To call critical darling Let The Right One In a “vampire movie” is to miss the point a bit. While it may be about human looking creatures surviving on blood, it’s more certainly not about a bunch of eurotrash looking guys in fancy clothes doing wire work fight scenes and worrying about their hair, something that the vampire has come to epitomize in film and TV of late.
And unlike last year’s other big vampire movie, Twilight, this is hardly a thinly veiled pro-abstinence story, though you could definitely call this a teen romance of sorts. Or maybe more of a tween romance.
Vampirism has become a lot of different metaphors in recent presentations, but in Let The Right One In it comes to represent something too often forget in your average vampire movie, either from a metaphoric stance or in storytelling logic: There’s predators everywhere. Sometimes they live right next door to you, and sometimes they’re laying in bed next to you. And whether they’re old or young, whether they appear innocent or scary, they are almost always not what they appear.
And perhaps, neither are you.
It’s hard to talk about the film, directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel of the same name, whose title comes from the Morrissey song, “Let The Right One Slip In,” especially if you haven’t seen it. But I can tell you that the title of this film, and the fact that it comes from a Morrissey song (with an oh so cheeky title), is perfect. Not just because of the aspect of vampire lore that a vampire can only enter your home if invited, but because you should always make sure that you’re letting the right one slip into your life, and your heart. But it is so hard to determine who the right one is, isn’t it?
Let The Right One In is the story of Oskar, a 12 year old boy living in the slums of Stockholm who is constantly tormented by bullies, who befriends Eli, the slightly odd girl of about the same age who moves in next door to him with an older man that she refers to not as her parent, but as her caretaker. Eli is a vampire, we soon learn, and the two children eventually become very close while dealing with each other’s tormentors…
Of course, that’s a rather simplified way of putting it, but in a lot of ways this is an almost Bergman-esque story about what would probably be considered “alternative lifestyles” and the love that grows within them. It’s summed up nicely half way through the film when Eli asks Oscar, “Would you still like me even if…?”
The understated pace of the film is deliberately slow, very sobering at times, and works perfectly as you slip into this tale. There’s a fascinating scene about 2/3 of the way through when Oskar, a child of divorce who neither parent really seems to want, goes to stay with his father for the weekend and comes to slowly realize over the course of an evening that his father and the man who comes over are probably gay. Kare Hederbrant, the young actor who plays Oskar, is very stoic in this scene, nicely capturing what it is like for a child to observe and realize this. He’s perfect in that there’s no signs of judging his father here, just seeing him for who he probably is for the first time. He’s a child and has no real concept of what it means to be gay or straight, or what love is. He just knows what it means to care about someone, to want to protect them, which is how he’s come to feel about Eli.
Oscar: “Are you dead?”
Eli: “No. Can’t you tell?”
Of course it’s criminal not to mention the wonderful work of Lina Leandersson, who played Eli, because she’s perfect in this film. Her voice was dubbed (because it was considered too feminine, which is interesting) but her expressions throughout the film are perfect as she captures the loneliness she feels mixed with the sadness and longing for acceptance that Oskar sometimes brings out of her. She underplays many moments with a slight twinkle in her eye and is perfect when it comes time to remind you that’s part animal.
To say anymore would be too spoiler-ish, but this film is a dark treat in a lot of ways. I’m dying to talk to others who have seen in, especially to discuss what kind of person Oskar might’ve grown up to be had he not met Eli (especially the look on his face when he receives a striking blow to his cheek from a bully), and the revelation of certain scars and what they reveal about certain relationships, which leads you to ponder the continuation of certain patterns at the end of the film. If you’ve seen the film, drop me a line because I would love to know what you think.
This is a multi-layered film about the things that are right there in front of us that we don’t recognize and the things that are missing. But the thing that ties it all together and turns into such a great film just sneaks up on you from behind and watches you as you’re laying there enjoying the moment.
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To call critical darling 
And unlike last year’s other big vampire movie, Twilight, this is hardly 
And perhaps, neither are you.
It’s hard to talk about the film, directed by Tomas Alfredson and 
Of course, that’s a rather simplified way of putting it, but in a lot of ways this is an almost Bergman-esque story about what would probably be considered “alternative lifestyles” and the love that grows within them. It’s summed up nicely half way through the film when Eli asks Oscar, “Would you still like me even if…?”
Oscar: “Are you dead?”
Of course it’s criminal not to mention the wonderful work of 
To say anymore would be too spoiler-ish, but this film is a dark treat in a lot of ways. I’m dying to talk to others who have seen in, especially to discuss what kind of person Oskar might’ve grown up to be had he not met Eli (especially the look on his face when he receives a striking blow to his cheek from a bully), and the revelation of certain scars and what they reveal about certain relationships, which leads you to ponder the continuation of certain patterns at the end of the film. If you’ve seen the film, drop me a line because I would love to know what you think.
I also desperately want to 
