filmbore pick of the week - Let The Right One In

Let The Right One In

Director: Tomas Alfredson
Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Patrik Rydmark, Per Ragnar
Year: 2008
Language: Swedish
UK rental release: August 2009

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And so, we enter the final part of my horror season. But what sub-genre will I tap into in the last round? Well, this isn't strictly a sub-genre, but a category of great importance...

Some of you may remember the article I wrote back in August on like-for-like remakes here. And today, we are still continually reminded of the lack of originality in the Hollywood machine thanks to their constant stream of re-do's, including some awful reworkings of incredible world cinema. One of the biggest of these tragedies comes in the form of an incredible Swedish horror directed by Tomas Alfredson, Let The Right One In.

Oskar (newcomer Kåre Hedebrant) is an insular child and doesn't fit in with other kids. He's an awkward, eccentric lad who nobody seems to understand. Due to his mother regularly working nights he's left at home nearly every night to fend for himself. His parents are separated, the segregation possibly feeding his distance from those around him.

He's getting bullied at school for being so different, so unique. In particular, a gang of boys pick on Oskar frequently, led by head bully, Conny (newcomer Patrik Rydmark).

Eli (newcomer Lina Leandersson) is a sickly looking girl who's just moved into the area. On her first night in her new home she ventures into the park outside and encounters Oskar. She seems other-worldly and older than her years, holding a lifetime in her eyes. She stresses to Oskar that, although they are neighbours, they can never be friends.

Maybe this is due to the actions of Eli's father/guardian, Håkan (Per Ragnar, Storm, Fire-Eater). At night, he is chloroforming & kidnapping local folk. Unclear as we are of his motive, we bear witness as he drains his hanging victims of their blood, like slaughtered cattle. He is clinical and calculated in his methods.

After a little time Eli starts to befriend Oskar. She slowly realises that she understands him and finds his reluctantly aloof persona endearing. She wants to protect him; to help him fight back against Conny and the others. As they grow closer, Oskar sees some peculiar sides to Eli's that interest him too: she doesn't feel the cold when outside in the icy night air, on occasion she moves with an ethereal quality, and when he feeds her sweets she can't seem to keep them down, regurgitating them moments after eating them. She's clearly unlike anyone he's ever met.

As their relationship flourishes, Oskar discovers Eli's link to the horrendous killings in the area. Yet, when Eli's relents to disclose her secret, it fuels more intrigue and mystery. Oskar is entranced as Eli allows him to enter her bizarre and dark world.

 

Adapted from the novel of the same name by its own author, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let The Right One In is an enigmatic piece that slowly draws you in right from it's snow-filled opening sequence. We're welcome by an emotional and hefty score that continues to penetrate at subtle points throughout the story. It's tones bring a stark air, emphasising Oskar's loneliness, Eli's pining for friendship and both of their needs for acceptance. 

Full of hope, the score intently contradicts the horror element of this movie. Softly chilling like the icy air of the wintry weather, it seeps into your core, ready to shock you in it's poignant ferocity. (Slight spoiler alert!) The first vampiric kill is a brutal, animalistic moment, contrasting against the feeling of conflicted anti-heroine, Eli. It illustrates the crucially natural, if calmly barbaric, vein of the whole picture, imbuing it with a cool edge.

There are aspects of symbolism demonstrating this conflict in other parts of the film, such as the distinct vibrancy of fresh blood post-kill, soaking into the harsh blankness of the constant settled snow. There's no disputing the gruesomeness of Eli's actions but due to the careful hand that Alfredson applies to Lindqvist's tale you're left feeling both pity and fondness for her character, especially through the resilience that she starts to reveal in Oskar. Through the grim undertones there are touching moments between the two as they grow closer.

It's also a conduit into the minds of misunderstood, bullied children, and how far they and their friends are willing to go to stop the unrighteousness of their oppressors. Through your own experiences in life, you're bound to feel some familiarity with their cause, which is thankfully assisted by this wonderful pair of young, enlightening performers.  

As Oskar, Kåre Hedebrant is quirky and reclusive, played deftly with an adorably secluded quality. Lina Leandersson is haunting and infallible, portraying the role of Eli with grace and wisdom; unfathomably astute for someone her age. They both, through fondness, obscurity and awkwardness reveal an enchanting chemistry that holds the film through each moment, whether paced, tender or intense.

 

Along for the ride, the frosty Swedish neighbourhood becomes a character of its own. As the backdrop to the pair's companionship it behaves like a kind of matchmaker for adolescent friendship. This richness has been successfully achieved thanks to how the local environment has been captured. Along with cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (who since has been DOP on such films as The Fighter and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Tomas Alfredson created a method he refers to as "spray lighting", where distant lighting, mainly overhead, creates a diffused look on the lens, and helps to create dulled illumination on what were originally bright surroundings and softening facial contours and eyes in close ups. 

Combining this technique with a array of jaunty angles, purposeful soft focusing and slow-to-sudden pans, it's a Swedish smörgåsbord of filmic delights. Drawing attention to one scene in particular, the penultimate shots in the swimming pool have become some of the finest and most memorable of modern cinema, capping off an already beautifully filmed picture.

With this distinctive look, combined with delightful performances and deep, meaningful thematics, Let The Right One In tries to be many things: a drama, a thriller and, obviously, a horror. But inside its blood-soaked heart and through its scarlet drenched eyes it's purely an alternative love story.

Winning over 40 awards worldwide should have made Let The Right One In successful enough. Instead, through making mainstream producer's eyes roll with dollar signs, somehow it merited another copycat remake of world cinema with Let Me In. Hopefully, I can convince you to tap into the original and best instead. And if so, you'll be greeted with a genuine modern classic. 

A horror disguised as a sweet romance, or a romance disguised as a bitter horror; either way, its combination of genres makes it stand alone next to other films of its ilk, or any other picture for that matter.

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