Let the Right One In (2008, R)
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson
Genre: Forign, Foreign Horror
This oddly bittersweet coming of age story between a young boy and the not-so-average girl next door left me with strong feelings of nostalgia. We always remember our first love, but this takes it a step further - not only does Eli, the new girl in the neighborhood help Oskar, the neglected protagonist stand up for himself against a group of vicious bullies, but she lives on blood as well. I mean, bummer, right? Not so in this case.
Teenage (or in this case pre-teenage) angst isn't all with which Oskar must contend. He is also dealing with an emotionally absent mother, a flaky, irresponsible father, and getting a can of whoop-ass opened on him with dismaying frequency. With Eli, he finds a friend who not unlike himself feels confused and profoundly alone, and dealing with her own horrors. Because of what she is, she is at first distant with Oskar, but their relationship develops into a darling first-love experience, and the fact that she is capable of acts of stunning violence makes their budding relationship all the sweeter. They become dependent on each other, and the climactic pool scene affected me profoundly. It didn't scare me, but I felt hot and cold and trembly all over, like when I don't want a good book to end, and the love that Eli shows Oskar and her fierce protectiveness of him, although a little unnerving, was truly touching.
I can't say there is much that made me jump as I thought it would since this was marketed as a vampire movie, but I found much, much more than I expected from it. The scariest part of this movie was the reality of people's cruelty to one another. Ironically, I found the vampire to be the kindest, most vulnerable, and most moral character in the whole film. We should all have best friends like that.
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