Let The Right One In review
Lina Leandersson in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, a Magnet Releasing film. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
During the last couple of months, I'll admit that I haven't been paying attention to anything Let The Right One In. I didn't care. I wouldn't look at the photos or the trailers for the simple reason that I wasn't interested. Then only a couple of weeks ago while I was at work, NFD contributor Ernest told me about the film and the trailers saying how good it looked. Let The Right One In also started getting excellent reviews with some people calling the film "brilliant" and others calling it a "masterpiece". So at that point I became a little more interested and I watched the trailer. I immediately became pumped to see it because this film really did look fantastic. The trailer showed me a different shade in genre filmmaking presented as more of a romance than a typical vampire film and I'm not talking about cheap teenage romance vampire film like Twilight which looks awful. Also considering the fact that foreign filmmakers seem to create better horror films than American studios was also a plus even though this isn't that much of a horror.
Oskar, a 12 year old boy, spends his days being bullied at his school and spends his night all by himself dreaming of revenge against the classmates that make him miserable. While outside in the winter snow playing with a knife, he meets his new neighbor; an apparent 12 year old girl named Eli who tells Oskar to fight back against the bullies. They spend their nights together and become closer only to find out that Eli is a vampire but that doesn't change how Oskar feels. He falls in love with her and reminds Eli what love is after a long life of moving place to place trying to survive. When she moves again Oskar is alone and is again bullied by his classmates but Eli comes back for him and defends him in a finale that is one of the more memorable climax's of this year. Based off of a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let The Right One In is directed by Tomas Alfredson and stars Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson as Oskar and Eli.
I'm not a foreign film fan. I never have been. When it comes to subtitled films, I've only enjoy both Mel Gibson films Passion of the Christ and Apoctalypto, both of which are excellent films. Let The Right One In is a Swedish film and now after having a chance to see it, I now consider it to be one of the best films of the year. I wouldn't call it brilliant or a masterpiece but it's damn near that good. Overall, this is a great film and I love it. I want to see it again.
Likes:
- This is some real solid story telling. There isn't anything flashy about this film like it would be if there was an American version, which is coming by the way. Let The Right One In is both a romance and vampire film that's told and meshed together better than I've seen before. This is the story that HBO's True Blood wishes it was.
- Both of the leads are fantastic, especially Lina Leandersson. In an interview with the director over at AICN, he says that both actors have never acted before and this is new for them. Well god damn, good job folks. Leandersson plays a very very convincing vampire and her performance is enough to see this film. Kare Hedebrant as Oskar is also very excellent.
- The subtleties of this film are amazing. It's all the little things in this movie that counts. For example, the sounds that Eli makes when she's near. Let's call them the vampire noises. When she was near you would hear something like stomach noises when your hungry but louder since it wasn't food she was hungry for. The the growl she'd make when feeding is cool too. The color of her skin and eyes or the way her body would position... all very well done and that's thanks to a bunch of different things including make-up, acting and direction.
- Would you know while watching this film that there was about 50 CGI shots? Some of them are obvious but they're done so well that you can't help but say, Wow, when they happen... that's if the scenes I'm thinking of were actually CGI and not practical effects.
Kåre Hedebrant in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, a Magnet Releasing film. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
Dislikes:
- I can only add that I wanted to see more of Oskar being bullied. I thought that could have been handled a little better. It's not that it turned out bad I just would have like to have seen a little more or if it was just a little more violent.
Easily, Let the Right One In will be one of my top 5 most favorite films for this year. I think I liked it even more than Iron Man. As of right now the current standings for this year is The Dark Knight, Wall-E and Let the Right One In. This is a fantastic film that pushes the limit for reasons I don't want to give away. After watching this film you should research the story itself and you'll find things that will make this film more disturbing. Know that this film isn't meant to frighten us, unless your a little kid, but the shear quality is adult oriented. I wouldn't be surprised if this film makes it to the Academy Awards this year in some capacity. If the Oscars happened right now, I'd put it as a favorite for Best Picture and I'm not talking about Best Foreign Film, I'm talking about the big one.
With all that said, I rate Let the Right One In a 9.5 or even a 10 out of 10. It will all depend on the person but I honestly can't decide. Hell... with those scores there is no difference. I love this movie!
-Phil
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Lina leandersson you are so beautiful and you can act to I wish I could be next to you in real life
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