Let the Right One In (2008)

The lives of children contain more mature themes than most adults are likely to admit. While we are certainly at our most innocent state in the blissful years of prepubescent youth, we still might be thrown into situations which summon powerfully adult emotions colored with violence, rage, and a desire to kill. Everything is new in these early years, and thus more potent for all of its unexpected intensity. While children, at their core, long most for simply being safe and secure, they also may begin to experience the more turbulent emotions of adulthood; the two primary and primal sensations being the urge for violence, and the desire to find someone to love.

Let the Right One In is a thing of sweet and bloody innocence; a tale of childish purity, of murderous revenge and torment, and of the great, great longing to find acceptance, safety, and solace within the arms of one who might love us.

Twelve-year-old Oskar is a sweet and good-hearted child; certainly far too gentle to properly stand up to the trio of bullies which plague his existence at school. The boy is hampered by fear and anxiety, and is incapable of fighting back in any realm beyond fantasy. Everything changes with the arrival of Eli, the mysterious twelve-year-old girl who moves in next door. A gentle friendship, rife with the beginnings of childish romance, blossoms between the two, and soon Oskar becomes emboldened enough to attempt to seize control of his fear and to fight back against his tormentors. The boy has some success; a little too much, perhaps, and Oskar soon faces a retribution that prompts his young sweetheart Eli to reveal herself as a vampiric entity capable of savage and brutal violence.

One of the more striking attributes of Let the Right One In is the gentle and stark pacing established throughout the film. The opening credits best lay the foundation for what is to come; we are given a single, unwavering shot of a nighttime winter sky during a snowfall. No music, no sound, no muddying overlying narrative, simply a still moment of peaceful nighttime chill which suits perfectly to introduce the powerfully restrained story that follows.

This stark restraint is a powerful tool in the film, and serves wonderfully to provide contrast to its careful moments of blood and outrageous violence. Much of the gore within the story - and there are definitely moments in which the red stuff flies - is done with clever camera angles and grotesque sound effects that leave the bulk of the bodily damage left to the viewer's imagination. This technique reaches a level of mastery in the final climax of the film, which features a showdown at the school's public swimming pool; a murderous conflict executed with an artistic genius that is so profoundly well done in its unique perspective and restrained context that it simply is a new classic moment in film.

There are a few moments of dark humor that somewhat break up the stark tension, mostly involving the great dislike between common cats and vampires. There is certainly something outrageously funny about a poor vampire assaulted by 20 otherwise docile house cats. While humorous, these moments are also the film's greatest weakness, as these attack cats are partially or fully CGI rendered. The resulting effect is something a little cartoonish and distracting. At the same time, it must be accepted that this film - and it is a wonderful film - was made for an astounding 3.3 million; a sum pettily small when compared to many other films which are also not nearly as good.

Let the Right One In was originally based upon a book of the same name, and its screenplay was also written by the book's author. I have not yet read the book, but my understanding is that it does provide more light on some intriguing, and rather shocking, details of the vampire Eli's history. The film does make rather vague hints on her background, at least one of them quite shocking in its graphic nature, but leaves much to be mulled over by the viewer. The book is next in my queue, and it just might end up being next in yours.

Well done films featuring vampires have become like hen's teeth. This oft used and abused monster has been subjected to too many vapid and soulless features that have proved more acidic to its fearsome countenance than the brightest sunlight of the desert. A film such as Let the Right One In succeeds because, while it does include a vampire, it is not actually about vampirism; instead focusing on the more human conditions of innocence, violence, and love. These are emotions and themes that many should find easy to identify with at some level. I can't help but be happy Oskar found his Eli. May you find yours. Go see this film.