It’s In. The Right Movie Is In.
I watch a scene and ask, how is this possible? How could he be living with her? Whats this story? There is another in the hospital and when it ends, that episode does too. Its not taken further beyond the first moments of absolute shock. Not in the conventional sense. It only remains as an intuition for one who follows it leading to something that the viewer understands sooner than he does. Same with the woman when attacked. Why doesn’t the man get it, I think. The woman, when she sees her wounded neck in the mirror? A man with a thousand cats in his place. He senses something. Thats it. The authorities. They are barely there.
No matter how many doubts I had all of them just shriveled into oblivion sooner or later as the film progressed. It didnt matter much. Because with every passing moment, I was getting sucked into a canvas that willfully knew what eventually had to be connoted, will. Nothing else could distract the viewer. It was created such. I wasn’t watching a film. For about two hours, I was viewing a work of art. I say this because, after the experience was over, I could only marvel at the accomplishment.
Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In) is the movie I am talking about. 
You definitely would know atleast the basic premise of the story here. If not, its not a tough nut to crack. You can read about it. I am not going down that route to write it down. I find quite irrelevant. Irrelevant because it will strip away the thrill of how the story unfolds. It did a little for me because I went ‘prepared’.
Ok, not to be totally blank here, I’ll introduce the two leads. Oskar. The twelve-year-old-perpetually-bullied-in-school loner. His new neighbour happens to be Eli – a twelve year old girl. A vampire. What happens then, when Eli comes into this tiny Swedish town (sometime in the eighties) is what the movie is about.
So, let your imagination run ahead of the film with just this info. Sit down to watch it and every idea will slowly be obliterated. As you are introduced to the sharp sporadic incidents of violence which are done with hushed alacrity, the shaky relationship between Oskar and Eli begins on a more confident note. For obvious reasons then. Ignorance is bliss. Eli’s need for survival begets the hunt for human prey. Oskar’s need for survival against the terror awaiting at school each day is passivity that takes form of violent ideas in his mind. In his scrap book that has newspaper clippings of only crimes, pictures of weapons and the kind.
Things are going to change but how and to what extent it is what I have no idea of. The plotline refuses to answer directly. It will just permit you to focus on what was happening in the particular scene now. And at times, it will then lead you to a different track in the next. Seemed arbitrary. But soon I realized that the scenes are like a series of randomly picked snippets drawn on a taut string for me to see. Each was added perfectly to reveal another layer of what the story intends to depict. It is coherent. I get to know Oskar, whats he like, his home environment, his relation with his parents. I get to know Eli, her demeanor that goes beyond just drawing human blood when needed. The school bullies’ psyche. The elder regulars at the local restaurant. And the sparse local town where this unfolds. In the midst of the harsh snowy winters. Its all these that then get woven into the story that leads it to the finale so vicious that even though it was expectedly such, I could not help but appreciate the quiet swiftness with which it was executed. Its amazing.
Forget this, look at how every scene is designed. Being winter, the colors are very bleak, yet the director just refuses to add even the slightest tinge of a color that may seem more positive. Its white, brown, grey, even the red chosen is such a depressing shade. The camera moves at a different whim. Many times its at the back of the protagonist in that scene. One done it slowly moves around to then just show whats remaining. It moves; moves such that I see children playing in the gym and then slowly it angles to reveal the old man waiting. You know why. The camera watching the hospital from afar. Still. The lady goes inside and there is immediate movement, Eli just scampering up the wall. Well, she was there the whole time. We just didnt notice. The camera loves to magnify movements. Of the hands. Eyes. Stay on there for some time. Then pull back to reveal the milieu in its entirety. But a lot has been told already. Somehow, it adds on to the narrative. You watch this and it plays on in your mind. You become more conscious and later realize the whys of that particular captured moment.
The background score is haunting and perfectly modulates according to the severity of the situation.
You can’t pin the movie down to a specific genre or kind. At one level its an horror film because of the vampire angle, but it also offers a peek into the world of loners. What goes on in their minds. A fertile ground for dark thoughts and habits. Parents who are outsiders to this world. Who dont seem to bother much until it manifests into something they could see. A tale of friendship. To what extent can one be there for the other. Its no mean achievement. This film is unique even though its an adaptation of a novel.
This is a film where every aspect stands out. After watching this, I now have a real apt reference point of what a vampire could look like. Its Eli all the way. Look at her and you know , yes, she is the one who lives off human blood. Never have I ever found such authenticity to a make-believe character that’s oft been imaginatively embellished for the big screen.
For a feature directorial debut, for both the lead kid actors’ first movie, ‘Let The Right One In’ has defined its own standing. Its not going to be forgotten for a long time to come.
Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) directed by Tomas Alfredson
Adapted John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel of the same name; he wrote the screenplay too.
Kåre Hedebrant Oskar plays Oskar
Lina Leandersson plays Eli
Here is the trailer:
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
the best movie of 2009 for me..
Looks promising, but the Best Movie?Wow! that raises the bar!
Must watch for every avid movie fan!!
but Arthi, regarding color,
‘Being winter, the colors are very bleak, yet the director just refuses to add even the slightest tinge of a color that may seem more positive. Its white, brown, grey, even the red chosen is such a depressing shade.’
those are very european hues. winter shots are hardly bleak here they are adequately contrasty, without being loud.
a real find for me. stunning film…like Anurag, the best film for me this year. Beautiful and horrific.
Awrite. So where do we get the DVDs here in India?
i remember Kashyap talking about it too in the Habitat lecture…will surely check it out….
because of him only, i saw Aki Kaurismäki’s Crime and Punishment and loved it too…after my brother, he is another man that i look up to as far as books and movies are concerned….whatever they suggests, i see it..recently, my brother gifted me anthology of Wim Wenders…can’t wait to see it…
Yeah a must watch!
The girl was awesome.
Well, this was a real break from my arty indulgence. The unusual ‘friendship’ between the two lead characters, Oskar and Eli, wasn’t less amazing. It’s very ‘credible’ (i.e. realistic) in its depiction of social and human context. Definitely a thriller.
Really enjoyed it!
The kids were excellent :-)
A must-read interview with the director:
http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/nifff-2008-let-the-right-one-in-interview/
Ya Salik, had read his interview. What I was more keen was on Lina Leandersson’s take. Id read one of her interviews some time back and this kid is damn cool about the role she plays. She knew exactly what it entailed and abs no qualms @ the portrayal..that i found quite different…great film…