Starring: KÃ¥re Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

Directed by: Tomas Alfredson

Magnolia Pictures

The Official Site of Let the Right One In

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Just what the world needed – another vampire movie. Is it not bad enough that 2008 brought us the flowing hair, sweet teen, vampire melodrama of Twilight? Did we really need the same thing except younger, nerdier and in a foreign language? Yeah, actually we did.

I enjoy a good vampire movie as much as the next guy but the truth is (and we all know this) that they’ve been done to death. If a movie dare come out about one person wanting to drink someone’s blood, turn into a bat or even count things in an accent with bursts of laughter in-between it sure as hell better bring with it an original twist on the tired old themes. Let the Right One In, a Swedish film based on a book about a bullied boy who befriends the bizarre new girl in town only to find out that she eats people when the sun goes down, tackles a lot of the vampire standards but only manages to bring something new to its namesake. Not that a spontaneous combustion caused by sunlight exposure or the most vividly fantastic cat attack ever committed to screen weren’t impressive, I was just particularly taken with what the film presented when it came time to “invite the right one in�.

We all know the vampire rule that, “If a vampire is not invited into a house then they can not enter the house.� If you’ve seen Buffy or The Lost Boys this is all standard stuff, right? Well with a title like Let the Right One In you just know right away that there’s got to be something to it. They’ve got to do something special with that rule to justify putting it front and center like that. I was wowed by its literal translation or more specifically the direct result of a vampire entering when not invited. It’s a beautiful effect but more importantly it’s a new idea, which was a relief even though it came so late in the film.

I found that the movie also played around with a less literal meaning in questioning whom we befriend or welcome into our lives. Oskar (the bullied) inviting the friendship of Eli (the blood sucker) might not be the most obvious friendship or love story of the year but it’s certainly one of the more interesting. Delicate and haunting like the best vampire movies should be but can’t manage to achieve, even with age appropriate actors and the benefit of the English Language. (Sorry, World, that’s just the way it is. The more English your movie has the more people it will be exposed to. Why else would they remake a movie as good as this?)

The real burst of originality when it comes to these ageless monsters is in the film’s perspective. Like a lot of vampire tales, Right One is a love story and by focusing in on the kids and their unique relationship, already complex dilemmas like the morality of killing the innocent or Eli’s urging for Oskar to fight back against his bullies takes on a whole new meaning. Their relationship is unnatural. They challenge one another and in a lot of ways bring out the worst in each other. I think the most pivotal scene for me is one in which Oskar, a boy who has a lot of issues and spends the whole movie challenging the line between right and wrong, is confronted with a life or death situation in which he’s forced to save a friend or cross that line. It’s a line that I so desperately didn’t want to see Oskar encounter but regardless of the outcome I realize that it was necessary. The film is better off having asked the hard questions.

That’s what’s so great about Let the Right One In. It gives the horror fans what they want in terms of sneak attacks and disfigurements but also manages to tell the kind of story that a movie like this needs to tell if it wants to be anything more than, “the latest vampire movie�.

Rating: 8 out of 10 - Marvelous performances from the two kids, KÃ¥re Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson. Hedebrant embraces the awkwardness of youth that if applied to a couple comedies could make him the Swedish Michael Cera and Leandersson manages to be both terrifying and adorable throughout with sunken, soulful, blood-hungry eyes. How many people can emote innocents from behind the smear of a bloodstained face? This is a must see.

I have a lot of trouble committing to buying foreign language films on DVD. While I don’t mind doing a little reading in theaters, in the comfort of my own home when seeing things in repeat viewings, I prefer something that’s a little less demanding of my senses. Not that I’d never sit down and focus on what turned out to be a pretty incredible film, I’d just like the option of checking my e-mail or taking a deep yawn without fear that I’ll miss something important in the text. Should I ever learn Swedish though… this’ll be the first movie I pick up.

Right One was a big hit all things considered. Few foreign language films are embraced during any year so you know that any film that slips through the cracks and generates the kind of attention this one did is worth your time. At the same time it was, at least a little, overshadowed by the almost simultaneous release of Twilight, a far inferior movie that had the benefit of a built in audience. You have to believe that a movie like Right One will find its followers eventually though even if on paper it sounds just as lame as the other vampire movie that came out this year.

Late last year Phil and I (Who I’ve been working together with on Matriculated for over 5 years now) started up a new comic strip. It’s a workplace comic that takes place within the world of videogames. Literally within the world. So much so that the two main characters so far are named “Player 1� and “Player 2� and in the brief history of the strip we’ve already seen them dress up like Blanka, Sackboys, the Prince of Persia and a Pong paddle.

Whereas JLCM offers comics, reviews and commentary for movies, this video game strip (cleverly or lazily titled Another Videogame Webcomic) offers the same for videogames. Phil has been a gaming junkie for as long as I’ve known him and even though we’re only 8 strips in right now I’m thrilled at what he’s come up with and definitely excited about exploring the videogame universe with him in the future.

If you love gaming or have grown accustom to my goofy looking art style then spend some time getting caught up with AVW. And if you like it – spread the word!

This past week, with the new releases on the horizon I realized that I needed to do a big push on getting my top ten list of 2008 together. There are a handful of films I need to see but if I put things off too long it’ll get lost in the shuffle of Bride Wars. Over the past couple days I’ve made a conscious push to see some of those “must sees� which included Let the Right One In. Hopefully the rest of the films on my list will yield such good results. Either way I’ll let you know. Thanks for reading!