Let the Right One In (2008) ****
The one thing I keep reading about Let the Right One In is how it's such a unique horror movie. Horror movie this, horror movie that. This has left me baffled. How can you have seen the film and taken it as a horror movie? To be sure, it is a supernatural drama with a few moments of thrill and fear, but a horror movie? No, I simply cannot refer to it as such. While I may play semantics with the critics on that issue, I agree wholeheartedly that Let the Right One In is a special film.
This Swedish gem is set during the blistering cold days of winter. A 12 year old boy, Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is at the mercy of the school bullies. He shuffles quietly around school, talks softly, his innocence and fears diverting his desires for revenge. He lives in an apartment complex with his mother. One day new neighbors move in. A man puts up cardboard and plastic over the windows, and avoids conversation with other tenants.
One night as Oskar sits outside in the playground, a young girl appears, hardly dressed for winter and pale as the snow itself. They talk briefly, and she tells him that they cannot be friends. Yet she comes back again the next night, and again they talk. Oskar goes off to visit his father, who lives in a rural area. Together they enjoy themselves, and Oskar finally appears happy. When he returns he continues his encounters with the girl.
Her name is Eli (Lina Leandersson). She never appears except during the night time. And for good reason. Although the film only slowly explicitly reveals that she is a vampire, it's implicit from the early sequences. In one early scene, Eli's caretaker meticulously packs his gear, then goes to a nearby park where he meets, then chloroforms, then blood lets a passerby. He's interrupted by a dog and its owners before he can finish the job, and runs off. He finds blood for her, so she must not kill herself, at least as often. His failures continue though, and she must quench her thirst. When her caretaker is discovered, he burns himself with acid to hide his identity and keep her safe. He gives himself to her as his final act, now she is on her own.
Although these moments of violence are quite bloody, and at times graphic, they're simply a necessity of the real story, the relationship between Oskar and Eli. She eventually provides him with friendship, maybe even love, as they agree to "go steady." She implores him to stand up to the bullies, which he does, though it may lead him to more trouble in the end. He learns she is a vampire in time, as he must, but he accepts this and her, and finds it in himself to help her.
Let the Right One In is a very quiet and patient film. It rightly focuses on the progression of friendship between Oskar and Eli first and foremost. At its heart, this is a beautiful and tender contemplation. Despite its dark undertones, the film never feels sinister. It retains its sweetness right down to its graphic climax.
Oskar and Eli are wonderfully drawn characters. Both young actors are emphatically true to their characters, making them all the more sympathetic. The director Thomas Alfredson shoots them in muted tones, from their point of view, instead that of an adult. He makes sparse use of music, allowing the crunching of snow, the grumbling of stomachs, the ambient sounds of the world instead to frame the action on screen. It's a very well made film, from bottom to top.
Let the Right One In is a wonderfully unique picture. The movies were made to tell stories like these. I have not read the book the film is adapted from, but it certainly would expand on much of what is only hinted at here. But what is included in the film needs no expansion. This is such a wonderful film as it stands, in its boldness, its darkness, and its touching beauty.
The one thing I keep reading about Let the Right One In is how it's such a unique horror movie. Horror movie this, horror movie that. This has left me baffled. How can you have seen the film and taken it as a horror movie? To be sure, it is a supernatural drama with a few moments of thrill and fear, but a horror movie? No, I simply cannot refer to it as such. While I may play semantics with the critics on that issue, I agree wholeheartedly that Let the Right One In is a special film.
This Swedish gem is set during the blistering cold days of winter. A 12 year old boy, Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is at the mercy of the school bullies. He shuffles quietly around school, talks softly, his innocence and fears diverting his desires for revenge. He lives in an apartment complex with his mother. One day new neighbors move in. A man puts up cardboard and plastic over the windows, and avoids conversation with other tenants.
One night as Oskar sits outside in the playground, a young girl appears, hardly dressed for winter and pale as the snow itself. They talk briefly, and she tells him that they cannot be friends. Yet she comes back again the next night, and again they talk. Oskar goes off to visit his father, who lives in a rural area. Together they enjoy themselves, and Oskar finally appears happy. When he returns he continues his encounters with the girl.
Her name is Eli (Lina Leandersson). She never appears except during the night time. And for good reason. Although the film only slowly explicitly reveals that she is a vampire, it's implicit from the early sequences. In one early scene, Eli's caretaker meticulously packs his gear, then goes to a nearby park where he meets, then chloroforms, then blood lets a passerby. He's interrupted by a dog and its owners before he can finish the job, and runs off. He finds blood for her, so she must not kill herself, at least as often. His failures continue though, and she must quench her thirst. When her caretaker is discovered, he burns himself with acid to hide his identity and keep her safe. He gives himself to her as his final act, now she is on her own.
Although these moments of violence are quite bloody, and at times graphic, they're simply a necessity of the real story, the relationship between Oskar and Eli. She eventually provides him with friendship, maybe even love, as they agree to "go steady." She implores him to stand up to the bullies, which he does, though it may lead him to more trouble in the end. He learns she is a vampire in time, as he must, but he accepts this and her, and finds it in himself to help her.
Let the Right One In is a very quiet and patient film. It rightly focuses on the progression of friendship between Oskar and Eli first and foremost. At its heart, this is a beautiful and tender contemplation. Despite its dark undertones, the film never feels sinister. It retains its sweetness right down to its graphic climax.
Oskar and Eli are wonderfully drawn characters. Both young actors are emphatically true to their characters, making them all the more sympathetic. The director Thomas Alfredson shoots them in muted tones, from their point of view, instead that of an adult. He makes sparse use of music, allowing the crunching of snow, the grumbling of stomachs, the ambient sounds of the world instead to frame the action on screen. It's a very well made film, from bottom to top.
Let the Right One In is a wonderfully unique picture. The movies were made to tell stories like these. I have not read the book the film is adapted from, but it certainly would expand on much of what is only hinted at here. But what is included in the film needs no expansion. This is such a wonderful film as it stands, in its boldness, its darkness, and its touching beauty.