fish Head.” Don’t ask…). And today we learn – by way of Heat Vision Blog – that McPhee has, indeed, been cast in the lead role, along with Kick-Ass’s Chloe Moretz as the lead vampire girl and the Oscar-nominated Richard Jenkins as her “guardian.” They fill the shoes of original actors Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragnar, respectively (as shown above).

The producers of Let Me In were reportedly in talks with the two youngsters, McPhee and Moretz, over the summer, but were trying to work out the adult component that, “best served the triangular combination,” with an eye on such things as chemistry and scheduling.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was briefly rumored to be playing Jenkins’ part – however, Jenkins is a fantastic character actor who pops up in movies all over the place. Although I’ve yet to see McPhee in anything, he certainly has the look for the character (along with being about the right age), and Moretz has the right balance of sweetness and “offbeat-ness” that the vampire role requires.

Heat Vision Blog reports that Let Me In follows, “an overlooked and bullied boy named Owen (Smit-McPhee) who finds love and revenge through Abby (Moretz), a beautiful but peculiar girl with the weight of the world on her shoulder, who turns out to be a vampire.” One of the key aspects of the original Let The Right One In was the chemistry between the two “tweens” and I really hope McPhee and Moretz can recreate that on-screen. Otherwise, a crucial aspect of the movie will be lacking and the movie as a whole will falter, if not fail completely.

It wasn’t even a year after the excellent Let The Right One In hit U.S. theaters that plans for an English language remake were put in place, so automatically I’m skeptical. But of the plethora of remakes that are coming down the pipeline, Let Me In is probably one of the least worrisome, notably because the producers of the original, John Nordling and Carl Molinder, are involved. I doubt the remake will be able to do the original justice, but I’m always willing to give any film a shot. You never know, it could turn out to be even BETTER than the original. Unlikely, but anything’s possible…

What do you think of the trio of actors that have joined Let Me In? Do you think there’s any chance this remake could be as good or even better than the original? Or is it simply a remake that doesn’t need to be made, no matter what?

Let Me In is set to start shooting this Fall in New Mexico (despite being set in Colorado), but it doesn’t have a release date as of yet.

Sources: THR’s Heat Vision Blog and Bloody-Disgusting

You Might Also Be Interested In:

2009 Scream Award Nominations

Ross Miller — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:37:08 +0000

The nominees have been announced for the fourth annual Scream Awards, held every year by Spike TV. The decisively more “fan-friendly” award ceremony (compared to the Oscars) honors films from the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic-book genres of movies, TV shows and comic books. The awards are described as, “the first and only global event of its kind,” to honor those genres.

The Scream 2009 nominees were chosen by the Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders, a list which this year includes the likes of Wes Craven, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Eli Roth and Zack Snyder, plus many more. The event will be taped on Saturday, October 17th this year at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, and will air on Spike TV ten days later on Tuesday, October 27th (check for local times).

Along with the awards, the show will also be airing some exclusive, world premiere of footage of some of the most anticipated movies of 2010! Presenters and musicians for the event are to be announced shortly.

Below is the list of a selection of the 32 categories from this year’s Scream nominations. For those of you (all of you?) who want to have YOUR say on which film should win, you’re in luck! Public voting for the awards has opened already and will run right up to October 17th. But before you head off to vote, here are some of the nominees:

BEST FANTASY MOVIE

“Coraline”

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

“Twilight”

“Up”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST HORROR MOVIE

“Dead Snow”

“Drag Me to Hell”

“Friday the 13th”

“Let the Right One In”

“My Bloody Valentine 3D”

“Splinter”

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE

“Dragonball Evolution”

“Punisher: War Zone”

“The Spirit”

“Watchmen”

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

BEST VILLAIN

Eric Bana as Nero; “Star Trek”

Cam Gigandet as James; “Twilight”

Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush; rag Me to Hell”

Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth; “X-Men”

Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman; “True Blood”

BEST DIRECTOR

J.J. Abrams; “Star Trek”

Tomas Alfredson; “Let the Right One In”

Michael Bay; “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson; “Up”

Duncan Jones; “Moon”

Sam Raimi; “Drag Me to Hell”

BEST TV SHOW

Battlestar Galactica

Dexter

Fringe

Lost

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

True Blood

BEST ACTOR IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Ed Asner, “Up”

Hugh Jackman, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Robert Pattinson, “Twilight”

Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Michael Sheen, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

BEST ACTRESS IN A FANTASY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

Scarlett Johansson, “The Spirit”

Jamie King, “The Spirit”

Rhona Mitra, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Kristen Stewart, “Twilight”

Emma Watson, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

For the rest of the nominees you can head over to Spike.com, where you can also cast your votes.

Although some of the awards are truly suspect (how the hell The Spirit got nominated for ANYTHING is beyond me), I still like the overall celebration of the type of sci-fi, fantasy, comic book and horror films we here at Screen Rant revel in Although I won’t go into a specific rundown of who I think should win, I’d like to throw my opinion in the ring for a few of them:

Lost should win Best TV Show (I love Dexter, but it’s no Lost); Best Horror Movie should go to Let The Right One In (I would say Drag Me To Hell, but since that’s a comedy too, Let The Right One takes it for me); Best Actor in a Fantasy Movie Or TV Show should go to Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Best Comic Book Movie should (EASILY) go to Watchmen.

But enough from me, what and who will YOU vote for? As stated, you can cast your votes over at Spike.com, and you can see if the winners match your picks when the Scream Awards 2009 air on October 27th this year on Spike TV.

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Cool Posters for ‘Let Me In’ & ‘The Book of Eli’

Rob Keyes — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:04:26 +0000

Today we’ve got a little collection of the latest posters for you for Let Me In (the remake of Let The Right One In) and The Book of Eli to go alongside the new G.I. Joe posters that we also put up today.

None of these posters are official one-sheets for either of the films in question so to speak as some are special artwork exclusive to Comic-Con and others are concept work for early marketing of one of the films. Check them out after the jump.

/Film got a hold of some concept posters for the upcoming remake of Let the Right One in which were apparently used to help market the film internationally. They look pretty cool for what they represent but I’m not sure the movie itself will be so well received compared to the first one (especially since it’s an instant remake).

Check them out and see what you think:

Continue Reading ‘Cool Posters for ‘Let Me In’ & ‘The Book of Eli’’

You Might Also Be Interested In:

‘Let The Right One In’ Remake May Have Its Male Lead

Ross Miller — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:56:08 +0000

The English language remake of the Swedish vampire romance film Let The Right One In, is very much on its way. Retitled Let Me In (apparently the original title was deemed to long for the US version), the film has Matt “Cloverfield” Reeves attached to both write and direct.

A couple of the things that made the original Let The Right One In (which wasn’t even released in the U.S. before Hollywood got its claws into it) work so well was the performances of the two lead tweens, Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson. The chemistry between the two leads is crucial for the romance to work – so who is in the running to play either of them? Well, there’s still no word on the female (vampire) character, but today we have the possibility for the male lead.

Kodi Smit-McPhee (Romulus, My Father, The Road) revealed in an interview with The Herald-Sun that he’s up for the lead male role in Let Me In. There’s nothing been set in stone yet, but the young actor says that it’s looking good. McPhee is just about the right age for the character (well, plus one year, but I think we can let that slide), which is something I think is extremely important.

Reeves said in an interview recently that the remake will honor the original story of Let The Right One In by keeping the characters at the same age and not making them older to capitalize on the current Twilight craze. I am so glad Reeves has his head screwed on the right way to realize this.

I must admit I’ve yet to see McPhee in anything (well, except for in The Road trailer, but that’s hardly a chance to see how good of an actor he is), but he certainly has the right look in my eyes.

Even though Reeves seems mismatched with Let Me In (especially considering his biggest cinematic claim-to-fame, Cloverfield, is pretty much the opposite of what Let The Right One In is), I must admit I’m curious to see what he does with it. Only time will tell whether swapping destroying the buildings of New York to a (hopefully) subtle, meticulous vampire romance story will turn out well.

I’m not happy about Hollywood remaking Let The Right One In, but the news we’ve heard so far (particularly what Reeves has previously said) admittedly could’ve been far, far worse.

Do you think Kodi Smit-McPhee is right for the lead male role in Let Me In? Are you looking forward to this remake?

Let Me In is currently slated for a release sometime in 2010.

Sources: The Herald-Sun via Moviehole (thanks to Bloody-Disgusting)

You Might Also Be Interested In:

‘Cloverfield’ Director Talks ‘Let The Right One In’ Remake

Kofi Outlaw — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:36:25 +0000

Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield recently sat down for a talk with the L.A. Times regarding his upcoming remake of the cult-hit Swedish vampire romance, Let The Right One In, which has been a sore spot for fans of the original (including yours truly), partly because the original was such a stunning achievement (that’s barely a year old); partly because it’s the Cloverfield guy doing the remake.

However, Matt Reeves is aware of all these gripes and wants to assure Let The Right One In fans that he has his head on straight for the remake, which has been retitled “Let Me In“.

Here’s what Reeves had to say about his own experience watching Let The Right One In:

“I was just hooked…I was so taken with the story and I had a very personal reaction. It reminded me a lot of my childhood, with the metaphor that the hard times of your pre-adolescent, early adolescent moment, that painful experience is a horror.”

If you haven’t seen Let The Right One In (check out my reivew here), it was a Swedish film adapted from a novel by author John Ajvide Lindqvist, about a lonely tweenage boy who goes through life serving as a punching bag for local bullies until the night a strange young girl moves in next door to him. As boy and girl strike a puppy-love romance, boy slowly learns that his new crush is also a vampire.

The premise is interesting in and of itself, but it was the direction of Tomas Alfredson that really elevated Let The Right One In above such other crappy vampire-romance fare like Twilight.

Speaking of The Twilight Saga, Reeves promises fans that the characters of the two adolescent leads (expertly portrayed by Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson in the original) will not be aged into later teenage years in order to try an be more Twilight-relatable. Reeves expresses his staunch commitment to the original and says he will try to honor it in every way. And while I’m sure Reeves is a well-intentioned guy, this is Hollywood we’re talking about and NOTHING is really that sacred… the proof will be in the pudding, as they say…

One final bit of news: Reeves says that Let Me In has been set in Reagan-era Colorado, so at least we can be sure that the remake is going to recreate the snow-blotted world of the original. Good to hear.

Reeves recently turned in a second draft of the Let Me In script and the movie is set to go into production soon. It’s currently slated for a Fall 2010 release. For more of the L.A. Times interview with Matt Reeves, go here.

Source: L.A. Times

You Might Also Be Interested In:

The ‘Let The Right One In’ Subtitles Scandal

Kofi Outlaw — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:39:56 +0000

Okay, so this story totally went over my head, but apparently there’s been uproar around the blogosphere about the U.S. DVD/Blu-ray release of the Swedish film Let The Right One In, which happened to be my favorite of Screen Rant’s international picks of 2008.

In the recent weeks since the DVD/Blu-ray of Let The Right One In hit stores, fans of this chilling tale of prepubescent vampire/human love have been watching and re-watching the movie, trying to take in all the subtleties and gorgeous imagery that director Tomas Alfredson packed into every shot and sequence. However, those repeated viewings also revealed a sinister secret:

Somebody had totally f@#$!d with the English/Spanish subtitles on DVD/Blu-ray versions of Let The Right One In. And that is so not cool (or is it?).

Before we get too deep into this, let me give you a visual example of what has fans of this film crying foul:

The scene depicted below occurs in the film when the “blood hunter” has a young boy tied up in a high school gym locker room ready to be drained, only to be interrupted by the boy’s friends, who come banging on the locker room window, telling their captive friend to hurry up. Depending on the subtitle type (theatrical or DVD) that message gets conveyed in two very different ways:

This is how the dialogue appeared in the theatrical release.

This is how the dialogue appeared in the DVD/Blu-ray versions.

You see the difference: the DVD/Blu-ray subtitles have been totally stripped of character (yes dialogue has character) down to a bare and banal English translation. A couple of high school teens teasing their friend about “servicing himself” when he’s about to have his throat cut is much more rich (and funny, IMO) than a line like “time to go home.” We’d be so lucky if teens started talking to one another that formally and inoffensively.

Since this “scandal” broke, Magnolia Pictures (who’s genre branch, Magnet Releasing, distributed Let The Right One In stateside) has acknowledged fans’ anger over the new translation and have promised to re-release the DVD/Blu-ray with the same English/Spanish subtitles that made the theatrical release so darkly humorous:

“We’ve been made aware that there are several fans that don’t like the version of the subtitles on the DVD/BR. We had an alternate translation that we went with. Obviously a lot of fans thought we should have stuck with the original theatrical version. We are listening to the fans feedback, and going forward we will be manufacturing the discs with the subtitles from the theatrical version.”

Consumers will be able to tell the good versions of the DVD/Blu-ray from the crap ones by looking on the back of the case where the disc specs are listed. Translation purists want to keep an eye out for is something like, “SUBTITLES: ENGLISH (theatrical), SPANISH (theatrical)”; if you see that, then you’re good to go.

Of course, Magnet will NOT be exchanging the “bad subtitles” version of the film for copies of the “good” ones, leaving a lot of eager fans who went out and snatched up Let The Right One In as soon as it hit stores out in the cold.

If selling a crap product wasn’t violation enough, this week Magnolia decided it was necessary to take a public swipe at the circle of bloggers who have been spreading the good word about this film since day one (more than the “real press” did, might I add):

Yes the bloggers are having a field day on this one. Normally they like to pick on the English Dub tracks, but in this case it’s the subtitles. Obviously online tend to get rowdy and bandwagon mentality without knowing all the details.

The current subtitle track is not altering the context of the film at all, in fact it’s a more literal translation than any prior version of subtitles. It’s not a defective or faulty subtitle file. Just more literal and larger in size for the small screen. Both English and Spanish subtitle files were produced for this dvd release. Frankly it’s not all that uncommon to have the subs vary from prior releases, typically go unnoticed as subs are purely a translation of film dialogue.

This wouldn’t have been a blip had it not been for one particular horror blog doing a side by side and claiming that they are wrong. They are not. We are not doing a recall or anything of that nature, again, these are not defective. Title came out two weeks ago and general public don’t notice and don’t care – bloggers are well known for jumping on something, making an issue of it and moving on.

We have decided that based on the feedback that we will be making a running change, so that going forward (once inventories deplete), we will be making that subtitle version available. Options in set up will be; English Subtitles / English (theatrical) Subtitles / Spanish Subtitles”

Wow, that’s quite a reward for those who have used their power of the press to make your film look good. Thanks for that.

I’ll leave it to each of you to compare what Magnolia has to say in their statement against the side-by-side dialogue comparison that appears above. Do both versions of the dialogue seem like “the same thing” to you?

However, I can’t come down too hard on Magnolia/Magnet. I myself rented Let The Right One In on DVD as soon as it was released, eager for a second viewing, and not once was I put off or confused by the change in the subtitles. In fact, I didn’t even know there had been a change until the blogosphere exploded in anger about it! In my viewing experience the film was still poignant and powerful–worth every one of the five stars I gave it in my review last year.

One must also play devil’s advocate and wonder which set of these subtitles truly IS closest to the Swedish dialect of the film. There is always the possibility that the theatrical release had “Americanized” subtitles to make it more accessible to a U.S. audience, while the DVD/Blu-ray adhered more rigidly to the Swedish roots–as Magnolia/Magnet claims is the case (doubt it though). In the end it really comes down to personal prefrence, since the truth will always be lost in translation. So how do you feel about the whole Let The Right One In subtitle scandal? Did it make a difference in your viewing of the film?

Sources: Special thanks to Icons of Fright, Slash Film and Film School Rejects for first breaking this story and for doing the tedious work of gathering side-by-side screen shots to prove the point. Who says bloggers aren’t real reporters?

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Let The Right One In Review

Kofi Outlaw — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:37:25 +0000

Short Version: Let The Right One In is one of the greatest vampire movies ever made; a worthy Oscar contender for International Film of the Year.

Screen Rant Reviews Let The Right One In

I just had to see Swedish director Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of the John Ajvide Lindqvist novel, Let The Right One In, as soon as it hit American theaters this past Friday. There had been such fervent buzz about how good this film was that I, as a fanatical follower of the vampire genre, could not ignore the opportunity to see if the film lived up to the hype.

Well, having seen the film and already scheduled a second viewing, I can tell you that Let The Right One In deserves every amount of praise it’s earned: it sets new standards for what a vampire movie should be, and how horror movies should effect us.

The film mirrors the novel’s plot about a twelve year old boy named Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant). Oskar is not like a lot of his classmates: his pale, awkward looks mark him as an outsider; he has morose hobbies, such as keeping a scrap book of newspaper clippings about the grisly murders happening just outside his small town. His parents are divorced, both mother and father can barely be called adults, and poor Oskar is tossed back and forth between them like the hot potato neither one wants to hold too long. No surprise then that in his private moments, Oskar indulges in violent fantasies about murdering the bullies who torment him every day in school.

Life changes the night that Oskar first meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), a twelve year-old girl who has moved in next door to him in his large apartment complex. Oskar immediately senses that he’s found a kindred spirit: Eli is also a loner, she smells “funny,” she walks around in the snow with no shoes and no coat, she’s never even seen a Rubix Cube (the film is set in the 80’s, mind you), and oddly enough, she only comes out to play at night. Eli quickly takes a liking to oddball Oskar and the two form the kind of friendship/puppy-love bond only ‘tweeners share.

Admist all this young love, a string of ritual slayings begin to occur in Oskar’s small town–right around the time Eli and her “father” move in. The victims are found hoisted up by their feet, their throats slashed, blood drained. It’s no great SPOILER to tell you that the murders are indeed being perpetrated by Eli’s “father.” However, when one of blood-hunts gets botched and Eli’s father has to make a terrible sacrifice (you have to see it to believe it) in order to protect his “daughter,” Eli is left alone, forced to hunt for her own blood supply. Having no other protector Eli turns to Oskar, her only friend, forcing the young boy to make a man’s choice about who he is going to be in a world of predators and prey.

Let The Right One In is a stunning achievement in terms of direction. Unlike so many American horror films, Let The Right One In doesn’t bash you over the head with obvious metaphors or hackneyed plots that barely hold together beyond getting you from murder scene A, to murder scene B. Tomas Alfredson crafts the film like a series of short stories, rather than a whole novel. What I mean by that statement is that Alfredson meticulously packs every scene with detail and nuanced implication, helping every moment to convey so much, while doing so little. Like any good short story, you could take any scene of Let The Right One In and have it stand alone as it’s own short film-and because every scene succeeds so well in telling it’s own story, the movie as a whole is able to present what, on the surface, seems like a straightforward narrative, yet taken in context with all implications surrounding it, the story becomes a complex, densly layered morality tale that resonates in a fundamental way with our emotional compasses. This is all accomplished using the bare minimum of cinematic tools: dialogue in the film is sparse, there is very little ambient music (basically the same eerie tune from the trailer playing out in full), and the stripped down format helps to give the gorgeous visuals extra room to breath–creative space that Alfredson works with a skillful hand only the most masterful directors posses.

Within the context of a horror film, the minimalist approach truly flourishes: before a word is even spoken we’re already deeply invested in Oskar. We sympathize with the pain of each and every hit the boy takes in the schoolyard, yet we can’t help but feel a deep-seeded anxiety whenever Oskar, alone at home, takes his favorite hunting knife out into the yard to fantasize about murdering the classmates who torment him. Twenty minutes into the film, Alfredson has us doing emotional somersaults about whether we’re watching the sufferings of a picked-upon nerd, or one of the Columbine killers (to put it in an American context) having the seeds of a murderer sewn by the abuses of his formative years. By minute twenty-one, when Eli first appears, the movie has achieved one of the near-impossible feats of telling a good vampire story: keeping the human drama elevated above the monster madness.

By keeping things emotionally grounded, and utilizing a “less implies more” approach, Alfredson corners us right where he wants us. Whenever there is a display of violence–be it human on human, or vampire on human–we feel it and it disturbs us. In this era of Hostel, where people can so often watch others get maimed and murdered while still wolfing down their popcorn a handful at a time, getting the audience to feel anything is a feat in and of itself. Let The Right One In forces you to grapple with the psychological weight and violent nature of the survival instinct–and because that weight is being placed on children who are barley at the threshold of adolescence, the gravity of their choices resonates in a profound way that adults (i.e. those no longer “innocent”) could never convey.

Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) In Let The Right One In

Thank Hedebrant and Leandersson for bringing lead characters Oskar and Eli to life so vividly. I can’t imagine another pair of young actors playing these roles. Hedebrant breathes unique breath into what could have been a cliched character: the social misfit. In Hedebrant’s hands, Oskar’s every quirk and awkward glance work to make him a three-dimensional and relatable character. No matter what country you are from, or where you went to school, you knew a misfit kid who was just like Oskar, yet at the same time, not quite him. Leandersson, on the other hand, is a beautiful young actress who is bound for stardom, if she chooses to pursue it. In playing Eli, Leandersson has an ageless stare about her–one that makes you question whether Eli has been a vampire for five days, or five hundred years. To keep the monster grounded in humanity, Leandersson treats Eli’s vampirism like a communicable form of cancer, portraying Eli like the long-time patient of a cancer ward, who wants to be free to explore her adolescence, even if it costs the lives of those around her. This dual rendering of Eli, as both rabid predator and afflicted victim, is a major reason why the film’s climax (and a lot of the more nuanced plot points) works so plausibly. Hedebrant and Leandersson exhibit tremendous chemistry: their relationship is Shakespearean in scale: as complex as a middle-aged couple trying work through the turbulent circumstances of a breast cancer diagnosis; yet still as naive and innocent as that first adolescent crush we’ve all had. Remarkable work from these two young leads.

Let The Right One In is such a good film that after just one viewing I too share Tomas Alfredson’s anger over the American remake that is already underway. This film doesn’t need to be remade: it needs to be dissected, so that more American filmmakers can observe and understand the fact that it is subtlety and nuance that help films transcend their medium; horror filmmakers need to be reminded that good horror films in fact HORRIFY us by having bad things happen to fully-formed characters we’re actually rooting for. Stock victims and buckets of blood be damned.

Unfortunately, at the moment Let The Right One In is only playing in L.A. and NYC. No word yet on if it will get a wider release in forthcoming months (if it doesn’t, the DVD is due out March 10, 2009, so Netflix it now). The American remake is scheduled for a 2010 release. But don’t wait, see this film now, in its original form. You will so very happy that you took to the time to sink your teeth into it (the obligatory vampire pun).

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Golden Globe Nominations: Little Love For The Dark Knight

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:35:24 +0000

The 2009 Golden Globe Nominations have been officially announced and it looks like The Dark Knight has been almost totally snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

That’s right folks, The Dark Knight received just one nomination: a Best Supporting Actor nod for Heath Ledger’s groundbreaking (and freaky) turn as The Joker. No Best Director nomination for Chris Nolan; no Best Screenplay nomination for Chris and Jonathan Nolan; no Best Original Score nomination (although Dark Knight composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are both nominated in that category for work on two other films).

So, want to see which films stole the slots that rightfully belong to TDK? Check out the list of the 2009 Golden Globe Nominees in film:

BEST DRAMA
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR (DRAMA)
Leonardo DiCaprio – Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

ACTRESS (DRAMA)
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas – I’ve Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges

ACTOR (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell – In Bruges
James Franco – Pineapple Express
Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges

ACTRESS (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson – Last Chance Harvey
Rebecca Hall – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
Waltz with Bashir
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Everlasting Moments

ANIMATED FILM
Wall-E
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Ralph Fiennes – The Duchess

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Kate Winslet – The Reader

DIRECTOR
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road

SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare – The Reader
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt

ORIGINAL SCORE
James Newton Howard – Defiance
Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire
Hans Zimmer – Frost/Nixon
Clint Eastwood – Changeling

ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” by Peter Gabriel / Thomas Newman – Wall-E
“Gran Torino” by Clint Eastwood / Kyle Eastwood – Gran Torino
“I Thought I’d Lost You” by Miley Cyrus – Bolt
“Once in a Lifetime” by Beyoncé Knowles – Cadillac Records
“The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen – The Wrestler

So there’s a lot on this list I’m OK with (like Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise receiving Supporting Actor Comedy nominations for Tropic Thunder, or Kung-Fu Panda getting a nod for Best Animated Film); there are some things on this list I couldn’t care less about (Best Musical or Comedy, anyone?); and there definitely some things on this list that make my head just want to explode.

Forgetting my obvious (and aforementioned) problem with the fact that The Dark Knight has been shut out of nearly every relevant category, I think that a film as wonderful as Let The Right One In was should have earned a Best Foreign Language Film nomination. And how Colin Farrell got a Best Comedy Actor Nod for In Bruges (which also got a Best Picture Comedy nod) will forever be beyond me.

On the flip side, James Franco getting a Best Comedy Actor nod for Pineapple Express is just plain awesome; it’s also good to see Mickey Rourke back on the rise, earning a nomination for his apparently soul-wrenching turn as a washed up athlete in The Wrestler (which I have yet to see). However it’s strange as hell that after so much early buzz Clint Eastwood’s old-man-turned-vigilante drama Gran Torino only got one nomination… for Best Original Song.

Other than that, it seems to be award season as usual. No surprise that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is leading the pack in nominations (after all the tremendous buzz), or that a Sam Mendes domestic life drama (Revolutionary Road) is also raking in the nominations. I haven’t seen Frost/Nixon, but it seems to have impressed the right people, because it’s coming out of left field to grab up a handful of nominations. Might have to get out and see that before Oscar season rolls around.

Speaking of the little gold guy, what do you think about The Dark Knight’s chances at the 2009 Academy Awards, now that you’ve seen the Golden Globe nominations? Do you agree with the list of nominees, or do you feel some great films didn’t get the recognition they deserve? Sound off and let us know.

(You can read the full list of Golden Globe Nominees (Film and Television) by clicking here)

Source: First Showing

You Might Also Be Interested In:

SR (International) Picks: JCVD & Let The Right One In

Kofi Outlaw — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:51:54 +0000

Every now and again I like to do a little cheerleading for films that I think are flying too low under the radar. Last year I made the early prediction that No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood would be Winter’s biggest contenders for Oscar glory; needless to say, these precognitive movie powers of mine have since been proven.

My predictions this time around are a little less grand in scope: I have two international films that I’m offering up for your movie-going considerations, simply because I think you’ll enjoy them. (And satisfying movies with subtitles are hard to come by.)

The two films in question are the Jean Claude Van Damme meta-movie, JCVD, and a chilling tale of vampires and friendship, Let The Right One In.

JCVD

In the late 80’s, God blessed the silver screen with an indisputable example of pure badass known as Jean Claude Van Damme. From 1988 until about 1995, (maybe 1996?) Van Damme was THE white guy you went to, if you wanted to make an action flick where the main character knew the martial arts style of “kick ass now, take names later.” (Bloodsport, Cyborg, Kickboxer, Universal Soldier–need I say more???)

However, by the late 90’s Van Damme’s career had stalled. His kicks lost their kick, his punches their punch, and the flops started rolling out, one after another. (Street Fighter, Lionheart, Legionnaire, Universal Soldier: the Return–need I say more???) By the time The Matrix hit in 1999, ushering in the era of “any actor can learn martial arts,” Van Damme was an action star for the history books–or at the very least, the straight-to-DVD bin at Walmart.

Imagine my surprise then, to see ol’ Jean Claude pop up in French filmmaker Mabrouk El Mechri’s latest project from the Toronto International Film Festival, JCVD. The movie stars Van Damme as… Jean Claude Van Damme. It opens with the less-than-wealthy actor trying to scrounge up some cash at a bank that is subsequently robbed. After Van Damme teaches the bank robbers the art of “kick ass now, take names later,” (in what is apparently a great action sequence,) the the movie goes meta, trailing the fallen star through his troubled personal life, including a bitter divorce and a custody battle for his daughter.

Check out the trailer for JCVD. (Be prepared to LYAO.) If you’d like to know more about it, Alex Billington did a great review for the film over at First Showing.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

There’s been so much good buzz about this Swedish film, which tells the story of a lonely,12 year-old boy named Oskar, who befriends Eli, the 12 year-old girl who moves in next door. Eli quickly teaches Oskar how to stand up to the kids in his school who constantly bully him, even as mysterious disappearances and grisly murders begin to occur around their town. A fan of the supernatural, Oskar soon realizes that Eli, his best friend, is a vampire. Basically, it’s a coming of age tale with a little more… bite to it. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Let The Right One In is based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The guys over at /Film have been ranting about how good this movie is for weeks now, and were kind enough to compile the following facts about the movie:

Let The Right One In will be released stateside in New York and Los Angeles on October 24, 2008. No word yet on if it will get a wider release after that.
The DVD is scheduled for release on March 10, 2009.
The movie has already been fast-tracked for an English remake, which will be helmed by Cloverfield director, Matt Reeves.
The English remake is currently slated for a 2010 release.
The director of the original film, Tomas Alfredson, is pissed that his movie is getting the do-over treatment from Hollywood before it’s even had a chance at wide release:

“Remakes should be made of movies that aren’t very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong,” Alfredson tells Moviezine. “I’m very proud of my movie and think it’s great, but the Americans might be of an other opinion. The saddest thing for me would be to see that beautiful story made into something mainstream.” … “I don’t like to whine, but of course – if you’d spent years on painting a picture, you’d hate to hear buzz about a copy even before your vernissage!”

Man might have a point. Check out the Trailer for Let The Right One In and judge for yourself:

So, that about wraps up this installment of “Mr. Outlaw’s hot international picks of 2008.” Let me know if you’ve seen either film, and what your impressions are of both.

Source: Slash Film, Internet Movie Database, Firstshowing.net

You Might Also Be Interested In: