…that is 800 million times more original, creepy, and moving than TWILIGHT, rent LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.
But oh my god, it scared the crap out of me.
Best scene, according to me: a discussion about what “going steady” means, held between two twelve-year-olds. One of them is a vampire who is rather covered with blood during this conversation, but the conversation is played straight teen angst and joy. Best part: the characters are totally believable, but there’s such a mismatch between the content of their words (going steady doesn’t mean anything) and the emotions that come along (one of them, in particular, in disbelieving ecstasy at the decision to do it). It’s an in-character incongruity, and it’s awesome.
Best scene, according to my boyfriend: Let’s just say it involved body parts. And not in a “now they’re trying to make you think about sex” way, in a “oh my god, all these people are going to die” way. He called it HEATHERS-esque.
Also: watching this movie really makes me realize how BUFFY/ANGEL’s occasional little glamorous tricklets of blood do not do justice to what would be gushing around and messing up everyone’s clothes and faces if there were real vampiric consumption taking place.
Also also: I liked the way the movie gives its own take on some of the vampire canon while making it a genuinely cool scene, instead of a belabored “Now we’re going to explain why vampires can’t do X.” Well done. (You know, I hope this post makes any sense since I am trying so hard not to ruin anything. Spoiler-free is the way to be!)
Posted in I learned it from Joss Whedon, Meyer, Stephenie, Twilight series
Sweet! This looks awesome. And way more original than Twilight if the photos on IMDb are any indication. Thanks or this recommendation. Where did you hear about it?
We saw this a couple of months ago - awesome. The last scene was esp. creepy.
Lenore: Yeah, that scene is the one my boyfriend really loved. Oh my freakin’ god.
Oh, and Sadako: I heard about it via boyfriend, but he’d read a lot of really positive reviews of it. It’s a Swedish movie that was in theaters a few months ago… not anywhere near where I live, though.
After just seeing the directors cut of Donnie Darko I think there are some interesting similarities btw. the two films.
Both are about questioning authority, having the courage to be yourself at the risk of being considered “crazy,” taking on bullies & unaccountable authority figures…. And both are about the messy agonies and ecstasies of first love. There is an almost exactly similar conversation in Donnie Darko about the ambiguity of what it means “going steady.”
Also, China Mieville makes a brilliant point about DD that I think is also true for Let the Right One In:
“The film takes its satire seriously. There is a species of false satire, exemplified by ‘The Wedding Singer’ (ironically starring Drew Barrymore, who redeems herself totally by starring in and executive-producing ‘Donnie Darko’) which does little more than scatter around lame gags based on the most banal observations (Legwarmers! Cyndi Lauper albums! Amusingly large mobile phones!). ‘Donnie Darko’ is very different from the comforting nostalgia which domesticates its subject.”
Like DD, LTROI resists the temptation to be ‘cheeky’ and instead dares to take teen love and existential angst as (deadly) serious matters. The films never step back, look away, and have an “ironic” meta-laugh at their own cleverness (although both are visually and narratively very clever movies.) They don’t want you to look away and you can’t.
On the other hand, in both films gore and magic are treated almost mundanely— killer bunny rabbits, time portals, lots of fake blood, etc. are all just par for the course. This makes the films all the more creepy, amazing, and cool.