Movie Review: Let the Right One In (2008)

Let the Right One In (2008) directed by Tomas Alfredson

Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a shy, bullied twelve-year old in early 1980s Sweden. His parents are separated, he has no friends, and he's a weakling both physically and morally. A girl (Lina Leandersson) moves in to the next door apartment with an older man, presumably her dad. He meets the girl at night on the small jungle gym in the apartment's courtyard. They sit and have awkward conversations. Her name is Eli and initially she does not want to be friends with Oskar. She also is lonely and withdrawn, but that's because she's a vampire. Her "dad" tries to collect blood for her from various victims he finds in isolated places. I write "tries" because he is very incompetent at his task. Eli winds up fending for herself. With both of them active, the local news is dominated by a killer in the area. The only bright spot is the blossoming friendship between Oskar and Eli, two kids seemingly doomed to misery who might be able to help each other out.

The movie has a sad and weary feeling, like the Swedish winter during which it is set. Oskar's unhappiness is not complete. He still loves his parents and has some fun being with them, though they don't provide him with any help in his problems. Eli encourages him to fight back against the bullies, a strategy that changes Oskar more than his situation. Eli, who has been twelve years old for a long time, has a strained relationship with her "dad" mostly because he does not provide help with her problems. Her nocturnal hunting is not a happy task for her and makes staying in this new town much harder. 

The actors do a great job, especially the two young leads who carry the weight of the story. They make the situation believable, compelling, and heart-breaking. Their frankness with each other helps to make the supernatural elements more mundane and believable. The depiction of vampirism is unsentimental and unsexy. She'll take blood wherever she can get it, even licking it off the floor. Her life is miserable--all she seems to do is hide from the daylight and feed whenever she can. When they first meet, Oskar has a Rubik's Cube, a puzzle she's never seen before, and he loans it to her. She leaves it for him on the jungle gym solved, indicating that she has greater skills (and probably a lot more time) than Oskar. He brings a more human dimension to her life, something beyond mere vampire survival. She brings more strength to him, something beyond mere bully survival. The strength she offers him is brute force, which turns out not to solve his problems. The humanity he offers her is not enough to get her back into society or anything even remotely close to a normal lifestyle. She never puts any effort into changing herself, only changing Oskar. Their ending strikes me as especially tragic for Oskar.

Recommended for a thought-provoking vampire story.

This movie is reviewed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #292. Check it out for much better commentary than mine!