Let the Right One In
2008 ‘Låt den rätte komma in’ Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Synopsis
Eli is 12 years old. She's been 12 for over 200 years and, she just moved in next door.
Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.
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The biggest mistake you can make when watching this film is approaching it as a horror film.
It isn't.
What it is, is an almost existentialist coming of age drama that explores the limits of friendship, family and love. And what I love about it is that its conclusion is that there are no limits.
Sure, there are horror elements here as its makers clearly set out to make a unique vampire film and at that they have succeeded. But they understand one thing really well. At the centre of the mythology of the vampire, made famous by Bram Stoker's novel, does not lie a horror story, but a story of tragic love, isolation and redemption.
And that is what…
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8th Movie, 8th Country (Sweden) in the May 30 Days, 30 Countries Challenge
"Squeal like a pig. So, squeal." - Oskar
This is the quintessential classic romance film. If there was a 'most likely to' in Oskar's grade school yearbook, he would surely be voted, 'most likely to become a serial killer.' Oskar is one disturbed little boy. All I can say is that, the kids that bully him at school must have a death wish.
Oskar seemingly talks to an imaginary 'friend' of sorts at the beginning of the film. I use the term friend loosely, as Oskar is not very friendly to this imaginary figure. He yells vicious remarks towards it, he stabs it with a knife, among…
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After discussing it in length in Dirk's Essentials: Horror list, I decided to go and rematch this, just to remind myself how much I liked it, and to check whether it did actually live up to my memory of watching it the first time.
Not only does it live up, I think I actually like it even more now. The performances from the two main actors are breathtakingly good, and while both characters are immensely screwed up and lonely, their relationship is never anything less then incredibly tender and beautiful, though not in anything resembling the conventional senses of those words.
One of the things that really jumped out at me this time around, is how great the sound design…
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Film #4 of The Caker Baker's 30 Countries Project
Film #1 of The Caker Baker's long overdue induction into horror
I feel I should let you all know now that I'm tempted to make a really horrible vampire pun but am saving it for a more appropriate film.
So this would be an incredible movie..
If it weren't for the fact that every character is an insufferable dumbass.
SPOILER SECTION
Like when Eli kills bites and infects the one chick and her husband doesn't react to the fact that his husband's attempted murderer is sitting a few yards away.
Like when Eli sits down a few yards away. Like not bothering to flee or anything.
Like when Hakan hangs the…
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A unique and subversive vampire love story, that is tonally very dark but at it's centre, is morbidly sweet. This film boasts a variety of thematic and genre elements, such as coming of age - Oskar having to discover his own strength and battle through the bullies, romance - the young love that blossoms between the young vampire Eli and Oskar, and a social commentary - displaying messages about mental illness within young people in Sweden. All of these things bleed (no pun intended) together to form a perfect horror film, that shows that the genre is indeed evolving, albeit at a slow pace.
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30 Countries Challenge // #10 - Sweden
I've seen other reviews state that it's wrong to see this as a horror film due to the core of the story being focused on the relationship between the two main characters. I would say it definitely remains a horror, but due to years and years of shallow and empty slasher and torture porn films, our idea of what a horror film is has changed. Why can't a horror film have deep characterisation and actual heart? Let the Right One In proves that it can.
In many ways (ironically) this is a beautiful film. The setting and cinematography gives everything an eerie calming feel which then amplifies the occasional moments of brutality. The…
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Let The Right One In is a beautiful love story but of a different kind. A young boy meets a young androgynous vampire. This is a non-sexualised, prepubescent love story in which the characters form, not a relationship, but a friendship. This love and friendship repairs the loneliness and broken lives of the other half. Stunning cinematography, commendable acting and, overall, an enchanting film.
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Third foreign film I watch in a row, (and no, I'm not doing the 30 countries challenge) this doesn't hold up against the likes of Oldboy and Amelié but can it hold up inside its genre? The answer is a rotund yes.
I'm really sorry for giving this the same rating I gave Mama, because this is a far superior film, but it has its flaws. It was too ambiguous for me, more than it should have, and didn't give us much backstory. Why are we suppossed to care about Hakan, for example, if we dont know who he is?
It was still a decent film with quite a style, and the friendship between Oskar and Eli is creepy but really enjoyable. Out of respect I won't make Twilight (ugh) comparations.
It has bloody good moments, too.
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30 Countries Challenge // #10 - Sweden
I've seen other reviews state that it's wrong to see this as a horror film due to the core of the story being focused on the relationship between the two main characters. I would say it definitely remains a horror, but due to years and years of shallow and empty slasher and torture porn films, our idea of what a horror film is has changed. Why can't a horror film have deep characterisation and actual heart? Let the Right One In proves that it can.
In many ways (ironically) this is a beautiful film. The setting and cinematography gives everything an eerie calming feel which then amplifies the occasional moments of brutality. The…
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Frigid and gorgeous with spot-on performances from the two young leads. This is so much more than just a vampire movie, it's also a haunting coming-of-age story about love, loneliness and connection. I do think that a couple of the B stories could have been more tightly interwoven into the plot but overall, I was pretty blown away.
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This film marks the end of my Around the World in May-tay Days Marathon. Not because I've finished it, but because I got sick of it. The thing I love, that almost all of us love, is watching movies. When I sit down to watch a movie, I'm full of excitment over what may happen. However, if I watch too many movies in a row, I grow less and less interested. This is what happened with my planned marathon. So, I've decided to give it up. I can't proparly review this film, as I haven't give it a fair chance. I hope to come back to it someday.
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Film #4 of The Caker Baker's 30 Countries Project
Film #1 of The Caker Baker's long overdue induction into horror
I feel I should let you all know now that I'm tempted to make a really horrible vampire pun but am saving it for a more appropriate film.
So this would be an incredible movie..
If it weren't for the fact that every character is an insufferable dumbass.
SPOILER SECTION
Like when Eli kills bites and infects the one chick and her husband doesn't react to the fact that his husband's attempted murderer is sitting a few yards away.
Like when Eli sits down a few yards away. Like not bothering to flee or anything.
Like when Hakan hangs the…
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Me enteré de esta película por su remake americano "Let Me In", que a pesar de que tiene buena crítica, quise ver la original primero ya que son pocos los casos de que el remake supere a la original. Si estás cansado de la típica historia de vampiros, esta película es para ti. La historia hace un enfoque muy interesante de cómo la monstruosidad de un individuo puede tener también su lado humano pero que eso no lo libra de cometer ciertos actos atroces y creo que eso es lo que verdaderamente atrapa al espectador. Desde su buena dirección, escenas impactantes muy bien hechas y las actuaciones de los dos niños protagonistas, esta película combina perfectamente el drama con el horror.
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8th Movie, 8th Country (Sweden) in the May 30 Days, 30 Countries Challenge
"Squeal like a pig. So, squeal." - Oskar
This is the quintessential classic romance film. If there was a 'most likely to' in Oskar's grade school yearbook, he would surely be voted, 'most likely to become a serial killer.' Oskar is one disturbed little boy. All I can say is that, the kids that bully him at school must have a death wish.
Oskar seemingly talks to an imaginary 'friend' of sorts at the beginning of the film. I use the term friend loosely, as Oskar is not very friendly to this imaginary figure. He yells vicious remarks towards it, he stabs it with a knife, among…
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Damn good. In the era of Twilight, this movie shows the world how you should deal with vampires on the silver screen.