FILM CHALLENGE: 87) Let The Right One In

87) Let The Right One In

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Year: 2008

Plot Summary: 12 year old Oskar is a lonely and outcast boy bullied in school by Conny and two other classroom mates. At home, he dreams of getting revenge on the trio of bullies, but doesn't have the strength. When Oskar befriends his new next door neighbour, Eli, who he plays with at night in the playground of their building, she helps Oskar to fight back. But he soon discovers that she is a vampire who, along with her father, has been killing people across Sweden for blood.

Although it was Twilight that won the hearts of audiences worldwide in the late stages of the decade, it's this vampire story that, I believe, should have received the recognition. Without the budget, special effects or, well, the English language, Let The Right One In managed to craft a brutal, dark and haunting vampire story that remained true to its roots, while also being a touching and often moving tale of adolescence.

In many ways, I'd go as far as to call the movie 'beautiful'. Yes, it's a horror movie, but it's one that is strangely poetic. This is a result of the brilliant work by Tomas Alfredson. While many directors might feel obliged to fill it with style and flair, Alfredson's camerawork, instead, is subtle and unobtrusive allowing the audience to place themselves right in the middle of the stark, empty setting. Moreover, while the trailers for the US remake seem to suggest that Matt Reeves has filmed it with an orange tint, I feel that the white glow of Let The Right One In is tremendously important to the movie. It effectively creates a sense of purity and innocence about the 12 year old Oskar.

This purity and innocence is a major part of Oskar's character and the writing also helps to enforce this. The dialogue that he shares with Eli makes for some of the most fascinating moments in the movie simply because it's so delicate. In one of their first scenes together, their conversation is simply about birthdays and, when Eli says she doesn't know when hers is, he innocently responds with "Then you don't get any birthday presents, do you?". Later in the film there's an equally pure moment when he asks Eli if she will go out with him and says "You don't do anything special when you go steady".

He's so vulnerable that you almost immediately side with Oskar in Let The Right One In as he struggles against the bullies who torment him at school. As someone who went through similar experiences to Oskar, the scenes of bullying feel more realistic than any other that has been committed to celluloid. Thanks to the incredible performances, cinematography, sound, writing, etc. you really feel Oskar's emotional and physical torment in these parts of Let The Right One In and, when he finally does fight back, you can't help but smirk with satisfaction.

Despite how delicate and touching it is, Let The Right One In also has its brutal, dark moments. The scenes with Eli's protector are extremely disturbing and haunting while Eli herself, who snarls and splutters when she's overcome with a thirst for blood, is surprisingly frightening. Alfredson weaves between these two polarising moods with ease and it never feels disjointed or clumsy.

A very interesting and truly original vampire movie that deserves to become a cult classic.

4/5

By Daniel Sarath with 3 comments