Let the Right One In - % % % % %

OK, obviously not featured by Vogel, I am still watching other films, and I streamed this one as my Saturday afternoon comfort film.

I don't even know where to start. The sound is outrageous! The background sound is amplified over the dialogue at times. It's incredible. It's as if one were underwater and occasionally bobbing up and catching clear bits and slipping away again.

Incredibly shallow focus complements the sound design. It's gorgeous and creepy.

I'm not sure that the boy who befriends the vampire girl really does learn to stand up to the bullies, but rather he learns to not be afraid of them. He accepts their violence without rage or revenge. But allows his girlfriend of the night, not a hooker but a vampire in this instance, to fight his enemies for him.

I'm also not cool with the resolution to the bullying being spoiler alert them getting a violent comeuppance. This is a film that asks us to understand the challenges of Oskar's mother raising her son alone and the challenges of Eli needing blood, and therefore victims. How can we not sympathize with semi-murderous little boys trying to prove themselves? There must be a reason for their cruelty. Just as there are reasons for the main characters' murderous behavior. Even Oskar fantasizes about murdering at the beginning of the film, so I can't blame the other boys enough to want them dead. So the continuation of the friendship at the end after the gruesome murders of an innocent man, investigating the death of two of his closest friends, and these boys feels sad for Oskar. I don't know what would have been a better ending, but there is one out there. Perhaps what would be better is an ending in which Oskar learns to live on his own and without murder as a complication and crutch. I don't think every film needs to have a happy ending, but maybe someone can tell me what Oskar's decision means or comments on within 70s Swedish society. Perhaps I don't know enough about the contextual society to understand Oskar's continuing allegiance with Eli.

I love their relationship. It is brilliantly written. The two are so awkward around each other at first and unsure of how or what to communicate. They are both so lonely. Oskar is so frightened and needy, and Eli is sad and aloof. But the progression of the two towards each other is delicate and the change in Oskar as he comes to understand that Eli "is not a girl" is remarkable. It is so subtle and then powerful. He becomes the protector for a moment. And in that moment when faced with the reality of the violence he runs, rejecting his safety blanket-hunting knife. It seems in this moment that Oskar has rejected violence, but no. He just can't do it himself.

But I can't think of the last time I've seen such amazing acting from two children. And the setting of 80s Sweden is super cool looking.


My questions for others who have seen the film: Do you think his dad is gay? Why do they call him a pig?

PS. I think I've realized why the film treats bullies with such vengeance and why the relationship between Eli and Oskar continues. And why Eli's caretaker is with her. And it's that this is a horror film. The most frightening thing possible is that one might only have sympathy for their own murderous actions and not for others. The truly frightening world is one in which survivors of torture would enable and commit far worse acts against their bullies. And find joy and relief in those heinous moments. And love in their selfish cruelty. Eli starts out sad and forlorn for having to murder, but finds a purpose in the end for her violent cravings. If one can have love, one may do anything and justify anything for the love of another. And that is truly terrifying.

And I've gotten a submission for the question of why the little boys call Oskar a pig. It stands for Parent Is Gay. I don't think it's a winning answer, but it's a contender.

Check out the May edition of Sight and Sound magazine for a great article on this film.

I have one challenge to the article. In it, Mark Kermode argues that sex isn't the source of the horror, but I would argue that sex is more important than he gives it credit. The one particular moment of unabashed sexual curiosity ends in a dead end. Eli doesn't have genitals, but rather a shriveled up, kind of scab where one's vagina would be. Oskar wants to see her naked but discovers this oddity about Eli. They will never consummate their relationship and this, I suppose, makes their departure together more tragic. She can never be what he needs and she needs something so destructive only doom must follow.

Kermode also discusses some elements of the source material that are not included in the film. There is apparently a greater emphasis on transgenderism.