Sunday, December 21, 2008

Review: Let The Right One In

"Are you looking at me? Well, squeal! Squeal, pig!"

This is the first thing we hear Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) say in "Let The Right One In," and also the first thing that Eli (Lina Leandersson) hears him say. Oskar is one of those completely unremarkable boys we all remember from grade school, the one who only seems to even be present in a room when he's getting harassed by bullies, who pursue him because they know they can and they know he won't retaliate. He fantasizes often about torturing them and having his revenge, and in general, he fits the mold of a boy that could end up on the news for bringing a gun to school a few years down the road.

His parents ignore him, and he has no positive attention in his life, but this turns around one day when he meets Eli. All he knows is that she "smells funny" and doesn't know her birthday (she says that "I'm 12...but I've been 12 for a long time") and for some reason tells him during their first conversation that it's probably best if they don't become friends. Oskar tries to act tough, but it's obvious this stings him. The next day, though, Eli is back, and they begin to befriend each other using morse code along their shared bedroom wall, and Oskar begins to come alive, just a little bit.

There's just one nasty little snag: Eli is a vampire, one who depends on a strange older man living with her for sustenance in the form of blood from random people he assaults in desolate areas and drains.

In a turn refreshing for the genre, Oskar doesn't run from her with terror or tell her that he's only afraid of being without her. He approaches her with curiousity, and also with tenderness; regardless of what she is, she's a friend to him, and he knows this. He also begins to become attracted to her, but this is also a problem. In the film's best exchange, one of the year's best altogether, Eli confesses something unusual:

Oskar: "Do you want to go steady?"
Eli: "Oskar, I'm not a girl."
Oskar: "Well, okay, but do you want to go steady or not?"

Soon, Eli's need for blood begins to rear its head, especially when the friend of one of her victims begins to seek vengeance. She also inspires Oskar to retaliate against the bullies who abuse him, which is at first thrilling and later potentially life-threatening. All these consequences come together in the film's brilliant final twenty minutes, in which both Oskar and Eli are forced to come face to face with the reality of their friendship and must face the consequences of being in something that resembles love.

In my review of "Twilight" earlier this month, I mentioned that that film was a castration of the vampire genre. "Let The Right One In" is the absolute antithesis of that film, as it examines in a far more honest light the love between the mortal and the immortal, and the lengths to which both will go to protect the other. In addition, it doesn't really occur to you until the film is over that the film is also a surprisingly tender parable about the awkward need for closeness in the lonely time of adolescence. Pretty neat trick, huh?

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