In  which Stephanie Reviews a Film from Notmerica

Sweden’s

Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In came out in 2008 and directed by Tomas Alfredson. It is the story of a lonely boy named Oskar who befriends a strange girl who moves in next door named Eli. There is something a little different, a little other worldly about Eli. We soon find out that Eli is not like other children, she is in fact, a vampire.

It isn’t a surprise when I say that all the stories we human beings tell, whether they are in a movie, TV show, a novel, or even joke we tell to a friend, they all deal with a certain aspect of our humanity. Monster movies are especially about humanity, because they reveal something about humanity’s fear and purpose. This is ultimately why Twilight sucks donkey balls, because instead of showing vampirism to be a wretched curse, it instead imbues those infected with it superpowers, immortality and the attractiveness of a sex god. It says nothing about what it means to be a human being. Who wouldn’t want to be a vampire if they are just super human?

Especially when they save so much money on body glitter.

Let the Right One In is not a typical horror/monster movie. But it has a lot to say about the nature of human connections. If I had to put it into a genre, it would be romantic horror.  It’s certainly filmed like a horror movie, using Sweden’s desolate wasteland for a background. The shots are filled with snow, not pure white, but somehow tainted. Even the score is filled with hollow, foreboding sounds. But unlike horror films, which can leave an audience tense and uneasy, the way the Alfredson builds the budding relationship between Oskar and Eli lures the audience into a safe place. Take a look at Oskar and Eli’s first scene together:

They are far away from each other, and she is on a much higher level than he is. This is their first encounter. Now take a look at the next time these two meet:

Here they are much closer together, and they are physically connected through this toy, this innocent gesture of friendship. The very next time these two get together they’re all like:

Here we see the two on the same level, meeting each other as equals.

The time the director allows and the vulnerability of the two child actors allures the audience into the safety that these two come to feel in each other’s presence. The film is called Let the Right One In for a reason. On its surface, it refers to that old lore that a vampire cannot enter a room unless invited. But it has a lot more to say about the manner in which people let others into their little personal bubble. There are many relationships in this film that are huge failures precisely because of an inability to connect and  for one character to be what the other one needs. Oskar’s parents are divorced. A neighborhood couple pay the ultimate price for their inability to connect.  (spoiler alert) It happens because this neighbor man is lashing out at his girlfriend because his best friend was killed by, well, all he knows is that it was a child. After getting yelled at, she runs out into the street only to get attacked by Eli. She gets infected, knows she is all alone in the world and doesn’t want to face this curse alone so she commits suicide via sunlight in the hospital. Her boyfriend gets there just in time to witness the carnage. The scene of her catching on fire, well that doesn’t really do it justice…the scene of the raging inferno of fire and writhing limbs is so incredibly jaw dropping awesome. It’s the big Hollywood moment in the film, if there was one.

But the biggest contrast of good connection/bad connection are associated with Eli. On one hand you have her weird, creepy caretaker. He amounts to nothing more than a bumbling failure of a serial killer. Though he obviously cares for Eli, and even gets jealous of her friendship with Oskar, they aren’t able to do anything for each other. Then you have Oskar. Though he is just a little boy, weaker and with no credit, Eli is still safer with him than she was with this man she called, “papa.” They are more equals, and take care of each other. In one of the final, gruesome scenes in the movie, Eli protects Oskar from his bully tormentors, in something I can’t in good conscious spoil. It’s too clever a set up and too well done to describe, so you filterinos are just going to have to go see for yourselves.
So what does this say about humanity? Let the Right One In is about the human desire and failure of making a connection with another human being. A process that is slow and cannot be forced or exist just because you really want it to. That can lead to letting the wrong one in, which this movie makes no bones about is detrimental. It’s clear when Eli enters a room to show Oskar what happens when she comes in uninvited and she starts hemorrhaging blood from every pore and orafice.

This is a truly remarkable film, with so much there there. They did an American remake called Let Me In with YPF darling Chole Moretz, but it seemed to entirely miss the point of the original for a more flash and bang horror movie, a transition common in American remakes. It was wholly unnecessary, especially because this is a great foreign film that is palatable for American audiences.

Next Week: Brazil’s City Of God

Love,

Stephanie Rose