Director: Tomas Alfredson
Stars: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
Snack Report: Pumpkin Buttercream Cupcakes, courtesy of Cakery Square in the Waterfront.
Viewing Companions: Zelda and Mr. Falbeaux
I will tell you right up front – you’ve never seen a vampire film like Let the Right One In… or as I like to call it, When Oskar Met Eli…
Oskar is 12, and so is his new friend. The thing is, Eli’s been 12 for, like, 300 years.
The cold, dark, desolate landscape of a Swedish winter in the dying days of Disco and the Cold War (the early 80s) is a chilling backdrop for this strange story of pre-teen puppy love – and one of those pre-teens happens to be a vampire.
Oskar is a Swedish middle-school boy. He’s pale, small, and fragile for his age with a timid personality. Friendless and ignored by the adults in his life, he’s alone most of the time and constantly plagued by bullies.
His alcoholic dad and frazzled mom don’t give him much positive attention either – in fact, he’s mostly a source of bother and conflict between them.
Then one night on the snowy apartment-building playground he meets his new neighbor – a beautiful but very solemn young girl his own age. The two lonely tweens are drawn together, becoming fast friends in no time.
I’m not going to share too many plot details for this movie, because it’s the unfolding of that plot that will pull you in and keep you mesmerized through its nearly 2-hour run time. I promise, you’ll be so engrossed, you’ll hardly notice the time passing.
Anyone who was a victim of bullying as a kid can identify with Oskar. I’ll admit I’ve always secretly thrilled to movies where bullies get a dreadful supernatural comeuppance in the end. Usually, it turns out that their victim either has some kind of hidden secret powers, or perhaps a powerful otherworldly protector who makes those bullies sorry they were ever born.
And Oskar himself, like any other bullied child, nurtures dreams of revenge. He channels his rage and fear into an obsession with collecting newspaper clippings about murders and violence. He also carries a knife… just in case. As their relationship blossoms, Eli inspires him to stand up for himself, and as so often happens with bullying victims, the act of defiance ends up getting him into even more trouble.
Throughout the movie, Oskar and Eli both are preoccupied with balancing their conflicting impulses of kindness versus savagery. Let the Right One In explores the nature of good and evil and how it can be possible for them to exist side-by-side in the same person (or supernatural being).
The vampire in this film doesn’t run around baring her canines all the time. Nor does she sparkle, as vampires do in some lightweight films (that will remain nameless!). Eli’s a different kind of monster than what we’re used to.
But don’t get me wrong – there’s quite a bit of gore and multiple bloody killings, but it’s a little more discreet than in most modern vampire pictures. Yet there are quite a few moments that are genuinely uncomfortable to watch… like when Eli’s caretaker harvests her victims, bleeding them out by suspending them upside down and cutting their throats. And when a victim is inadvertently turned into a vampire, it’s gut-wrenching to watch her suffer through that transformation (while being attacked by cats!).
Yet despite the subject matter and copious gore, I would still describe Let the Right One In as artistic, poetic, and even beautiful.
Meticulous production values, long, intense close-ups, and minimal dialogue reminded me of the “melancholic stillness” of a Bergman film, relying more on facial expression and body language than words to convey emotion.
Kare Hedebran and Lina Leandersson as Oskar and Eli get most of the screen time, and both deliver powerful performances, especially for such young actors.
The adults in the film, on the other hand, remind me a bit of Charlie Brown’s teacher and the other adults in “Peanuts,” down to the “wah wah waaaah” sounds. They don’t have much of a role in the action except as ineffectual parents (even Eli’s “Papa,” her human protector, does a crappy job of keeping her fed and safe), easily manipulated weaklings (teachers, medical staff), and of course, victims.
Let the Right One In was remade for American audiences a couple years later, with a few changes to the storyline and the setting. In my opinion, it didn’t have the same impact as the original Swedish film, but it’s also worth seeing.
On a personal note, when we saw this Swedish-language subtitled R-rated film in the theater, there were several pre-K age children present. Every one of them had to be carried out screaming in terror… some of them more than once.
Who on earth brings a child to an R-rated vampire movie (in Swedish yet, with subtitles the kid is too young to read)??? Brain-dead parents, that’s who. (Stepping down from soapbox…)