Right is Right

Well I'm back after a couple months hiatus and it is the haunting little movie to the left that has me excited enough to post. As you may know The Doctor" gave me three movies from my Netflix queue to "push-up" to the top. Movie #1 was "Once" and my brief take on that is somewhere below. Movie # 2 was "Let the Right One In". I'm back once again to give credit to The Doctor for the recommend, but more importantly to say, this movie ROCKS!!!!

I'm a vampire fan. I've read "Dracula" about six times, I've watched good and bad adaptations of the classic story, and I've even jumped aboard the "Twilight" bandwagon. My favorite vampire works will always be "The Vampire Chronicles" by Anne Rice, but that's a subject for another day. So I'm all in when it comes to the mythology of the immortals.

"Let the Right One In" is a nice little piece of Swedish film making. I had read a couple of brief articles about the movie before I started watching, but nothing that would give away any of the major plot points. I knew there was a vampire, but that's about it. Boy was I in for an experience.

Well the movie starts in almost total silence. The credits are stark white letters on a black background. It reminded me of the original "Dracula" We take for granted so many times in movies music and sound. Loud crashing cymbals, or the shriek of a violin are horror staples, but nothing sets a more eerie tone than silence. This tone is at the heart of the picture. It is beautifully shot, the acting is spot on, and the pacing is deliberate but never boring.

As the movie begins there are just images. A boy standing at the window, a cab dropping off a couple passengers, the shades being drawn. It's unsettling not to know who you're supposed to identify with, who these characters are, and what they are doing. As the movie progresses, this unsettled feeling continues, and I believe is at the core of the experience. Horror movies and thrillers often fall flat once the gig is up. As soon as we realize who the killer is, or who stole the money, we can relax. To me that works directly against the objective of the film. If a movie is to horrify us or thrill us, then that sense of confusion and uneasiness has to remain. What we usually get instead is cheap scare tactics or over the top gore to take it's place and way too often the general populace falls for it hook line and sinker.

So as the movie played on, I fully expected to be let down again. But from one scene right on through to the next, it managed to keep me just slightly off center. I didn't care too much for the young actor that played 12 year old Oskar, but Lina Leandersson that played the vampire Eli was fantastic. Her angelic face and quiet sweet disposition were wonderfully balanced against the things she does and what she is. As these two characters grow closer and closer, I found myself actually routing for them, both individually and as a couple. But every time I thought I knew how it was going to turn out something would happen to turn my expectations on their ear and unsettle me once again. Now don't get me wrong, this movie wasn't one reveal after another. At no point does it resort to the quirky twists and turns we see so often. Instead as we get to know these characters, little by little, we think we are getting to know them. In reality we only know tiny bits about them and their situation. But years of movie going and years of having characters written and acted in caricature have taught us to expect certain things. "Let the Right One In" doesn't allow us to do that. Each action and reaction seems to come organically from the situation and from a place of honest motivation.

By the end, I was hooked hardcore. As the situation slowly unraveled and the end got closer and closer, I was fully invested with the characters, so even if I did see the final scene or two coming well in advance, I didn't care because I felt like the ride to get there had been genuine and true. The two folks I watched it with were less impressed, but for me, it was the best movie I've watched all year. It was quiet, and sweet, and unsettling all at the same time. In a season where we will see one big budget action movie after the next, it was refreshing to sit in the dark for 90 minutes with such an honest and beautiful piece of movie-making. Think about that for a minute and then you can go. When was the last time you heard a horror movie described as "beautiful and honest"?

Walrus Out.