Let The Right One In [movies]

First, you should read Y’s review…

By all accounts, Tomas Alfredson’s film, Let The Right One In, shouldn’t be what it is. A story about two child neighbors, one obsessed with crime and one a vampire, should be harsher, rougher, and more sensational and crazy than this film. What you get is a movie about friendship and loneliness, told with such gentle touches that warm your heart amidst the snowy setting of the Swedish background. When Eli gets her first kill, it should be a bad ass moment that makes your inner horror geek squeal with delight. And yet, as she drinks his blood and snaps his neck to put him out of his misery, she weeps. And for a moment, you forget about the expected tropes that come with the superficial structure of this movie’s plot, and realize that there’s a grander story being told here, even if it rarely leaves the courtyard of the apartment complex that Oskar and Eli live in.

I’ll say this much, Alfredson knows how to space out a slow movie. Objectively, this isn’t a movie chock full of plot. And yet, there are big moments that hit you hard, and they’re spaced out enough that each one hits you with quite a wallop. Whether it’s a gentle moment, or a horrifying one, you’re rarely bored, and mostly enthralled while watching it. I’m curious to see what Alfredson can do with a busier, more dynamic story (he’s currently got nothing scheduled), but let’s just say that I’ll be excited no matter what it is.

Y did a good job talking about the themes, so if you want a deeper analysis of the story, read his review linked above. I will say, it’s predictable, that everything in this movie is so much more affecting acted out by 12 year old kids. The purity of the bond formed between Eli and Oskar is emotionally important, and is rightfully given centerstage amidst the film’s otherwise high level of respect for the lore of vampires. And in the hands of lesser filmmakers, the performances, the script, would’ve been wasted in an attempt to make this movie be essentially two separate ones, a horror movie and a romantic drama. Alfredson seamlessly makes this into one movie, where there are no lines that distinguish one from the other. And it works so well, you honestly wonder why no one’s ever tried it quite like this before.

Honestly, it’s probably because no one could do it this well.