Films That Witness Madness

review

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

In stark contrast to slick, over-produced and shoddy vampire flicks like TWILIGHT and UNDERWORLD, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN tells its tale in quiet, introspective moments. The film is somber but tender, a story of first love told not in grandiose gestures or hyperactive hyperbole, rather in whispers and sighs. Watching it for the first time, I was struck by how remarkably mundane everything was, how lived in the world of the film felt, how empty and desolate the lives of the films characters seemed to be. It felt like a Bergman film would feel if Bergman's underlying humanism were struck from the record, a work of almost inescapable solace, of crushing melancholy and suffocating despair. I was prepared for something dry and unpalatable. But then, through a magical moment involving two children, one of whom is not really a child at all, and something as trivial as a Rubik's Cube, the film opened its arms and the most remarkable thing happened. I fell in love with it. I knew from that very moment that LET THE RIGHT ONE IN was special and I knew, just knew, that this would be a film I would never forget.

Vampire films are often simplistic creatures. When you throw romance into the mix, they become downright dumb. The attraction to danger is, I believe, strong for young girls but for a grown woman it's absolutely stupid. As an employee at a bookstore I see scores of older women - ranging from their thirties to positively ancient - buying romance novels by the armfull, all of them built around the idea of vampire as romantic hero. This is absurd. Nevermind the creepiness factor of making love to a dead guy, the simple idea of falling in love with - let alone cohabitating with - an undead creature who must kill to survive is stupid. Now I know we have no choice in who we fall in love with, the heart chooses blah blah blah, but at some point your brain kicks in and says "whoa, this probably isn't the best position to be in" and you walk away. The same as if you found out the man you loved is a rapist, pedophile, or mass murderer. The fact that many women don't walk away from those kinds of men - and the fact that these women still harbor some kind of inner romantic wish for an undead hunk with a non-beating heart of gold, even if said hunk is a bloodthirsty murderer - speaks volumes about the numbing power of love on the intellect.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN sidesteps all this nonsense. Its lead character, Oskar, is still too young to harbor any real sexual desires. He's a loner, bullied mercilessly at school and all but ignored by his divorced parents. A strange man moves into the apartment next to his with a young girl, Eli, in tow. The nature of the man's relationship with Eli is never fully explained. All we know for sure is that he has taken it upon himself to provide Eli, a vampire, with blood. Oskar is instantly curious about Eli - their first meeting outside the apartment building at night is largely uneventful - but he is simply too awkward to say much of anything to her. Their attraction is immediate but innocent. They are both painfully alone. During a botched attempt to acquire blood for Eli to drink, her companion is cornered. Not wanting his identity to be traced, he pours acid over his face. Robbed of her source for food - and her steadiest human contact - Eli drifts closer to Oskar. Unfortunately, Eli's thirst for blood is strong and she makes the terrible mistake of attacking a woman while her drunk of a beau is close by. And, with that, I've said enough. Perhaps I've already said too much.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is an experience. The stylized, but not flashy, look of the film is bleak but strangely warm. The landscape is rather barren - as are the apartments, classrooms, etc. - but oddly inviting. As I stated in the opening, it feels very much like the films of Ingmar Bergman with their gleaming flow of warmth just below their frozen exterior. It is a calculated film, deliberate in its pacing and exact in its measurements. Tomas Alfredson has directed a film with the precision and skill of a diamond cutter. There isn't a single wasted frame or missed note. This is a quiet, beautiful film.

To say that the best scenes of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN are the least exciting might sound odd but for me it's true. A woman bursting into flames or the sloppy feeding scenes will appease the general horror fan but the moments that stick in my mind are the more peaceful moments - the slow evaporation of a handprint on glass, Oskar embracing Eli in a show of both affection and empathy after she gets sick from eating a piece of candy, the two of them tapping messages back and forth using Morse code, Oskar and Eli lying in bed together as Oskar fumbles his way around words of affection he is still too young to fully understand. The true beauty of this film, even more than the immaculate cinematography or the masterful direction, are the performances by its two young leads Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson. Both performers manage to convey worlds of emotions through simple glances, awkward pauses, and subtle expression. In a day and age where romance in film often involves under going ridiculous humiliation and/or over-exaggerated trials-by-fire, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN manages to tell a remarkably sweet story of first love in a genre that is completely hostile to it.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of its story either. It is still a vampire story and for every moment of beauty there is a moment of ugliness. Still, this is not a film that dwells on the gruesome details. It is an observed, character-driven tale that effectively mixes its humanism and its sadism and comes out the other end a complex cinematic experience. We love the characters but are rightfully pessimistic about their chances together. The films closing shot is wonderful but strangely depressing. It was with a range of conflicting emotions that watched the credits roll. Our two characters have escaped from one intolerable situation but I knew that nothing had really changed. Nor could it. We have simply arrived back at the films beginning, only Eli is now accompanied by a different companion. Oskar's smile would soon fade with time as the cycle began all over again.

Essential viewing.

DISCUSS THIS FILM IN THE FORUM! JUST CLICK HERE TO VISIT!