Let The Right One In Blu-Ray DVD Review
Let The Right One In Blu-Ray DVD Review
Love hides in the strangest places
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Scandinavian films are often thought of as cold, logical, matter-of-fact, frills-free and laden with politics on top of intricate interpersonal dynamics. Seldom do the words "love" and "warmth" come in, and hardly ever… vampires. But this Swedish movie has all of the above.
Let The Right One In (based on a novel called Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay) is an odd mixture of "After School Special" (latch-key kids, bullies, a gay parent, puppy love), cinematic art (mise-en-scène equal to Bergman, Skjoldbjærg or Von Trier), and heart-thumping horror (scary mythology, unmitigated bloodletting, animal attacks, deadly fires). But the mixture works well, thanks to many factors — the story and screenplay, assured director Tomas Alfredson's guiding hand, light-loving DP Hoyte Van Hoytema, and our complex protagonists (young actors Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, playing Oskar and Eli respectively).
To know more about the drama and what it's about, please refer to our theatrical release review of Let The Right One In.
Now, let the spoilers in! Be warned…
I went back and looked at my original review of the film and saw that I misunderstood, or perhaps just misremembered, that Eli's "father figure" is, in fact, only a mortal. It's quite obvious — though he does become "undead" in the book, and perhaps that was already in my awareness — but for whatever reason I wasn't paying as much attention to the nuances of Håkan (Per Ragnar) as I could have, the first time around. But that's the great thing about repeated viewings of multilayered movies; you can discover something different each time.
While the novel takes on issues such as drug use, theft, pedophilia, and prostitution, the movie keeps its focus on feelings of isolation, rage, desire, need, and uncertainty. (No doubt the American remake — to be directed by Cloverfield helmer Matt Reeves — will explain everything, ad nauseum.)
Eli needs Håkan to give her the blood she has to have, for survival. Yet, as shown in the movie, she is capable of feeding on her own. So why does she have Håkan around? Is it because she is frozen in time as a 12-year-old and can't do simple things, like rent an apartment? Does she require a lookout during the day? Is she trying to keep her vampirism virus from spreading? Why does Håkan do what he does? That's never explored, but viewer conjecture has suggested that he's her brother; her slave; or a pedophile who thrives on her androgyny (one scene in the movie suggests that she was a he and was somehow emasculated to keep ambiguity on par with arrested development. Again, the book goes into this while the film does not).
My own theory is that Håkan was like Oskar once: a bullied young boy with violent tendencies who forged a bond with a "girl" and ran away with her. He gets his rage outlet, she gets her blood. There's a scene in Eli and Håkan's apartment, in which Eli shows Oskar several rings. This is in reference to a reading of the Lord of the Rings novel in the beginning of the movie, and I think those golden bands symbolize the rings on a tree, showing Eli's age… and also the many companions she's been "married" to. As you can see, there is an awful lot you can infer into Let The Right One In. It definitely lends itself to discussion, debate, interpretation, and reflection.
Or not. Taken at face value, as a gory movie about a boy and a vampire, it's still wholly entertaining, interesting, and engaging.
On Blu-Ray, it's even better. When I saw it on the big screen last year, I thought some of the CGI (cat assault) and practical effects (severed body parts in the pool) looked a bit hokey. However, in the best possible worlds of color, contrast, and quotient, the entire movie is much more striking as a whole. The blacks are truly inky, the colors pop, and each white snowflake is discernable.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is stunning. And perhaps also too revealing… even if you tend to hate reading subtitles, I strongly recommend watching the movie in its native language because the dubbing just sounds way too obvious and detracts from the drama. (No disrespect to the voice actors; they're actually quite good, but with such crisp sound everything needs to be as intended by the filmmakers for maximum enjoyment.)
DVD Features: Deleted Scenes; Behind The Scenes Featurette; Photo Galleries.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
Latest User Comments:
| I think it's open to interpretation, but I agree with you... I think the dad was an alcoholic, and probably his "friend" was just a friend. But again, the movie can be looked at in many ways. | |
| 03-20-2009 by stacilayne | discuss |
| You know there's no gay parent in this film...right? In fact the scenes that may be misinterpreted to make you think that are probably about alcoholism. | |
| 03-18-2009 by MidgardDragon | discuss |