Let the Right One In
i saw "let the right one in" yesterday. for those of you who haven't heard, it's a swedish film, set in the woking-class Stockholm suburbs cir. 1970s, about the relationship between a sad, lonely, savagely bullied 12-year-old boy and his newly-arrived next-door neighbor, a vampire with the body and soul of a 12-year-old girl.
i thought it was good but not great upon walking out. it's definitely lingered in my mind and grown on me a great deal, though. upon reflection, as mis- / over-used as the superlative "haunting" is, i'd say it's definitely appropriate here. the relationship between the boy and the vampire girl is sweet and affecting: the timeless story of two despertately lonely kids who rescue each other from a world that appears to care little for their friendless, emotionally isolated existence. except that here, since one of them is a vampire of unknown age or origin, there's a palpable undercurrent of dread and just plain weirdness running through their relationship. this is definitely not a movie for kids or a first date (that depends, i guess). the little "girl" turns vicious and feral when she's "thirsty" (it's a genuinely scary genre flick at times), and although she doesn't enjoy or get off on killing to sate her bloodlust, neither does she apologize for who and what she is. the boy seems slightly disturbed by this, but not enough to not ask her to be his "girlfriend." she's all he's got, and the movie doesn't shy away from the fact that his loneliness may be blinding him to the possibility that he's, for want of a better way to put it, making a huge mistake. the implications and potential course of their relationship become painfully apparent in the wordless coda, which is terribly sad and will undoubtedly be cut out of the american remake (already in the works, natch). but go, reader, for the over-the-top final scene. it's stand-up-and-cheer uplifting, laugh-out-loud funny, perversely heartwarming, and, probably above all, shockingly tragic. don't fuck with a 12-year-old vampire's best friend.
i thought it was good but not great upon walking out. it's definitely lingered in my mind and grown on me a great deal, though. upon reflection, as mis- / over-used as the superlative "haunting" is, i'd say it's definitely appropriate here. the relationship between the boy and the vampire girl is sweet and affecting: the timeless story of two despertately lonely kids who rescue each other from a world that appears to care little for their friendless, emotionally isolated existence. except that here, since one of them is a vampire of unknown age or origin, there's a palpable undercurrent of dread and just plain weirdness running through their relationship. this is definitely not a movie for kids or a first date (that depends, i guess). the little "girl" turns vicious and feral when she's "thirsty" (it's a genuinely scary genre flick at times), and although she doesn't enjoy or get off on killing to sate her bloodlust, neither does she apologize for who and what she is. the boy seems slightly disturbed by this, but not enough to not ask her to be his "girlfriend." she's all he's got, and the movie doesn't shy away from the fact that his loneliness may be blinding him to the possibility that he's, for want of a better way to put it, making a huge mistake. the implications and potential course of their relationship become painfully apparent in the wordless coda, which is terribly sad and will undoubtedly be cut out of the american remake (already in the works, natch). but go, reader, for the over-the-top final scene. it's stand-up-and-cheer uplifting, laugh-out-loud funny, perversely heartwarming, and, probably above all, shockingly tragic. don't fuck with a 12-year-old vampire's best friend.
posted by nohope2009 at
12:03 PM
1 Comments:
isn't this the one with kirsten dunst in it?
sounds good, i'm gonna netflix that shit.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home