the blog of nathan loding

This is the first part of a three part look at the Swedish film “Let The Right One In” and it’s Amer­i­can remake “Let Me In.”  Part two is a review of “Let Me In,” and part three looks at both together.  I plan to do my best to keep the two film reviews inde­pen­dent of each other, but do for­give me if I fail.  I would also like to acknowl­edge that I have not read the orig­i­nal novel, though I plan to in the future.  This com­men­tary is based solely on the films and some trivia found online.

Låt den rätte komma in (2008)
Star­ring: Kåre Hede­brant, Lina Lean­der­s­son, Per Rag­nar
Directed by: Thomas Alfred­son
Writ­ten by: John Ajvide Lindqvist, based on his novel
Rated: R

Rat­ing:

Let The Right One In is one of those rare films that comes along every few years.  It’s been described as “tran­scend­ing gen­res” and it truly does.  At it’s heart, it’s a coming-of-age story for a 12 year-old boy out­side Stock­holm in 1982.  It’s about the girl who gives him the con­fi­dence to make that lead towards man­hood, and their incred­i­bly unique rela­tion­ship.  It’s also about that girl, and her unique sit­u­a­tion – she’s a vampire.

To get it out of the way right now – yes, the story does have gore and vio­lence.  What is unique about it is the por­trayal of the vio­lence.  It’s not a cen­tral aspect to the story – the fact that the vio­lence occurs is extremely impor­tant, but the vio­lence itself isn’t.  So few film­mak­ers actu­ally under­stand that dif­fer­ence any­more.  When vio­lence hap­pens on-screen, it’s hid­den in shad­ows and behind object.  It’s just as vio­lent, but not as graphic.

Oskar (Hede­brant) is a 12 year-old boy liv­ing out­side Stock­holm in 1982.  His par­ents are sep­a­rated and Oskar’s rela­tion­ship with both is strained.  His father is an alco­holic and his mother is barely there for him.  He spends his days alone and get­ting bul­lied at school by Conny and his two cronies.  At night, still alone, Oskar pre­tends to exact revenge on Conny with a small knife and a tree.  He stabs the tree vio­lently, telling it to “Squeal like a pig,” just as Conny does to him.

Into this soli­tary exis­tence comes Eli (Lean­der­s­son), a mys­te­ri­ous girl who moves in next door with an old man, Håkan.  Eli and Oskar meet one night on the jun­gle gym in the court­yard.  The meet­ing is quiet, unevent­ful, but a strong attrac­tion is imme­di­ately formed.

The next night Oskar shares his Rubik’s cube with Eli and it, essen­tially, becomes their first date.  As Oskar and Eli grow their friend­ship, Håkan is attempt­ing to col­lect blood to feed Eli – being a vam­pire and all – but he is old, and get­ting sloppy.  His first attempt fails when he is almost dis­cov­ered by a pair of hik­ers.  Eli is furi­ous and mur­ders one of the neighbors.

Håkan’s mishaps con­tinue, increas­ing ten­sion amongst the neigh­bors and set­ting in motion a series of events that could end up destroy­ing Eli.  Oskar runs into more severe bul­ly­ing at school, and at Eli’s urg­ing hits back at Conny, nearly tear­ing Con­nys ear off when he does so.  Eli works to stay alive while build­ing her rela­tion­ship with Oskar.  Then Oskar dis­cov­ers that Eli is a vampire.

I don’t want to spoil too much of the movie, because it is very unpre­dictable.  Though “unpre­dictable” isn’t quite the right word – it’s some­thing to expe­ri­ence.  It’s a unique film-going expe­ri­ence to live part of the rela­tion­ship between a 12 year-old boy strug­gling to become a man and a vam­pire strug­gling to stay human.

The per­for­mances of two young actors are amaz­ing.  They are more sub­tle than most per­for­mances these days, and the fact that both actors were 12 or 13 when it was filmed makes it even more amaz­ing.  Hede­brant is espe­cially good at por­tray­ing the con­flicted Oskar.  The inner strug­gle with lone­li­ness and try­ing to be noticed by the right peo­ple is there in his stance, his facial expres­sions, the way he talks.

The direc­tion is what makes the movie a real gem.  The pace is even, which builds just the right amount of ten­sions at the right moments as you wait for the event to unfold.  Alfred­son takes some amaz­ing risks with his cam­era angles and per­spec­tive, often leav­ing the vast major­ity of the frame out of focus, or mov­ing the cam­era to a posi­tion where the action is out­side the frame.

In the end, the film is one of the few that actu­ally live up to the title of “tran­scend­ing gen­res.”  It is a coming-of-age tale.  It is a vam­pire tale.  And it’s sur­pris­ingly touching.

(As a side note, to those who are look­ing to pur­chase a copy of the film, make sure you read the arti­cle below regard­ing the sub­ti­tles and pay atten­tion to what release you are pur­chas­ing.  There is a dras­tic and unfor­tu­nate dif­fer­ence in the UK/European and Amer­i­can releases.)

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Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp4g9p_rgo

The sub­ti­tle con­tro­versy: http://iconsoffright.com/news/2009/03/let_the_wrong_subtitles_in_to.html