Let the Right One In

Posted by Meesh in Movies | 2 comments

Let the Right One In

by Meesh

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started “Let the Right One In”. I knew it was a foreign film, and I knew it was artistic, especially when compared with my typical vampire fare. Other than that, I just knew I wanted to see this movie since it was released (way back when Twilight was released) and when someone brought up reviewing it for MyVampFiction, I jumped at the chance.

The first indication that I was watching something not American was the young boy in his underwear in his bedroom. Opening scene, and it made me very squeamish. The scene was almost predatory and I was afraid that something was going to happen to the little boy. But really the only thing that happened was a car pulled up outside and a little girl got out with what appeared to be her parents. The movie isn’t in English, which really isn’t an issue because it’s done in a way that the message gets across loud and clear.

It is obvious that the boy in the opening scene is a victim of bullying. At home in his room, he seems very lonely. At school, the other kids push him around. He is a slight boy, pale, with longer hair than the other boys. He hides when he goes to the bathroom and sneaks so the boys don’t see him. He is always alone.

When he finds a knife, he goes outside and starts to attack a tree with it, like the bullies were attacking him with their words and taunts. This is when the vampire girl appears for real in the movie for the first time, just standing behind him on a piece of what looks to be playground equipment. They have a brief encounter,with the boy left calling after her as she walks away. Even from this very brief interaction, the way the girl moves, it’s obvious she isn’t human.

One night, the boy is outside by himself, playing with a Rubik’s Cube. The vampire girl is out and they start talking. As he leaves, her belly starts growling. She’s in great pain from it, doubled over. The scene changes to two men hugging goodbye, and the little girl is under a bridge whimpering. One of the men walks under and picks her up to help her (her stomach is growling the entire time) and as he gets her into his arms, she attacks him and kills him. After she is done feeding, she feels really bad about what she’s done. In an earlier scene, her caretaker had killed and bled a man in an effort to get her blood, but a dog came up on them and he had to abandon the body before he could get blood for the little vampire.

This movie is so painful to watch. The little boy is an outcast and I spent the entire first part waiting for the kids at school to jump him. They did at one point, whipping him with a thin stick, like a riding crop. He just stood there taking it. How horrible am I as a person that I was waiting for the vampire to show up and eat a bunch of young school boys?

The vampire is alone too, and she is eager for a friend. She seeks out the boy’s presence, and their common solitude brings them together as friends. One of the sweetest scenes is when she gets sick and he goes and gives her a hug to comfort her. She’s so very unsure of what to do and he seems blissfully unaware that she is standing very rigid. She sneaks into his room one night and though the scene is really intimate for a movie about two young kids, it is touching the way she craves his company and craves the touch he offers (nonsexual touch, obviously).

The themes are so poignant. A young boy, an outcast, is alone and a loner. A young girl is an outcast by her nature, but has a deep affection for the people she loves, enough of an affection to keep her from killing the humans to whom she is close. It’s a touching movie. Even without subtitles, it was compelling and certainly better than a lot of vampire movies we make in America, an entirely different genre in a league of its own. I will be watching the movie again and again.

As I started with, I wasn’t sure when I sat down to watch this movie what I was going to experience. This is the first foreign film I’ve ever watched, and I have to say the acting in this film was exceptional enough that it carried the entire movie. No dialogue was needed, which I guess goes without saying since I didn’t understand any of it anyway, in order for this moving to keep me glued to the screen. I definitely recommend it!