16 December 2008

Let the Right One In


To start this off, I'm going to say it's pretty much impossible to review this movie without sounding like a creep. I mean, for crying out loud, the main characters are a pale-skinned 12-year old swedish boy and an androgynous vampire appearing to be the same age in a semi-sensual relationship. What the heck, is this an anime?

With that out of the way, I can say that this film is great. The visuals are wonderful, the dialogue (although in Swedish) is touching, and the acting is believable even though the primary cast is composed of kids. Probably the biggest theme I got out of it is cold. Lots of cold. There's always snow everywhere, and you can just feel the snot dripping out of the main kid's nose and freezing on his face.

Of course the real main theme is... um... friendship I think. Friendship with androgynous vampires who like you because you have pent-up rage and want to kill people. Yeah, that's it.

One interesting thing I thought was the part of the vampire's familiar; you don't ever really find out much about him, only that he's devoted to the vampire (Eli). I have a feeling he's been with him/her for quite a long time, probably since childhood, in which case the vampire's befriending of the boy (whose name I have forgotten... aha, Oskar) is the changing of the guard, and has nothing to do with emotional attachment. That's the way it should be with vampires in my book.

The film sticks with pretty standard vampire lore. Sunlight burns, drinkin' the blood, necessity for invitations into buildings (I hate that one), agility, strength, etc. Neither silver or garlic came up at all. It's really creepy to see the little tyke leaping all over the place and climbing up walls. It's also creepy when he/she talks to Oscar with those big doe eyes and crusty-red covered mouth about love and rubik's cubes.

This isn't really a horror film. It has horror elements, but it's actually a drama/thriller deal I think, with something of an anti-heroic message. It's on or near the top of a lot of best-of-2008 lists, and I don't blame the writers of those lists for their selection.

Oh yeah, there's gonna be an American remake, of a sort. Like the near-universally-scorned Oldboy remake, it's going to be based on the original book and not the film, so it could be a lot different. I'll probably watch it, but I doubt it will hit the edginess levels found here.

1 comment:

The Blaggernaut said...

You forgot sleeping in the earth (I missed this, but someone pointed it out to me - the tub was filled with it) as a part of a vampire lore. Also I have to disagree about the androgyny thing. Eli is not in the least bit androgynous (at least no more than Oskar with long lashes and blond locks). If you're thinking this because she says "I'm not a girl", then I thin you're misinterpreting it (or, well, maybe I am). To me it was evident she meant "I'm not a girl as far as any conception of what a girl might be you might have goes". I read it as " I am so far from human that I cannot apply the word describing a female child to myself".

I really loved this movie, even more so because of the kids and how they took everything in stride in a way I suppose you only can at 12. You're right, it wasn't a horror movie. As for the main theme, along with friendship, I'd put power right up there with it, especially given how the movie started and ended (minus the train scene).