Let The Right One In
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Movie Reviews of Let The Right One In
Movie Review: jazzman
Summary: 5 Stars
A friend at work (who knows my interests in films) told me about this. He knows
I'm into foreign films, serious dramas, and stories of a mature nature. So when he
mentioned "Let The Right One In" was about a 12 year old vampire in Sweden and
a 12 year old boy, I listened and thought, "Yea right, come on man." He raved about
this film, asked me to trust him on this, so I said I would check out the reviews on
it, do some research, and get back with him. Got the blu-ray, and proceeded late
one night to watch it, still thinking it was probably over-rated and over-hyped like
so many movies these days are. I can only say I was totally unprepared for what I
was about to experience. From the first gorgeous shots of the heavy snow falling
(with the opening credits) and ominous tone (and music) to the stunning final few
minutes, I was totally mesmerized and riveted by this film. It had such an effect
on me that I just sat there trying to collect my thoughts, and it stayed on my mind
for several days afterwards. Of course, I've watched it again several times since.
There are so many things and details occurring with this on so many different levels,
you don't catch it all on the first viewing. The music, composed by Johan Soderq-
vist ( a new name to me), is absolutely brilliant. I was totally unprepared for such
a beautiful score with this, considering the subject matter - another astounding
surprise. Being a soundtrack collector, I quickly obtained a copy of the very limit-
ed edition soundtrack (only 500 copies) for my collection - very expensive, but
to my ears, very worth it. The film's director, Tomas Alfredson, took his time in
finding the two young actors for the lead roles (incredibly, their first time), and
their performances are magnificent and totally believable, which helped make this
film so chilling. Make no mistake, this is NOT an easy movie to watch. I found
myself with tears in my eyes at several points, with the cruelty directed at Oskar
and his physical and emotional pain. Many of the film's scenes are absolutely
heart-wrenching to watch. This is what makes the character Eli, who, make no mis-
take is evil, so sympathetic, when bonding with the lonely, abused Oskar and ulti-
mately, on his side in his desperate time of need towards the end - an absolutely
stunning turn of events that leaves the viewer awe-struck with the gruesome AND
beautiful outcome. This film is a genuine work of art that deserves ALL of the
praise it has gotten. There is a sequence in the deleted scenes section of the
disc that has Oskar playfully wrestling with Eli and even slapping her, to which
he quickly asks for forgiveness, after he realizes what he's done, and the very
real danger he could be in, since she could destroy him in a few seconds. But alas,
Eli knows he's only playing, and in the next scene, which I found so poignant and
tender, the two are laying side by side holding hands making faces at each other:
Evil and Innocence in true love at a very young age. Brilliant - I only wish these
scenes had been included in the final print, to add to the depth of their relation-
ship. I only have one other vampire film in my collection (Polanski's "The Fearless
Vampire Killers"), which is great, but that's totally different in tone and depth
from Alfredson's film, which I find far superior. This is a magnificent, beautiful
cinematic work of art that demands your total attention to appreciate its meaning
and intelligence. Again, I was totally blown away by not only the film, but also
the fabulous musical score by Johan Soderqvist. A stunning, beautifully filmed and
directed work of the highest order. I used the original Swedish dialogue with Eng-
lish subtitles on my blu-ray with no problems whatsoever. A masterpiece.
Movie Review: Be me
Summary: 5 Stars
Vampire movies tend to come in two flavours -- either they're gory bloodsucker actionfests, or celebrations of goth hotties tortured by their immortality.
But "Let The Right One In" is neither kind or story. Instead this haunting, atmospheric Swedish movie is a poignant look at a very unique friendship between a young boy and a vampire child. Brilliant acting and a sort of pale, ghostly directorial style make this a vivid experience, but the brilliance is in the story itself.
One winter night, Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) sees a car drop off his two new neighbors. He doesn't pay much attention at first, since he's always either ignored or bullied.
But as he vents his frustrations by stabbing a tree, he sees the ghostly, rumpled Eli (Lina Leandersson), who informs him, "Just so you know, I can't be your friend." She turns out to be as much of an oddball as Oskar -- especially since she only ventures out at night, smells a bit funny, and is unaffected by the winter cold. But despite her odd greeting, the two strike up a friendship.
At the same time, a series of brutal murders are taking place all around town -- and it's no great shock that Eli's companion Hakan (Per Ragnar) is harvesting blood for Eli. Being no idiot, Oskar realizes that Eli is a bona fide vampire, and doesn't intend to let that get in the way of their puppy love. Yet when Hakan's errands go horribly awry, Oskar finds himself to be the only person Eli can rely on.
It's no great exaggeration to say that "Let the Right One In" is undoubtedly the best vampire movie made in many years. While the movie has plenty of more violent moments and a snowy backdrop, director Tomas Alfredson is far more focused on the sweet, eerie relationship between two lonely, otherworldly young children. And actually, one of them is young in appearance only.
Alfredson paints the movie in white, scarlet and black -- pale, wintry light and snow that covers the world, occasional splatters of blood and deep shadows that seem to swallow everything up. And he handles the entire storyline gracefully. Every part of the movie has the same matter-of-fact, unflinching treatment, including the nastier parts -- such as a gruesome blood-harvesting murder by Hakan, or when Eli attempts to enter a house without being invited. Trust me, it's bad.
The most loving attention is devoted to the children's friendship, which manages to be as strange and beautiful as a rare dragonfly. Their nighttime meetings almost have the quality of a dream ("I might not be here tomorrow") and Alfredson keeps their blossoming relationship from ever seeming cutesy or contrived. And it has an innocent quality that transcends the sometimes bloody, disturbing storyline.
And trust me, "Let the Right One In" has no sentimental ideas about children (even vampiric ones). They can be more violent than anyone, because they are more vulnerable than anyone.
The stars of this movie are undeniably Hedebrant and Leandersson, and it's nothing short of amazing that they have never once acted before this movie. Both have the ice-pale faces and deep eyes of otherworldly creatures, making their friendship seem almost inevitable. Leandersson in particular is brilliant at showing the different sides of Eli -- one minute she's shyly asking about a Rubik's cube, the next she's bellowing at her creepy familiar.
"Let the Right One In" is a hauntingly beautiful story of children's friendship and love, wrapped in the most unique vampire stories in many years. A must-see.
Movie Review: Possibly the best vampire movie ever made...
Summary: 5 Stars
... and definitely the best vampire movie I have ever seen. I had chosen that caption before noting the Washington Examiner's comment on the DVD cover: "Best. Vampire movie. Ever." No argument from me. It's been about 60 hours since I caught it on cable, and I'm still in awestruck mode. Rarely does a film leave the viewer with such an impact, pondering its ramifications, for days to follow. It was scarcely 24 hours before I was here on Amazon ordering my own copy, because I am sure it will take many viewings to pick up on all the nuances. It's not only a must-see; it's a must-see again.
It is important to note that Eli is not a sanitized, sugar-coated vampire as in The Little Vampire or Twilight. For all her frail-looking frame, she is the original blood-sucking, wall-crawling, dismembering horror of the Bram Stoker genre. The gore is not the sensationalized or sadistic fare we are used to today; it is coldly mechanical. Not evil, per se; she kills out of necessity, matter-of-factly, because she needs to in order to survive. Being forever twelve, not just an old vampire in a young body, adds a particularly eerie touch. The honest, endearing smiles from a blood-splattered face are terminally creepy. To portray such multiple orders of monstrosity, while retaining much of her humanity, her need -- that she has all but given up hope for -- to be loved, or at least liked, takes a special actor. Lina Leandersson upholds these dichotomies with aplomb. It is safe to say that Kirsten Dunst's honor as the the archetypal child vampire has been usurped.
But this is not just a horror film; it integrates that horror with outstanding beauty. Just as A Clockwork Orange accomplishes the seemingly impossible of provoking sympathy for murderer-rapist Alex, Let the Right One In provokes sympathy for the little girl who desanguinates a man and coldly snaps his neck. The viewer's notions of good and evil, right and wrong, are desperately challenged. The plot is interwoven with complex morality tangles that don't untangle easily. [Plot spoiler for remainder of paragraph!] I knew the film would be richly complex when, behind the little stone building, Oskar embraces Eli after she vomits up the candy she had tried to eat because he had bought it for her, and in their conversation she asks, "If I weren't a girl, would you still like me?" As for her reaction when he cuts his hand to make a blood-bond with her, you'll have to watch that for yourself.
There have been several complaints about the poor subtitling in the DVD release. I am certain that this is release I saw on cable, because it showed the same DVD cover. Now, my Swedish leaves a lot to be desired, but the bits that I could understand matched the subtitles almost exactly. Being aware that in other films, very notably My Life as a Dog, there were a couple places where the subtitles were a pale comparison to the Swedish dialog, I can see where this could be a disappointment to those who had seen the theatrical release. Nevertheless, since it was the DVD version that mesmerized me to this extent, I would advise no one to skip the DVD offering for this reason. It's plenty good enough as is, far better than most.
Let the Right One In, in a flash, jumped to a high position on my list of all-time favorite films.
Movie Review: An Unconventional Story of Friendship and Love
Summary: 5 Stars
"Let The Right One In" is billed as a vampire horror film and I am not a horror movie fan. Even so, this is one of the best films I have seen in a long time. There is some blood and gore, but much of the gore is off camera and the blood seems only that which is necessary to support the story line. In the end, the "horror" aspects of this film are subsidiary to the main theme, which centers on the relationship between the two main characters: Oskar and Eli.
Oskar is a 12 year old boy, whose parents are separated. He lives with his mother in an apartment complex in a town in Sweden and also makes occasional visits to his father. For the most part, he is ignored by his parents. He has limited social skills and no friends at school, where he is bullied by several male classmates. All of this leaves Oskar feeling very isolated.
One cold winter night in the yard outside his apartment, Oskar meets Eli, who has recently moved into the apartment next door and appears to be a girl about Oskar's age. There is something not quite right about Eli and the viewer soon learns that she is a vampire, a fact that is not apparent to Oskar until much later in the film. Eli lives with a caretaker, a man who appears to be about a generation and one-half older than she. His main function is to provide Eli with what any vampire needs to survive - a supply of human blood. The film does not explain the background of the relationship between Eli and her caretaker, but, in any event, the caretaker is out of the story midway through the film, which means that Eli is then as alone and isolated as Oskar.
Initially, Eli tells Oskar that she cannot be his friend, but, as the movie progresses, these two lonely souls form a friendship which steadily grows. By the end, there is a bond of devoted friendship and love between the two. The love is not sexual in nature, but love nevertheless because any truly loving relationship is built on friendship. The film demonstrates in no uncertain terms what real friendship and love mean: never doing anything to harm one another; doing whatever is necessary to assure that a friend is safe and secure; and, if necessary, being willing to give up everything, if that what the friend needs for his or her survival. Can any movie convey a message that is as sweet and poignant as this?
The cinematography is excellent, beautifully displaying the cold Swedish winter, with stark white landscapes. This seems to emphasize Oskar's and Eli's isolation. Also, the musical score is great -- a rich and wonderful compliment to the story.
I recently acquired my copy of this DVD by buying it at a nearby Blockbuster store that was closing and liquidating its inventory. I learned, after my purchase, that I have the earlier version of the DVD that does not have the "theatrical" subtitles. I have watched the movie twice - once with English subtitles and once with the dubbed English audio. If you do find yourself with the earlier version of this disk and are watching the dubbed audio, also turn on the "English Narrative Subtitles," which give subtitled translations to various notes and other written matter which is not orally translated by the dubbed voices.
Movie Review: A Work of Art
Summary: 5 Stars
Let the Right One In is a 2008 vampire movie from Sweden that received overwhelming acclaim from those who saw it. An American-ized remake is due out in 2010, probably due to the vampire-frenzy created by the awful Twilight Saga. The movie-world has been overpopulated with vampire movies lately, but this film serves as that little glimmer at the end of the tunnel; a film that uses the vampire mythology to tell it's story, without ruining the mythology. It's a film that tells a story quite similar to the one told in Twilight, except it's more poignant, more violent, and much more original.
Kåre Hedebrant plays Oskar, a 12-year-old boy with no friends; he's a strange kid, seen playing with knives and acting out violent situations, probably directed at the bullies he's frequently tormented by at school. Outside of his apartment building, Oskar meets a strange, 12-year-old girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) who has recently moved into the building with an even stranger man (Per Ragnar). It's no spoiler to tell you that Eli is a vampire.
This is not a "vampire" film in the traditional sense of the word, however. The film is much more interested in the relationship between Eli and Oskar, who begin to bond in a strange, initially disconnected way. It uses the idea that Eli is a vampire and Oskar is a human in the same way Twilight did, but the two characters are both 12-years-old. That's where Let the Right One In really succeeds. In this relationship, there's actually a poignant representation of a relationship between two pre-pubescent children, vampire aspects notwithstanding. Both are (technically) at an age where they haven't quite reached a level of sexual understanding, but there is a certain understanding of some sort. Their relationship is much more touching and poignant that the silly Twilight drivel.
Both Hedebrant and Leandersson handle this material exceptionally well and, being the stars of the film, they're required to carry it...They do so quite admirably, especially when one takes into consideration that they're the same age as their characters.
Looking beyond that, the story is just very well told if you have a little bit of patience. The story drew me in, although don't expect all your questions to be answered right away or, in some cases, at all. Despite the relationship angle, it's still very much a horror film that exercises much restraint on blood, gore, and special effects. There's a particularly chilling use of makeup in one scene, but other than a severed limb and some blood here-and-there it relies more on atmosphere (particularly it's gray, somber setting), poetic cinematography, and a haunting musical score.
It's an eerie, effective film that is simultaneously haunting, violent, and beautiful. There are those who will find it slow and uninteresting, but it's really a quality piece of horror cinema. Anyone who has grown tired of the tired, clichéd "vampire-romance" movie will find this to be a welcoming breath of fresh air...It's an outstanding film, that truly deserves to be called "a work of art."
GRADE: A-