"I'm twelve. But I've been twelve for a long time."
I heard about the Swedish vampire film right before it came out in the states. I didn't know that it was also a book, but more on that later. I remember desperately wanting to see it, but I just never got around to it. I even rented it on iTunes for a month without watching it. It wasn't until early July 2010 that my friend Kate recommended we watch it on Netflix Instant. My roommate Graham joined us. I was excited to see it, but I figured that, like most movies, there would be one or two things that I didn't like.
WRONG.
As the end credits rolled, I said words that I don't say often. I shouted, probably three or four times, "That movie was SO FUCKING GOOD." I was astonished. Kate had seen it before, but the entire time Graham and I kept reassuring each other that we were enjoying it so much. Every attack, every subtlety, every badass shot was met with explosive approval in the forms of screaming laughter. I haven't been so sure of a film's overall bodacity since Graham and I watched Un Prophete earlier this year (review to come SOON!). I honestly couldn't believe that a vampire movie could make my heart hurt so much with a romantic story that's perfectly coupled with brutal scenes that would horrify us if it were any other movie.
Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a skinny, pale weakling who gets bullied by your typical snide, evil twelve-year-old assholes. He dreams of revenge but can't muster the courage. One day, he gets a new neighbor, a girl, Eli (Lina Leandersson). She assures him they can't be friends, but they eventually get acquainted through the help of a Rubik's Cube (it's not extremely obvious, but the film takes place in the early 80's). Their bond becomes stronger, and as Eli's advice rubs off on Oskar ("Hit Back. Hard. Harder than you dare"), Eli's secret becomes more apparent. She needs blood to live, which is bad news for a few select citizens in the town. As the movie progresses, the stakes for both Eli and Oskar rise as their affections grow. I'm not a spoiler, so I won't say more than that.
I watched the movie for the second time only a few days after the first time. My friend Melissa (who is an incredibly smart movie watcher) expressed interest, so I sped home and streamed it for us in my den. It might seem too soon for a second opinion, but I think that speaks to the allure of the film. After the first viewing, Graham said, "I can't stop thinking about it. I'd watch it again right now."
Instead of trying to find something I didn't like about it, I just watched it again. And i loved it just a much as before. No twist, no shocking revelation. I thought that once again, twice in a row, I had seen a perfect movie. In my opinion, of course. I throw that word around sometimes, but there are few movies that I really think are all out perfect, and this is one of them.
One thing that you must know is that you need a good pair of speakers for this movie. For one, the score is incredible, taking a risk by composing it with so much, and at times maybe too much drama. It starts with a sprawling crescendo of strings that become very, very loud. But as Eli and Oskar get closer, so does the music. A small piano part rings through every touching moment. It works because, as few scores do today, the music feels like its being sung by the frame, by the situation. It reminded me of Up at first listen, a soft, subtle tune that has to mean someone's in love. Also, the sound scape is very detailed, very close to everyone's clothes and spit. Eli's vampyric eating noises are fascinatingly disgusting.
This film isn't a horror film, it's a romance. Plain and simple. You could call it a horror/romance, but that's really just an attempt to widen the audience. It has some scary parts, but the thing that makes this movie work is the adolescent love. This age, 12-15, has always been my favorite age when it comes to stories of love and growing up. Those years are so formidable, so painfully wonderful, human and vampire alike. Though Eli is an old soul, she is still "twelve, more or less." She's bound to be treated as such, and Oskar sees her only as the cool new girl next door. As they get closer we know he'll have to find out (that's no spoiler), but by that point we know he won't care one lick.
Leandersson, much like Ivana Baquero from Pan's Labyrinth, has such a classic, natural beauty about her. She has such an old face, something so unquestionably mature. Melissa gets a gold star for her comment after Eli's first words. She said, "Her voice is so old!", and that's no mistake. After shooting, the director chose to dub all of Eli's lines with an older actresses' voice. It sounds strange, but I dare you to find one line where it doesn't sound 100% natural. You would honestly never know if I didn't just tell you (or if you had never read Wikipedia). Meanwhile, Oskar's bad haircut and uberpale complexion complement Eli's withdrawn charm so well. It just baffles me that two eleven-year-old actors can have so much more chemistry and maturity than most adult leads.
A note about this chemistry. Their relationship is expressed through pure honest-to-god subtlety. They don't just tear off their clothes and go at it with wild pre-teen passion. No, they keep their distance, they get excited when they touch hands, they hug like they don't know how to, they make mistakes, they get mad, they don't say what they want until they need to say it. There's a scene where Eli is sitting cross-legged on the jungle gym as Oskar runs up to greet her with the solved Rubik's Cube that she flirtatiously left behind for him to find. Oskar is so excited to see her, but more importantly, we're excited to see them again. As she shows him how to solve it, she slouches down with concentration. Like every boy who has ever had a crush has done, he snatches a longing, exploratory gaze at her profile. He sees every hair on her head, follows every strand right back to her eyes, not listening to her explanation because he's just so captivated by her. That's real emotion, that's as real as it gets.
There is a vampire element to this story, trust me. There is a whole set of adults who each feel the effect of Eli's murderous hunger. She attacks ferociously and without pity. She eats and slurps like a lion on a gazelle. Local authorities get involved, and there is one especially cool scene where you get to see how Eli gets her blood without having to do the killing herself (she has an older man who helps her by selecting proper victims). These parts do carry their weight in the film, just as equally as Oskar's bully troubles. Every scene, no matter how slight, moves the action forward. We see Oskar lifting weights so he can get big to fight the bullies, but why do we really see him lifting weights? Answer at the end of the show.
I wish I could find something to criticize about this movie but I really can't. After two viewings in four days, I still want to watch it again. I want to live in their world, to have an awesome girlfriend who tells me to defeat my bullies while blood drips from her chin. I want to speak Swedish, a language that's right up there with Portuguese with it's hypnotizing rhythm. I want to watch it again and again.
There is, however, something I can criticize. Such a great movie that's loved by so many people, a movie that has a 97% on the tomatometer, is apparently not good enough for American audiences. The studios are once again out of ideas, so they decided to go ahead and remake it and title it Let Me In. The trailer feels like it's going to focus way more on the darker, action oriented side of it. The trailer has one of the worst lines ever that tries to pull you in: "She will keep you safe, she will keep you close, she will keep you forever." Pathetic. The film will most likely be scored with the typical growing percussion that lies under 95% of mediocre movies released today. And even though Chloe Moretz of Kick Ass and (500) Days of Summer fame is very cute and could easily be a vampire that 12-year-old's could fall in love with, it's just not the same. It isn't trying to be, but it's trying to be something worse, something less than, something to turn a buck for the Halloween audiences.
WRONG.
As the end credits rolled, I said words that I don't say often. I shouted, probably three or four times, "That movie was SO FUCKING GOOD." I was astonished. Kate had seen it before, but the entire time Graham and I kept reassuring each other that we were enjoying it so much. Every attack, every subtlety, every badass shot was met with explosive approval in the forms of screaming laughter. I haven't been so sure of a film's overall bodacity since Graham and I watched Un Prophete earlier this year (review to come SOON!). I honestly couldn't believe that a vampire movie could make my heart hurt so much with a romantic story that's perfectly coupled with brutal scenes that would horrify us if it were any other movie.
Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a skinny, pale weakling who gets bullied by your typical snide, evil twelve-year-old assholes. He dreams of revenge but can't muster the courage. One day, he gets a new neighbor, a girl, Eli (Lina Leandersson). She assures him they can't be friends, but they eventually get acquainted through the help of a Rubik's Cube (it's not extremely obvious, but the film takes place in the early 80's). Their bond becomes stronger, and as Eli's advice rubs off on Oskar ("Hit Back. Hard. Harder than you dare"), Eli's secret becomes more apparent. She needs blood to live, which is bad news for a few select citizens in the town. As the movie progresses, the stakes for both Eli and Oskar rise as their affections grow. I'm not a spoiler, so I won't say more than that.
I watched the movie for the second time only a few days after the first time. My friend Melissa (who is an incredibly smart movie watcher) expressed interest, so I sped home and streamed it for us in my den. It might seem too soon for a second opinion, but I think that speaks to the allure of the film. After the first viewing, Graham said, "I can't stop thinking about it. I'd watch it again right now."
Instead of trying to find something I didn't like about it, I just watched it again. And i loved it just a much as before. No twist, no shocking revelation. I thought that once again, twice in a row, I had seen a perfect movie. In my opinion, of course. I throw that word around sometimes, but there are few movies that I really think are all out perfect, and this is one of them.
One thing that you must know is that you need a good pair of speakers for this movie. For one, the score is incredible, taking a risk by composing it with so much, and at times maybe too much drama. It starts with a sprawling crescendo of strings that become very, very loud. But as Eli and Oskar get closer, so does the music. A small piano part rings through every touching moment. It works because, as few scores do today, the music feels like its being sung by the frame, by the situation. It reminded me of Up at first listen, a soft, subtle tune that has to mean someone's in love. Also, the sound scape is very detailed, very close to everyone's clothes and spit. Eli's vampyric eating noises are fascinatingly disgusting.
This film isn't a horror film, it's a romance. Plain and simple. You could call it a horror/romance, but that's really just an attempt to widen the audience. It has some scary parts, but the thing that makes this movie work is the adolescent love. This age, 12-15, has always been my favorite age when it comes to stories of love and growing up. Those years are so formidable, so painfully wonderful, human and vampire alike. Though Eli is an old soul, she is still "twelve, more or less." She's bound to be treated as such, and Oskar sees her only as the cool new girl next door. As they get closer we know he'll have to find out (that's no spoiler), but by that point we know he won't care one lick.
Leandersson, much like Ivana Baquero from Pan's Labyrinth, has such a classic, natural beauty about her. She has such an old face, something so unquestionably mature. Melissa gets a gold star for her comment after Eli's first words. She said, "Her voice is so old!", and that's no mistake. After shooting, the director chose to dub all of Eli's lines with an older actresses' voice. It sounds strange, but I dare you to find one line where it doesn't sound 100% natural. You would honestly never know if I didn't just tell you (or if you had never read Wikipedia). Meanwhile, Oskar's bad haircut and uberpale complexion complement Eli's withdrawn charm so well. It just baffles me that two eleven-year-old actors can have so much more chemistry and maturity than most adult leads.
A note about this chemistry. Their relationship is expressed through pure honest-to-god subtlety. They don't just tear off their clothes and go at it with wild pre-teen passion. No, they keep their distance, they get excited when they touch hands, they hug like they don't know how to, they make mistakes, they get mad, they don't say what they want until they need to say it. There's a scene where Eli is sitting cross-legged on the jungle gym as Oskar runs up to greet her with the solved Rubik's Cube that she flirtatiously left behind for him to find. Oskar is so excited to see her, but more importantly, we're excited to see them again. As she shows him how to solve it, she slouches down with concentration. Like every boy who has ever had a crush has done, he snatches a longing, exploratory gaze at her profile. He sees every hair on her head, follows every strand right back to her eyes, not listening to her explanation because he's just so captivated by her. That's real emotion, that's as real as it gets.
There is a vampire element to this story, trust me. There is a whole set of adults who each feel the effect of Eli's murderous hunger. She attacks ferociously and without pity. She eats and slurps like a lion on a gazelle. Local authorities get involved, and there is one especially cool scene where you get to see how Eli gets her blood without having to do the killing herself (she has an older man who helps her by selecting proper victims). These parts do carry their weight in the film, just as equally as Oskar's bully troubles. Every scene, no matter how slight, moves the action forward. We see Oskar lifting weights so he can get big to fight the bullies, but why do we really see him lifting weights? Answer at the end of the show.
I wish I could find something to criticize about this movie but I really can't. After two viewings in four days, I still want to watch it again. I want to live in their world, to have an awesome girlfriend who tells me to defeat my bullies while blood drips from her chin. I want to speak Swedish, a language that's right up there with Portuguese with it's hypnotizing rhythm. I want to watch it again and again.
There is, however, something I can criticize. Such a great movie that's loved by so many people, a movie that has a 97% on the tomatometer, is apparently not good enough for American audiences. The studios are once again out of ideas, so they decided to go ahead and remake it and title it Let Me In. The trailer feels like it's going to focus way more on the darker, action oriented side of it. The trailer has one of the worst lines ever that tries to pull you in: "She will keep you safe, she will keep you close, she will keep you forever." Pathetic. The film will most likely be scored with the typical growing percussion that lies under 95% of mediocre movies released today. And even though Chloe Moretz of Kick Ass and (500) Days of Summer fame is very cute and could easily be a vampire that 12-year-old's could fall in love with, it's just not the same. It isn't trying to be, but it's trying to be something worse, something less than, something to turn a buck for the Halloween audiences.
Will I see Let Me In? Short answer: no. Should you? I don't really think so. You should see Let The Right One In. Because it's a movie that was clearly made with a lot of love. It's a movie written by the author of the book, who instead of rewriting his complicated novel, chose a more concentrated, simple path that could translate extremely well to the screen. You should see it because that takes courage. Because it's in a foreign language. Because the casting is so spot on that the Americanized casting will be sure to just make the kids cute, not beautiful. Because this movie is truly original, and the remake will most assuredly be anything but.
Because I've never heard anyone say a negative thing about it, and I doubt you will either.
By Brad Moore
Brad,
ReplyDeleteI had absolutely zero interest in seeing this film before I read this, and I mean absolute zero (as an avid hater of all things vampire-related coming out in media right now). But I think I might have to see this now (and twice, to honour the blog's conceptual basis). It sounds incredible, right, the way a film should be.
Thanks for this review, man.
Ryan
Much Obliged homeslice!
ReplyDeleteLiterally just finished watching this film. I'm definitely going to have to try to get in a second viewing before returning it to Blockbuster.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I kinda loved it. Amazing visuals, amazing acting, amazing writing. I'm not sure if I liked or loved the ending - I got the same feeling that I had at the end of There Will Be Blood where I was pleased, despite the lack of a strong 'Hollywood' resolution.
But again, like your blog promotes, that second viewing sorta nails down the things that you know you like/dislike about a movie, so I'll make sure it gets a second chance.
Thank you again for the recommendation/great review.