Let the Right One In introduces the melancholic allure of the lonely vampire to a Swedish junior high school in winter 1982. Attuned to the bristling hypersensitivities of its preteen protagonists, the film rhymes the miseries of two soulmates: the ravenous vampire girl who can never die and the 12-year-old boy who can never fit in.
By day young Oskar is the victim of relentless bullying. By night he dreams of revenge. He fills a notebook with details of the gruesome blood-lettings. Eli, the new girl next door, seems just as much a misfit: she never feels the cold, she smells weird, she can't enter a room unless she's invited, but she understands Oskar.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
How to best describe Let The Right One In? It is so many things - a horror film that turns your blood cold like an Arctic breeze, an empathetic examination of adolescent agony and a heart-warming love story. It will no doubt be lazily categorized as a vampire movie, but that definition hopelessly fails to capture the sense of imagination that allows this film to transcend the limitations of the horror genre and instead reach the dizzying heights of borderline masterpiece.
Similarly, a brief synopsis of its story fails to do justice to its originality. A young bullied boy with revenge fantasies befriends a mysterious waif of a girl whose arrival in his housing block coincides with a spate of gruesome murders. In each other these two lonely figures find that which they lack within themselves. For him, that is the courage and conviction to be a stronger individual, while for her it is a genuine humanity denied by her supernatural status. The resulting opportunities for both tender emotion and sinister terror are handled deftly, the story shifting seamlessly between the two extremes in a way that is natural and organic rather than an obtuse, iconoclastic exercise in genre bending.
The two child leads, perfectly cast, give performances so convincing that the stories' fantastical elements seem as genuine as the themes grounded in reality. Providing the cherry on top is the cinematography, with its aesthetic so devoid of warmth that you can imagine the screen is cold to the touch. Director Tomas Alfredson conducts all these elements so that they remain in perfect harmony, enhancing the effects of each other and building towards a fantastic finale. Definitely a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
I'm done gushing. Put it on your must see list, you won't be disappointed. Or you will because you have no soul.
By Andreas Heinemann, Flicks.co.nz
The book was well written but it talks itself black in the face, just like most large-scale fiction does. This film cuts out all the unnecessary backgrounds and explanations that just serve to feed the stupid and unimaginative and cuts down right to the very heart of the story - and into the heart of the viewer.
Really slow, boring, and was just plain pointless
I love films about humans who fall in love with ghosts/vampires/non-humans. This is another in that fantastic canon. Gruesome and sweet - who would have thought those two descriptions could go together? Some parts are really inventive, and I'm still thinking about it days later. This coming-of-age tale is recommended by me.
Phwoar! This is a beautiful film... engrossing and always surprising. For sheer impact, not much rivals this in recent times except The Dark Knight.
It's really unfair how this film is only in cinama's in Auckland, esp. seeing as it gained really high reviews. Anyhoo, the film is brilliant. Not as good as the book, but the actors show such brilliance in the characters they portrayed. I love the wintery fell it has to it to. To anyone thinking of seeing it (or if you already have), READ THE BOOK! It will blow you away.
The young actors are powerful in draining roles. We care for them more than they care for themselves. Alfredson's palette is so drained of warm colors that even fresh blood is black.
The best fairy tales always have so much darkness in them. That's why they resonate so deeply. This is a magnificent film.
A moody adaptation of the Swedish best-seller about a fateful mortal-vampire romance, Let the Right One In is atypically literate and unexpectedly affecting suspense fare. Complex characters, ominous situations fraught with mortality and the recklessness of youthful ardor create a tense and subtly shaded narrative.
In this sinister but gorgeous and compelling film by director Tomas Alfredson, being human and acting human don't always go together.
There is a remarkable stillness to many of the film's most indelible images, particularly the exteriors, which are so carefully photographed, and without the usual tiresome camera jiggling, as to look almost frozen.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 8th Jan 2009.
Release date: January 8th 2009.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
