Let The Right One In

With the disarming, striking and poetic Let the Right One In, the recent lull in quality on our cinema’s screens is stopped dead.

Hailing from Sweden, Let the Right One In is a delicate blend of vampires and romance, the story of two twelve year olds who come to need and love one another. Beautifully shot, this film will defy expectation and convention from the offset; although a vampire film, it refuses to fit into this pigeon hole. The production values are high, the acting honest and pure; this is a truly classy effort from Tomas Alfredson, something rare. Pans Labyrinth director, Guillermo del Toro, calls the film a “beautiful fairytale”; a higher recommendation, I cannot conceive.

A film focused on two twelve year olds may sound a risky venture, but Oskar and Eli, our two lovers, are intelligently cast, and their performances well observed. It is, like most great stories, strikingly simple; we see Oskar, a lonely and troubled child plotting revenge against his tormenters, encounter a girl who fascinates him; as their friendship develops, Oskar finds the courage to stand up to those who bully him, while Eli exhibits strange behaviour and emanates a strange smell. The complications come when Eli’s condition forces her to kill.

The film starts slowly, with lengthy, beautiful shots introducing Oskar. The snow stricken Swedish suburbs dazzle, and the rare inclusion of sunlight sets the crisp, cold scene for a rare treat. The pace from there is perfect, with the characters growing and events unfurling until things are out of control. The highlight comes when Eli isn’t invited in…

If you are looking for a human, involved and disquieting break from recent trends, then Let the Right One In is the right film for you. Poetic, subtle, and serious, this is something to really get your fangs into.

Last edited: 3rd August 2009

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