Reviewed by Jason Goodyer
Stars Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg,
Ika Nord, Mikael Rahm, Karl-Robert Lindgren, Anders T Peedu, Pale Olofsson | Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 115 minutes | Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Every so often a film comes along that transcends genre clichés so completely it defies classification. Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In is one such film. Combing a coming of age love story with vampiric legend may sound like a sure-fire disaster, but Alfredson has produced something much more affecting than the slight premise suggests.
Based on the novel by Linqvist and shot in a chilly palette of electric blues, the film charts the relationship that builds between two young outsiders - Oskar (Hedebrant), a frail child of divorce, reminiscent of a 12-year-old Scandinavian David Bowie, and Eli (Leandersson), a distant stranger with saucer eyes and an eerie feral quality. His parents separated, Oskar is stuck with a mother too busy to notice him and a father more interested in drinking. Lonely and confused he spends his days hiding from bullies in school toilets and splits his evenings between collecting newspaper clippings of brutal murder cases and sitting alone on an outdoor climbing frame. It’s here he meets Eli, coatless and barefooted despite the biting cold. They quickly become close and before long Oskar figures out his mysterious friend’s secret.
Much of the film’s success hinges on the timid, whispered performances of the two young leads. Together they capture the burgeoning desires of pre-adolescent love with a touching naivety and intimacy that’s utterly believable despite the intermittent bursts of neck biting and spraying blood brought on by Eli’s vampiric urges. By concentrating on character over carnage and story over spectacle Alfredson has produced a film that’s as haunting and oddly beautiful as the motionless, frigid Scandinavian landscapes in which it’s set.
EXTRAS ** Just a commentary with director Alfredson and author Lindqvist, four deleted scenes and the trailer.