I have no right reviewing a vampire film. And, no, I don’t think seeing Twilight increases my credibility within this particular genre. Still, in an attempt to broaden my cinematic palate, I undertook a viewing of Let the Right One In; the result: a slight positive tingling in the taste buds. In spite of its laboriously slow pace, I found the film absolutely fascinating. The use of darkness and light, while likely not new for a vampire film, struck me as being both beautiful and horrific. The breathtaking cinematography, while not uncommon for a Swedish film, took on a whole new power for me here when deep red blood struck the brilliant white snow.
Beyond the film’s mesmerizing visuals, the thing that kept me chomping away at the neck of this story was the emphatic and genuine performances from the movie’s young leads — Kare Hedebrant as Oskar and Lina Leandersson as Eli. Both appear as actors for the first time here and their purity and innocence works marvels in contrast with the dark acts they undertake in pursuit of companionship.
In the DVD extras, director Tomas Alfredson notes that his film could be interpreted as having either an encouraging or discouraging ending depending on what the viewer believes will become of the future relationship between the protagonists. With my happy-ending mentality, it won’t come as a surprise that I found the film somewhat uplifting in spite of the gore and horror I struggled to stomach throughout. I’m glad I let this film in, even if I think it too gruesome to recommend to most. If you love small stories or are weary of the same-ole, same-ole in your cinematic diet, you might also do well to bite into this vampire tale.
