Vampiric Authenticity

In the spirit of Vampire movies I watched a Swedish film titled 'Let The Right One In'. This is not a goober-gag fest like 'Twilight', instead this a dark and twisted love tale between a pair of youngsters. We meet Oskar, a pasty-shy 12 year-old, who is plotting a violent retaliation against the school bullies. One evening on the frozen playground outside his apartment complex Oskar meets Eli, a vampiress who conveniently does not wear a jacket or shoes while enjoying the late night chill. They strike up a friendship while her blood hunter-a man we assume is her father- gets caught murdering someone so she can eat. Eli is now alone except for the friendship she is forging with her adolescent neighbor Oskar. While Eli's exterior models that of a 12 year-old, the soul within is aged and knows her vampiric limitations around Oskar.

I liked the movie. There are very awkward moments with the budding relationship between the young stars as well as the chillingly authentic vampire attacks on various people. If there was a reality show about vampires that was poised with fear and rawness, the tone of this film has captured it. It's as if Eli hates the fact that she has to take a life to survive and the moment Oskar actually sees her feed his appetite for revenge is satisfied...maybe it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Two crafty pieces of the film, besides the creative storyline, are the sound effects and the background music. I know weird , right? Not really, the sound is brilliant because you feel cold, you feel the discomfort of the temperature because almost every scene is set against a winter wonderland. Footsteps crunch softly and smoothly on the glistening snow and the crunch of the vampire's bite made me cringe and feel the pain of being in the moment.

Another element mastered by few films is the ability to get the audience to notice and appreciate the fact that there is no music accenting a scene. As you watch action, horror, suspense-most movies come to think of it-the music really represents the emotions and personality of its sequences, the personality of the movie. 'Right One' was beautifully edited so that those sounds were amplified by the silence of the soundtrack. Very gripping, very telling.

Not a film for the queasy or those turned off by subtitles. 3 out of 5.