Let The Right One In
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Movie Reviews of Let The Right One In
Movie Review: A Grimm's fairy tale with fangs
Summary: 5 Stars
Thomas Alfredson's "Let The Right One In" is a sparse, poetic, slim masterpiece of a film which is part Guillermo Del Toro and part Bruno Schulz. For any fan of horror, the supernatural or experimental film this will be like a juicy orange with a little blood flowing out of the center.
Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Let me In [Let the Right One In] [Hardcover] about a 12 year old boy named Oskar (played with an understated melancholy by Kåre Hedebrant) and his newfound "girlfriend" Eli (in a brilliant performance which makes you wonder how old the actress (Lina Leandersson) herself really is. The opening shot of the film is a tide of glistening snow, pulsating in a black canopy night, setting the mood of the dark tale which paints a bleak portrait of human nature and the Darwinian world of pre-teen/early teen relations. (Another thing I admired about the movie is how honest it is about this stage of our lives. People often portray relations between kids as being idyllic. I don't remember it that way at all. While I don't remember anyone trying to drown me, it's not too far.)
Oskar is constantly set upon by bullies and there are shots when the abuse he endures is viewed as Christlike. The cinematography here is perfect. His mother (Karin Bergquist) is of no help to the kid and his father is practically absent.
He is alone most of the time and his recreational activities consist of sticking knives into trees while pretending he is killing his enemies.
Eli appears on the scene in a shot worthy of Bunuel. Alone in the abandoned courtyard of Oskar's apartment courtyard she is fresh from another kill and looms over the child as either a potential predator or a friend. Fortunately for the viewer, she chooses the latter.
The bond that develops between the two is at first informal, cold, but slowly develops. There is a child killer loose where Oskar lives and Eli's dubious relationship with him is never discovered by Eli. After being captured it becomes apparent that the murderer is serving Eli. The question the film leaves one with is thus: is it Eli's intent that Oskar fill this role? Is his destiny going to be as ill fated as the killer? Does she swoop down and save him from a near fatal incident of bullying because they are truly bound or because she needs another servant?
Like anyone else I thought it was a bit much using 12 year olds for this kind of role. However, there is nothing here that is all that perverse, except for one single shot which I found absolutely unnecessary and gross. The reason Alfredson uses kids for the role is not for any nasty reason (if you want an example of that check out some of Larry Clark's movies) but to allow the film a child's imagination. Reminiscent of George Romero's film Martin this is one of the genius takes on the concept of the vampire.
Movie Review: "I'm 12, and have been for a long time." This is a wonderful film, poignant, restrained, a little bloody and one to talk about
Summary: 5 Stars
Let the Right One In is poignant, sad, weird, different, elusive, as well as being a fine movie. Oskar is a blond 12-year-old who lives with his divorced mother in an apartment complex in Stockholm. He's bullied incessantly at school. Neither his mother nor his father seems to have much time for him. He's a quiet kid who dreams of getting back at his tormentors. He doesn't seem to have any friends. Then an older man and a child move into the apartment building. Her name, we learn, is Eli. She's 12 years old, too, pale, and at times looks haggard. Oskar meets her one evening in the playground in front of the apartment complex. Snow is deep on the ground. The weather is freezing. The cold doesn't bother Eli. By now we know Eli is a vampire. Oskar realizes this later.
Let The Right One In is a strange fusion of coming-of-age and horror, but the result is something else. Don't ask me what. It doesn't fit in any film genre I'm familiar with. Calling it `horror" is too facile. Calling it "coming of age" is too shallow. In the course of the movie people will die, drained of their blood. Eli's...what?...protector?...partner?...the older man named Hakan she lives with...will kill for the blood he and Eli must have to survive. He'll die a terrible death himself. Eli will tell Oskar that they can't be friends, yet Oskar yearns for friendship. He asks Eli to be his girl friend before he knows she is a vampire and she asks him if he would like her if she weren't a girl. When he asks her age, she tells him she is 12 and has been for a long time. Oskar's innocence may be part of his protection. Eli is not innocent, but at times she seems as fragile as Oskar. Like the man she lives with, Eli will kill for blood. She must.
Kare Hedebrant plays Oskar and Lina Leandersson plays Eli. I understand that at the time of filming Hedebrant was 12 and Leandersson was 11. Both were nonprofessionals. They are unnervingly natural. Neither makes a single false step. Hedebrant is exactly what a lonely, bullied 12-year-old could be. Leandersson is able to imply things we may not want to know just be being still. I wound up hoping for the best for both Oskar and Eli...but what the best might be could go in a number of directions.
This is a film, adapted from his novel by John Ajvide Linqvist, which invites discussion and interpretation. Not everything is kept clear, and, for me, that increases the sense of elusiveness. Lat Den Ratte Komma is a wonderful film.
Excuse me, however, if I reach for a barf bag. The director of Cloverfield, Mat Reeves, has evidently signed to make an English language version for Overture Films and Hammer Films. The chance that something unusual, unsettling and restrained will be turned into butcher shop leftovers is just about, I'd guess, one hundred per cent. See this movie while you can. Since it probably will be shown in only a handful of American theaters, I recommend you buy it sight unseen when it comes out on DVD. It's that good.
Movie Review: Awesome Movie. Incredibly Disappointing DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
To describe this move as a horror movie is to miss the primary themes underlying it. I'll try to limit repeating what others have said about its background. Oskar lives in a stark, lonely world where nobody seems able or willing to take the time to understand the pain caused him by cruel classmates at school. His parents display affection but remain distant, too busy with their own worries. Oskar senses this and does not confide in either parent. He has nobody, no one to feel his pain. Until Eli.
Like Oskar, Eli holds a dark secret of her own. She must kill to survive, yet there is a very human side to her that does not delight in inflicting pain. Nobody, not even the one person who knows her secret, understands the conflicts in her heart, her desire not to be cruel combined with the need to kill in order to live. Eli's affection for Oskar comes through in small yet significant gestures that viewers may not realize until after the movie. At one point, she even risks her existence to show Oskar who she is and that she can be vulnerable. Like Oskar and even more so, Eli is alone to deal with these unsolvable conflicts.
Tomas Alfredson brilliantly captures the barren, emotional desert in which Oskar and Eli live. The direction is focused but restrained. The excellent musical score complemented the movie well. Alfredson draws the viewer into this lonely world where two people find in each other a strength, a hope and discover that perhaps their world is not as lonely as they had once believed it to be.
Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson are brilliant in their acting debuts. Both bring an innocence and refreshing simplicity that make the complex roles they play easily believable. It's hard to imagine anyone else in these roles and while I'm not opposed to the remake being made in the US, my expectations are minimal, so much so that I don't plan on seeing it unless the reviews are stellar. I can't see any remake being as good as Alfredson's original. This movie is that good. Big budget doesn't equate to excellence.
Thanks to the brilliant directing and acting, anyone who has struggled with loneliness will find much to identify with in this movie. It simply captures you. The themes in this move are like still water. They run deep and I expect to be thinking of the themes for some time. Like the book and musical score, this wonderful movie goes into my collection when the DVD is released. This movie is destined to become a classic, an underappreciated gem.
IMPORTANT EDIT!!!!! The DVD release is NOT THE SAME FILM I WATCHED IN THE THEATER. Magnet ruined it with changes to the subtitles and the musical score seems softer at least to me. Don't waste your money until Magnet changes the LOUSY subtitles. Even better yet, get a copy from a region outside North America that wasn't ruined by Magnet's bonehead revisions! Just be sure that you have a player that can play other region coded DVDs.
Movie Review: I've Never Seen A Better Vampire Film
Summary: 5 Stars
There are a lot of entertaining vampire flicks floating around out there - Fright Night, Salem's Lot, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter. Entertaining films all, but -just- entertaining. Unfortunately, it seems most vampire movies that actually try to be poignant or artistic fall spectacularly flat and end up coming across as a mishmash of Hot Topic "goth" nonsense and softcore S&M, all topped with a huge dollop of pretense. "Let the Right One In" is probably the only vampire film I've ever seen that is actually genuinely affecting, heartfelt, and (dare I use an irritating buzzword?) spellbinding.
The plot of the film, in which a bullied, unhappy boy grows to love a mysterious, eternally young vampire, has been discussed at length in many of the other product reviews on this site. I'll be the first to admit that it even sounds kind of trite on paper, but I cannot overstate how masterful the execution of this film is. This isn't some overwrought, angsty drama club piece, but it is rife with genuine, palpable emotion that draws the viewer deeply into film's world. All of this hinges on the incredible performances by the two young leads, bolstered perhaps by the director's skill at exposition through understatement. Many loose ends (A great deal of which were resolved in the novel) are left untied throughout the film, but rather than detract from the movie, I found that leaving some aspects of the characters open to the interpretation and imagination of the viewer enhanced my enjoyment of the film. When the credits started to roll there were only two things I wanted to do: a:) Watch the movie again and B:) Talk about it.
Much ado has been made of the issue of the "incorrect" subtitles attached to the initial DVD release of the film. This is a legitimate concern: The DVD subtitles hack away at much of the film's dialogue, leaving little more than a stripped down gist of several scenes in the film. Luckily, versions of the DVD with the proper theatrical subtitles have begun to surface, mostly (for some reason) at Super Target stores, where it is typically shelved in the IFC section of the movie department. Look for "Subtitles: English (Theatrical)" in the spec box on the back of the package. For folks who just can't wait for a version of the disc with proper subs, I'm happy to report that the unexpectedly well-done English dub track is more-or-less in line with theatrical subtitles.
In conclusion, if you're a fan of vampire films, "smart" horror movies, or drama, "Let the Right One In" is certainly worth your time. Trust me, I generally detest "artsy" vampire movies, but this movie is so much more than that.
Movie Review: you could buy a nuclear power plant with this one
Summary: 5 Stars
Oscar is one of those kids that constantly finds himself picked on. In his freetime he dreams of serial killing, even keeping an album on the deeds of other men. He also has a knife and imagines himself killing over and over again, and this little deed attracts the attnetion of Eli. Eli first approaches Oscar on a playground outside of his apartment as he works on a Rubic Cube, and the two quickly strike up conversation. for all intents and purposes, it is an innocent affair between two 12 year olds. The only problem is that Eli has a friend she lives with and that friend hangs people from trees and drains them of blood. Worse still, Eli drinks blood to survive and has a need to feed - even if that means picking off people in the most unlikely of positions.
Before I begin, I have to note that this is not the book Let Me In. If you watch closely you can see a lot of the pieces here, but you lose a lot as well. You lose Oscar's problems, Eli's ways, and you lose her "roommates" deal. you also lose eli's past, something that is hinted to, and a lot of other things. Still, that doesn't mean that much. Personally, i like the two of them and I keep them as different things in my mind. I do not like to mix the two, either, because the picture of eli in them movie is one I love. I like the way the two kids get along ore than anything, and I like the way things go. True, I would have liked the things that Eli can do with her hands and feet, but I am willing to give that up for the greater good of the movie. Besides, putting that stuff in would have certainly made this movie something that a lot of people would have protested.
When you wathc this, everything from the acting to the way things go are beautiful. You have no idea how old Eli is here, but you get ideas of some things aobut here. She has a thing for puzzles, and one of the things she has is valuable enough to "buy a nuclear power plant" if sold. You also see the pain that Eli feels and the way that she seems to want to be loved. I have a thing with Oscar, not the actor but the kid in the movie, and I really am not a fan. I know hes a 12 year old, but he does things that are cruel. The thing with not inviting Eli in is hard to watch because shesimply wants someone to care, and other things hapen as well. Still, it is tender in a lot of places and, honestly, it touches me and creeps me out as well.
This movie has some stuff in it that is kiddy. you might keep that in mind when wathcing it. You might also keep in mind that it is not the book so, for those who didn't like the reading, you have something different.As I said before, this is NOT the bok and sometimes reading it may even hurt what you have seen. You get background and some stuff you may want to know, but knowing them hurts the relationship. honestly, stick with the 5 star movie unless you simply have to have it all. this is a great feature and you can love it forever.