Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In is the best movie that I have seen in quite a while. I may even watch it again tonight.

An unsettling film, to say the least. First, it uses the bleak Swedish backdrop as a living part of the cast. Shots of snow show multiple layers of snow falling in different directions, a confused chaotic downward drift. That's the thing, all those layers, seemingly multi directional, but all of those flakes are falling. And that's just one shot.

So, Cinematography is amazing. Check.

The story itself is not easily summed up, though usually when done by others it goes; boy is lonely, new girl moves in, girl is lonely, boy meets girl, girl eats neighbors. (I'm talking major film reviewers boil it down to that) I won't be subjecting this article to that sort of inattentive dribble.

Yes, taking the aforementioned plot, the directors have seemingly pulled off a sixth sense style snatch and grab, and for the life of me no one seems to get it. The girl, Eli, moves in with an older man, who as the film unfolds, goes 'hunting' for her. He has a little blood collection kit that he takes out, kills, drains, and is supposed to bring the blood back to Eli. Alas, his age is showing, and the film shows us moments of tenderness between the two. He is her familiar, but he is not Renfield by any stretch. Eli's thrall is not magical, but emotional. He LOVES her, and wants to help her.

Now we can continue. Oskar is getting bullied, and Eli brings out the tiger in him. She tells him to "hit back harder". She unleashes his inner power and confidence, and forgives him his desire for vengeance. She harnessess these things to her own aims.
All the while, Oskar is falling deeper in love with her, and after the death of her former familiar, Eli begins spending more time with Oskar. It is so refreshing that these characters are only 12, and thus "pre" sexual. It is not the usual sensual attraction, but something deeper that drives these two together.

Eventually, Oskar is about to be drowned by bullies when Eli comes and kills them all. Oskar is not horrified by the scene (which is in true scandanavian style, horrific) but is happy to see Eli.

The last scene is where the Sixth sense comment comes in. It is Oskar, on a train, with Eli, in a box. He has become her new familiar. She is protected once more. The monstrous nature of the vampire is slightly revealed when we realize that she is not a little girl who was lonely and made friends with the lonely boy next door, but an old and cunning creature who took advantage of Oskars lonliness, further isolated him, and enthralled him for her own protection. She picked him as she saw her older familiar was getting too old, but he wasn't dead yet. What happens in the film is that the viewer becomes enthralled by Eli, and overlooks her devious and truly monstrous enslavement of these men. She exploits our sympathies that she 'lives on blood', and it is not her choice, but a compulsion that makes her kill.. She makes us forget that she is a monster. She is the most pure vampire that I have seen in a long time. This is why so many see it as a 'coming of age' film, and are decieved.

Remember, she is twelve, and has been for a very long time. Her appearance is a lie, she wears it consciously and inhabits it completely.

Such a brilliant film. I am a fan of vampire genre pieces, and was just recently saying that I wish something would come out with a real vampire, not this twilight bullshit that we've been seeing so much. Don't get me wrong, Interview, Buffy, True Blood, all favorites of mine, but sometimes you dont want to be seduced, you want to be devoured.

Also the usual thing is for the title to relate to the main character. In our human centric sexist way, we thing the protagonist is Oskar, but the title alludes to Eli, letting Oskar in, rather than the inverse. A little bit of a clue to all this comes from the title, which was adapted from the Morrisey song 'Let the right one slip in"

Let the right one in
Let the old dreams die
Let the wrong ones go
They cannot
They cannot
They cannot do what you want them to do
Oh ...

Let the right one in
Let the old dreams die
Let the wrong ones go
They do not
They do not
They do not see what you want them to
Oh ...


Let the right one in
Let the old things fade
Put the tricks and schemes (for good) away


Ah ... I will advise
Ah ... Until my mouth dries
Ah ... I will advise you to ...


Ah ... let the right one slip in
Slip in
Slip in


And when at last it does
I'd say you were within your rights to bite
The right one and say, "what kept you so long ?"
"What kept you so long ?"
Oh ...

Or maybe it is a warning to Oskar, or to us.

The romantic in me thinks maybe Eli will change Oskar and they will be happy together forever, but then I remember her former familiar and I realize that she had the chance last time and didn't do that, probably time and time again, this is not a love story, but a monster movie, and it may well be one of the best that I have ever seen.

I am enthralled~