You know, I never thought I would say this about a vampire love story but I loved it! I had the pleasure of finally watching Let the Right one In, and I decided to do my second review about this brilliant movie. It is so refreshing to see a movie doing vampires right cuz Let the right one In has let in the right formula. It is a love story, yet it doesn’t forget what it’s about: Vampires. The movie explores the young love of two 12-year-olds: Oskar who is bullied at school and Eli an eternal new girl on the block who harbors a deep and dark secret.
Tomas Alfredsson has
directed the movie, and John Ajvide Lindquist,
who also wrote the screenplay, bases it on his 2004 novel of the same title. Now that’s a good thing, I mean; who knows the book
better than the author right? The movie was shot beautifully; and more
poignantly there wasn’t a scene in the movie that felt forced or unnecessary
unlike other movies in this genre. The atmosphere and the music
complement each other, setting a perfect mood for a horror movie. Although it
is a horror movie I didn’t find the movie to be overly scary or gut wrenching
although a few scenes did leave me cringing. It suffices to say that the movie
gets it swagger from the director, the actors and a strong plotline that keeps
you intrigued.
What is the most important element of a movie you might
ask? In my point of view it is the powerful acting. A movie can have the best
effects (Transformers) but if the acting isn’t convincing it’s not worth
watching to me. This movie revolves around 2 young children Oskar and Eli
played by Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson respectively, and I have to say
that they did a brilliant job especially for such young and precocious talents.
Kåre’s portrayal of Oskar makes you believe that
this child is borderline psychotic and just one more beat-down away from a
school-shooting job. Lina excels in her role as a vampire who is stuck in the
body of a 12-year-old girl for eternity. Although she was probably hundreds of
years old, her mentality was still that of a 12 year child. The supporting cast
also did a wonderful job; the antagonists weren’t some werewolves or vampire
hunters out to get Eli and Oskar. They just were regular school bullies making
Oskar’s life a living hell. That has the effect of making us relate to these
loathsome bullies and allows the movie to be as realistic as fiction can be.
I was never a huge fan of vampires, and Twilight made sure I loathed them, but Let the Right One In, reminded me that
vampires are ok. It is hard not to compare this movie to Twilight. Both focus on young and forbidden love. However Oskar and
Eli’s relationship was far more believable and exotic than that of dare I say
it ‘Edward and Bella’. In a nutshell, everything about this movie was better
than Twilight: Story, music, direction,
cinematography and most noticeably acting. What I appreciated the most is that
this movie stayed true to vampire folklore.
I strongly believe that movies in the fictional genre need
to stay true to the original lore and mannerisms of a fictional monstrosity. As
with everything, creative innovations and tweaks keep the interest in them
piqued but they shouldn’t violate the original integrity so vehemently as Twilight has. A prudent example of what I mean is: ‘Daybreakers’;
a refreshingly revolutionary movie that takes the vampire genre to previously
uncharted territory without betraying the essence of Vampirism. Indulging in
verbal and visual diarrhea like sparkling vampires who claim, “This is the skin
of a killer” infuriates me and insults the very mythology of the dark terrors
that Vampires were meant to be. It is akin to making a movie where humans morph
into were-wolves at the break of dawn (no pun intended). Let the Right One In presents a wonderful love story that is coffin-wrapped
in the grace and charm of Vampirism (pun intended). They don’t twinkle like
glitter in sunlight they BURN and fizzle. It’s vampire 101 people! And if you
know anything about the vampire folklore you would appreciate the title even
more. Each time a vampire would stand outside the door I would chuckle a little
(If you know your friendly neighborhood vampire you know why).
I really enjoyed watching this movie, I know the fact
that it’s in Swedish can be off-putting for some and there is an American version
of it (What movie doesn’t have an American version these days) I’d still highly
recommend watching the original. The movie is broodingly noir, yet heartwarming,
and thankfully there are no vegetarian vampires who cry and mope about how it
sucks to be a vampire.
It’s saddens me to see that this movie came out the same
year that Twilight did. While
practically no one knows that this amazing movie exists, the rat dropping of a
movie Twilight has had 4 sequels and
made over a billion of dollars. There is no respect for true cinema anymore as
the cash cows are allowed to graze on young, immature minds. To add insult to
injury, actors like Kristen Stewart are getting paid millions and receiving
“awards” for being emotionally monotonous while dazzling child actors like Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson may never get the recognition they deserve.
My final thoughts are a little dark but need to be said. Stephanie Meyer has made a mockery of a great
folk legend. She has single handedly destroyed the “badassness” of vampires. No
longer are vampires perceived as seductive cold-blooded killers instead they
are very emo, whiny rich kids. My suggestion is that everyone involved in this
abomination; from the author to the actors, producers, studio execs and the
director do us a favor by committing Hara-kiri in public for insulting our intellect
and for dishonoring Vampirism.
Written by Umer Farooq and Ammad Wajahat
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