SusannahLET THE RIGHT ONE IN
April 25th 2009 03:23
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson.
Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson.
Right, first things first: I really hate coming-of-age movies. Hate them so much that I start grinding my teeth at the first mention of ‘that strange and glorious summer where I first discovered what it was to be a grown-up’. However, wrap that coming-of-age malarkey around a genre flick (like say gangsters or, Hell, I don’t know, vampires) and well...we’ll talk. Yup, vampires: the hot-button genre-monster of the moment. Add to that a healthy dose of glacial pacing, exquisite cinematography, some breath-taking performances and even a cool country of origin (Sweden, for instance) and you’ve got yourself something I am going to go to the ends of the earth (or at least my local indie cinema) to see.
Adapted by author John Ajvide Lindqvist from his novel of the same name (his follow-up Handling the Undead sounds as though it does for zombies what this one did for vampires), Let the Right One In is a fascinating fable of adolescent anxieties and the longing for some kind of human connection.
Things aren’t great for Oskar: he’s twelve years old, he’s introverted and emotionally isolated, he’s ritually bullied at school, his parents are strange and distant figures in his life and he’s begun exhibiting the first signs of an anti-social personality disorder. He lives in a grimy, snow-caked apartment block in wintry Sweden with his mother (his estranged father is a bit of a flake with latent pederasts for friends). Then a couple of new people move in next door: a melancholy gentleman named Hakan and a very peculiar girl, by the name of Eli, who may or may not be about his age. Oskar develops a tentative friendship with Eli, which threatens to blossom into a romance. However, Eli has a number of very deep and very dark secrets: she doesn’t go out in daylight, is vague about her age, has an odd odour (the novel likens it to the smell of an animal ravaged by infection) and incidentally, Hakan goes out alone at night to stalk and murder young men, draining the blood from their bodies and carrying it back to her in plastic bottles.
However, she might be able to help with that whole bullied-at-school thing.
Essentially, what you get with Let the Right One In is the tale of two lost and damaged kids who find some kind of solace in the weird whatever-the-Hell-this-is relationship they develop. It’s exquisitely shot, with superb use of wide-screen compositions: for instance, the enormously satisfying scene in which Oskar lashes out at his attackers; and many a glacial panning-shot across an immensely bleak-looking Sweden. The director also conveys Eli’s otherness in exciting and original ways: witness the sequence in which she jumps down from the play-set, falling to earth just a fraction slower than one might expect. It is not an “ooh, spooky vampire” moment, more a “wait, that wasn’t quite right” kind of thing.
Fascinatingly, rather than being the old-vampire-trapped-in-a-chil d’s-body that has become something of a cliché since Interview with the Vampire and Near Dark, Eli seems to be caught in some weird limbo between woman and girl. She seems rather like an eternal adolescent (and, damn that must be hard going) with a melancholy beyond her years. Also, with her dark hair and darker eyes she makes an enormously compelling predator/waif. Physically, Oskar is her opposite with his alarmingly blonde hair, pale complexion and all-too-fragile build. They make a fascinating pair. Both young actors deliver incredibly nuanced and impressive performances.
For all that the film sympathises with Eli it never loses sight of the fact that she is, undeniably, a monster. Her actions bring ruin, despair, disfigurement and immolation to most of the supporting cast. A sub-plot involving a woman infected with the vampiric curse generates quite a few scenes of creeping, cloying dread. Finally it all builds to a climax that due to ingenious staging manages to be both staggeringly gruesome and incredibly subtle, before ending in a denouement that at first glance might seem heart-warming. And as a horror film, it doesn’t scrimp on the gore or the downbeat, occasionally bleak tone.
Lindqvist has done a superb job of transforming his powerful novel into a screenplay. For the most part it is a very faithful adaptation, but it is not an overly precious one. Lindqvist has made some very judicious edits. A number of the novel’s subplots have been jettisoned as well as some of its more disturbing scenes. The most notable change involves the character Hakan: in the novel he is a paedophile that has finally found an immortal child whom he can desire without guilt. In the film he is far more enigmatic and sympathetic – we never learn how he came to be Eli’s minder and it is this that gives the film’s final scene its bitter aftertaste. Also, you’ll have to read the novel to learn exactly what Eli means when she says she isn’t really a girl.
Let the Right One In is a dramatic, compelling, poignant and unsettling horror film with superb performances, lush visuals and hypnotic pacing. I highly recommend it for someone looking for something a lot deeper, grislier and more original than...well, a certain adolescent-vampire franchise.
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson.
Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson.
Right, first things first: I really hate coming-of-age movies. Hate them so much that I start grinding my teeth at the first mention of ‘that strange and glorious summer where I first discovered what it was to be a grown-up’. However, wrap that coming-of-age malarkey around a genre flick (like say gangsters or, Hell, I don’t know, vampires) and well...we’ll talk. Yup, vampires: the hot-button genre-monster of the moment. Add to that a healthy dose of glacial pacing, exquisite cinematography, some breath-taking performances and even a cool country of origin (Sweden, for instance) and you’ve got yourself something I am going to go to the ends of the earth (or at least my local indie cinema) to see.
Adapted by author John Ajvide Lindqvist from his novel of the same name (his follow-up Handling the Undead sounds as though it does for zombies what this one did for vampires), Let the Right One In is a fascinating fable of adolescent anxieties and the longing for some kind of human connection.
Things aren’t great for Oskar: he’s twelve years old, he’s introverted and emotionally isolated, he’s ritually bullied at school, his parents are strange and distant figures in his life and he’s begun exhibiting the first signs of an anti-social personality disorder. He lives in a grimy, snow-caked apartment block in wintry Sweden with his mother (his estranged father is a bit of a flake with latent pederasts for friends). Then a couple of new people move in next door: a melancholy gentleman named Hakan and a very peculiar girl, by the name of Eli, who may or may not be about his age. Oskar develops a tentative friendship with Eli, which threatens to blossom into a romance. However, Eli has a number of very deep and very dark secrets: she doesn’t go out in daylight, is vague about her age, has an odd odour (the novel likens it to the smell of an animal ravaged by infection) and incidentally, Hakan goes out alone at night to stalk and murder young men, draining the blood from their bodies and carrying it back to her in plastic bottles.
However, she might be able to help with that whole bullied-at-school thing.
Essentially, what you get with Let the Right One In is the tale of two lost and damaged kids who find some kind of solace in the weird whatever-the-Hell-this-is relationship they develop. It’s exquisitely shot, with superb use of wide-screen compositions: for instance, the enormously satisfying scene in which Oskar lashes out at his attackers; and many a glacial panning-shot across an immensely bleak-looking Sweden. The director also conveys Eli’s otherness in exciting and original ways: witness the sequence in which she jumps down from the play-set, falling to earth just a fraction slower than one might expect. It is not an “ooh, spooky vampire” moment, more a “wait, that wasn’t quite right” kind of thing.
Fascinatingly, rather than being the old-vampire-trapped-in-a-chil d’s-body that has become something of a cliché since Interview with the Vampire and Near Dark, Eli seems to be caught in some weird limbo between woman and girl. She seems rather like an eternal adolescent (and, damn that must be hard going) with a melancholy beyond her years. Also, with her dark hair and darker eyes she makes an enormously compelling predator/waif. Physically, Oskar is her opposite with his alarmingly blonde hair, pale complexion and all-too-fragile build. They make a fascinating pair. Both young actors deliver incredibly nuanced and impressive performances.
For all that the film sympathises with Eli it never loses sight of the fact that she is, undeniably, a monster. Her actions bring ruin, despair, disfigurement and immolation to most of the supporting cast. A sub-plot involving a woman infected with the vampiric curse generates quite a few scenes of creeping, cloying dread. Finally it all builds to a climax that due to ingenious staging manages to be both staggeringly gruesome and incredibly subtle, before ending in a denouement that at first glance might seem heart-warming. And as a horror film, it doesn’t scrimp on the gore or the downbeat, occasionally bleak tone.
Lindqvist has done a superb job of transforming his powerful novel into a screenplay. For the most part it is a very faithful adaptation, but it is not an overly precious one. Lindqvist has made some very judicious edits. A number of the novel’s subplots have been jettisoned as well as some of its more disturbing scenes. The most notable change involves the character Hakan: in the novel he is a paedophile that has finally found an immortal child whom he can desire without guilt. In the film he is far more enigmatic and sympathetic – we never learn how he came to be Eli’s minder and it is this that gives the film’s final scene its bitter aftertaste. Also, you’ll have to read the novel to learn exactly what Eli means when she says she isn’t really a girl.
Let the Right One In is a dramatic, compelling, poignant and unsettling horror film with superb performances, lush visuals and hypnotic pacing. I highly recommend it for someone looking for something a lot deeper, grislier and more original than...well, a certain adolescent-vampire franchise.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
This has been on my must see list for ages and sadly I still haven't seen it...Sounds similar to Ginger Snaps which I thought was a brilliant coming of age werewolf film.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
An exert from my own review:
"Coming of age stories have come in many guises over the years. From the sentimental memories (Stand by Me, Summer of 42, Cinema Paradiso) to the confusion and darkness occupying this metamorphosis in life (Mysterious Skin). Few though venture deep into the light starved loneliness and despair coming with disenchanted preteen youth.
The unique Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In thrives on the turmoil and discomfort of these early life shaping and fragile years. The film successfully lures the mythical vampire into our imperfect reality with sparse tender beauty and hauntingly savage melancholy."
read the complete review HERE, if your interested.