Being a huge horror fan I can tolerate most of the sub genres within it’s whole and within reason. But one sub genre I can barely stand is the vampire film. I guess it’s the over saturation of neo goth lesbian bullshit that seem to be released every week by a group of emo friends who have read far too much Anne Rice for their own good. So finding a relevant vampire film these days is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Fortunately film festivals have a way of filtering out the crap and after a stellar trailer and a few promising write ups I was eagerly awaiting to see the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.
Oskar is a pale, scrawny weakling, a child of divorce and constantly being bullied by his class mates. He spends his time collecting crime reports from the newspapers and fantasizing about killing his tormentors while brandishing a knife. So a pretty morbid kid all in all.
One night an older man accompanied by a little girl move in to the apartment next door while Oskar watches from his bedroom window. Unbeknownst to Oskar however is that the little girl is a vampire and the older man her servant who prowls the night murdering innocent people, harvesting their blood for her sustenance.
I guess the years of traveling with a man who could be her great grandfather has made Eli, the vampire girl lonely and she starts to approach the equally lonely Oskar outside the apartment building and befriending him. The two form a loving relationship, with Oskar giving her a connection to the outside world and warmth that she hasn’t experienced in years, decades or centuries even and Eli teaching him about standing up to his bullies and be a man. When Eli’s servant is caught in the act of blood harvesting she has to go out on her own to feed and soon people in the neighborhood are starting to put two and two together.
Ok. How can I put this…This film is a fucking masterpiece. Pure and simple. While my taste for Swedish vampire films had been severely tainted by that piece of shit Frostbite from a couple of years ago Let The Right One In cleans the slate clean and then some. It’s hard to imagine that Tomas Alfredson comes from TV, kids TV even, with such a beautiful looking and paced film. His direction is simply superb, somber and deliberately paced, the acting low key and his images gorgeous. He never goes the obvious route with scares or shocks and but Mack so eloquently put it, it’s like talking quietly to a friend who then suddenly punches you in the face only to continue the conversation and lulls you in to a state of security before punching you again.
While this film on the outside is a vampire film, with all the blood letting that entails, it is a sweet love story between two lonely souls that find peace in each other.
Let The Right One In screens again on the 24th and you NEED to go see it.
Related Links
More from Let the Right One In:
- Reviews: TAD2008: Let the Right One In
- Reviews: DEAD CHANNELS 2008—Let the Right One In (Låt den Rätte Komma in)
- Reviews: FANTASIA: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Review
- Reviews: IFFR 2008: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Review
- News: Official website for Kazuya Konaka's MIRRORMAN: REFLEX (MIRÂMAN: REFLEX), w/ Ryô Karato, Miku Ishi
- News: Land of the Dead Gore Shot!
It's strange that this film has to be shown to the rest of the world before it's released here, in Sweden. And when it's released it won't be screened for long because the swedish audience don't understand films with layers.
Even though I don't really like the ending of the film (perhaps too facile for my tastes), I still add my voice to the chorus on just how damn fantastic this film is. I look forward to taking it in again on the big screen at Toronto After Dark this year. I'm overjoyed that this thing keeps scooping festival prizes whereever it goes!
Must see this film!! Must see this film!!
The best movie I saw at this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam, and mainly because the two kids in the lead roles are nothing short of amazing. The girl playing Eli was dubbed afterwards as the director didn't think she had the appropriate voice, but it speaks volumes (haha) about the quality of this production that I never even noticed it! And it's a good thing Tomas Alfredson didn't change her for another actress as there is such a perfect chemistry between her and the boy.
Glad you liked it, Swarez!
Would have been embarrasing if your review had started with "Ardvark is full of crap, this sucked and I want my money back".
:cheese:
Ard, if that's true about the dubbing, I'm truly impressed. Like you said, I never once thought that was dubbed...
Read Blake's interview with Tomas Alfredson (in the links above) and you can read the director saying it himself. I was astonished to be honest, never suspected a thing...
Quoting Tomas:
" Eli’s voice is overdubbed. Lina (who plays Eli) has a too feminine and soft voice. After a thorough voice-casting we found a girl (her name is Elif!) with the right abrasive and boyish touch. "
And about his two leads:
" Both Kåre and Lina who play the leading parts are extremely intelligent, have exceptional integrity and are both kinds of strange old people. You meet kids some times that have eyes of an eighty-year old man or woman and seem like some sort of reincarnation. It took us a year to find them, and I think they’re unprecedentedly fantastic. "
I heard we won't be seeing this in the States until March 2009. If this is true, my fear is that we will see a hollywood knock off before the real film is released. I loved the book and can't wait for the film. It looks like the author has another horror novel out. Hopefully it's translated to english and released soon. Has anyone read it? I believe it's called "Handling the Dead."
I thought this was good but I am definitely not in love with it.