Let the Right One In

Let this into your DVD player...

Set in the bleak wintry town of Blackeberg, Stockholm in the early 80’s, Oskar is a meek young boy torn between his estranged parents. This makes him the target of the school bullies which makes him regress further into himself. One night he meets the girl who moved into the building next door to him, named Eli (pronounced “Ellie”), who seems to be unaffected by the cold. Things are frosty between the two initially but slowly they bond and become friends. Both seem to have a positive effect on each as Eli gives Oskar the confidence to stand up to the bullies, while Oskar provides unconditional friendship for the mysterious Eli. What Oskar doesn’t know however, is that Eli has a secret – she’s a vampire and is connected to the recent spate of murders in the area that began at the same time Eli arrived…

Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, this is a vampire movie with a difference. It effectively turns the genre on its head by making the main bloodsucker a sympathetic character rather than the typically evil antagonist. Also the true gender of Eli is open to question (despite being played a girl) with subtle hints and red herrings in the dialogue and one brief but truly shocking scene that poses just as many questions as it supplies answers. She also has some odd foibles: such as needing to be invited into a room otherwise the repercussions are disturbing. Oskar meanwhile, is the antithesis of the human hero in that he has no desire to slay the vampire even when he does finally learn the truth. Instead he is just glad to have a friend.

Director Tomas Alfredson presents us with a paradoxical film: it’s a romance story that revolts and scares the viewer as much as it warms their hearts. It’s about bullying and the effects it has on the psyche of the victim; it’s about acceptance and friendship against the odds when one does know exactly what the odds are; it’s about what is right and what is wrong and how much the strength of the relationship allows one to let their judgement be impaired.

Unlike regular horror films, the pace is deliberate and restrained; the events unravel nicely without undue haste or any real sense of urgency. The relationship between Oskar and Eli builds gradually, the growth of which is detailed through the most gentle and tender moments, the underlying subtext mirroring the true concerns of that first young love they are apparently heading towards. Whilst Oskar has his parents – both of whom provide a different kind of life for him – Eli has only her handler Håkan on her side: his job being to find blood for Eli. It is his ineptitude which sees him almost caught in the act on many occasions that leads to the rest of the townsfolk suspecting him and Eli and making an attempt on the young vampire’s life.

The casting, it has to be said, it absolutely perfect. The two leads are a natural pairing with amazing chemistry which is remarkable for two debutants. Kåre Hedebrant is the effete looking Oskar who, with his long blonde hair and pale skin - sometimes looks more feminine than Eli. There is something incredibly natural and honest about his portrayal and he makes Oskar someone to care about from the very first frame he appears in. But, it has to be said, the film belongs completely to Lina Leandersson as Eli. Her steely yet pained eyes, androgynous yet captivating face and her cold yet yearning delivery is simply too good to be true. She delivers a consistently authentic performance of a maturity and depth beyond her years that is both nuanced and clearly defined. A promising career beckons, I am sure of it.

Sadly, Hollywood has already commissioned a remake. It is unnecessary as this film has it all and in all honesty, cannot be bettered.

One of the best films of 2008 hands down.

[Highly rated reviewer]

let the right one in

soon as i turned it on i turned it back off again,bloody subtitles.

Let the right one in

Did I watch the same film as all those who wrote glowing reviews??? This was one of the worst films I have ever sat through. The cimematography was horrible, the acting hammy, the character development virtually non-existant, the dialogue laboured and 'special effects' that would be questioned by a teenager making a movie in their bedroom! The potential for this to be a great film is undoubted and in hopefully it will fall into the hands of someone who can do it justice (although no doubt to an out cry by those who enjoy poorly made film dressed up as art)

Beautiful and dark

What a beautiful film, so much depth and so real, lovely acting and daring film work and writing.

Sometimes horrific and sometimes so beautiful, sad and happy, what a wonderful story, at first I thought it was not like my expectations, then I realised that it was going to be great.

This really is a great film, something so rare as this should be kept safe, sadly Some American film company thought they would get there dirty hands on it, why would you want to remake this, they would only make trash, they could not possibly pull it off so subtly.

I have strong connections with the emotions in this film, i think it will speak to a lot of people.

I really want to watch it now.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Underwhelming

Oh dear. The vampire's blood provider is the world's most inept serial killer, there's a ridiculously overblown school bullying sub-plot that pushes the basest of emotional buttons, the immorality of keeping someone alive by killing the innocent is never addressed, the boy hero is a bland cipher, the film employs cliched horror imagery, and a scene involving cats and one in a swimming pool are unintentionally funny.

The one bright spot is the score by Johan Söderqvist, which is beautiful and may explain why (as well as it being subtitled) the film has been taken so seriously.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Dull and Slow

I'll admit I was looking forward to this and got a special preview before the reviews and the hype. Alas what ever you hear will probably commend it on its mature style and twist on vampire tale originality.... but these do not add up to make a good, entertaining and value for your buck movie.

The whole thing goes at snail pace and the on screen performances are dreary and if anything only just hold the story together... When the remake arrives(and its sad for me to say this) I expect it will find the elements of the story that give it originality and conform them into a much more polished package.

The teen movie end kind of clarifies in my mind that the creative team behind it lost their way somewhere along the line. If you are going to watch it in the cinema... bring nose plugs (thats not a spoiler) .

Let The Right One In

This movie does not have an English sound track, so did not watch it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Let the Right one in!

Don't listen to all the good reviews, this was honestly one of the slowest worst films I have ever seen, effects none, creepy, absolutely not, what is all the hype not only is this boring, but you have to read subtitles which also takes away from the film, I just wasted 90 minutes of my life and I want them back!!

swedish only english sub-titles

non english films should be shown more clearly

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Pretty terrible actually

It's rare that I'll use such a strong term as `hate' having watched a film, mainly because I'm very choosy in the first place and try to weed out the abundance of claptrap out there by way of going with established filmmakers and critics reviews. It's also quite rare that I will go so completely against the prevailing opinion when I find myself disagreeing with it, but I find myself utterly in that situation here - I actually hated this film and I'm all the more confused when I look at the mass of rave reviews for Let the Right One In.

So let me try to explain why I feel this way. Firstly, I love slow burners, meditative films that take their time and don't resort to a big set piece every ten minutes to cover emptiness - however, usually what these films offer are interesting characters and plots to maintain interest and to have a point to them. Let the Right One In had neither of these. In fact I found the whole film completely devoid of suspense, drama, intrigue, atmosphere, in fact anything that could be considered impressive or make the whole exercise worthwhile in the first place.

The acting from the two main kids was utterly awful, very stilted and awkward. There was a general lack of dialogue in their scenes, they tended to just walk around each other, mutter something or hug and it quickly got very tiresome. And I'm sorry if this sounds a little heartless but why would the director assume that the largely adult (at least intended) audience would be interested in the development of a friendship between a couple of kids, even if one of them does happen to be a vampire?

My second problem with the film was that it had a major problem with it's flow. In fact, I would sum up the film as three of four dramatic set pieces linked by a lot of very mundane scenes of a lot of very mundane characters talking a lot of very mundane dialogue. And I feel the director may have also felt this, which would explain the reason for including the other character who begins to turn into a vampire after being bitten by Eli. Other than providing an opportunity to reinforce some vampire stereotypes and a dramatic death scene, there was no point that I could see to her even being in the film other than to perhaps offer an explanation (you know for the benefit of those who don't know what a vampire is!) as to why Eli doesn't go out during the day and does what she/he does to people. Her narrative thread otherwise had no relevance to the friendship between the two leads which was the main focus and `point'.

And the `dramatic' set pieces were downright silly - the scene where Eli kills the man in the bathroom was embarrassingly bad - not because it was low key but because it looked like a guy was playing a prank on his mates from behind the door. Even the swimming pool scene at the end didn't make sense - would the bully still bother to keep Oskar's head underneath the water while the rest of his gang were being butchered and decapitated around him?

I guess my last main reason for disliking the film was because it seemed to think it was a lot more profound and artistic than it was. In fact, throughout, when there was any dialogue it was extremely mundane - take the example in the hospital scene where the guy is at his wife's bedside - he starts talking to her about a stamp collection! What? It seems the director was just filling in dead time with hot air - and there were many many scenes like this. I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, this film said nothing remotely interesting about friendship or adolescent growing pains - sad lonely faces and handprints against the glass are not enough!

I suppose I'll have to remain bemused at the wealth of rave reviews for this film but for me it didn't work on any level and had absolutely no redeeming features.