Let The Right One In

I guess there's little more romantic than vampires. It's classic forbidden love between the undead and someone who quietly knows that they'll inevitably outgrow their beloved. I didn't see the second-base eroticism of 'Twilight', but Sweden's 'Let The Right One In' also takes this forbidden love-story into the little world of a socially dejected 12 year old and his undead new neighbor.
Our pubescent hero is Oskar, and he's so blond and pure-looking its as if he were genetically designed for a film that takes place in the snow of a Stockholm winter:Oskar spends his alone time in Travis Bickle-mode acting out a revenge fantasy against the kids who bully him at school. He's caught in one of these by a mysterious young girl, Eli, who says little more than "I can't be friends with you" before walking away. Of course, its not many more random encounters at their apartment complex's jungle gym later that they develop a unique bond; and it's not much longer before that bond grows into a love affair. Eli lives next door to Oskar in a sparse apartment with a middle-aged man who most would assume could be her father. He seems to do most of the killing in order to protect Eli. He may even be a lover that Eli has had since he was twelve. There are hints to this, and it puts an even greater sense of how hopeless it is to fall in love with her.
All this is set against a small-town murder mystery, with those closet to the most recent victim suspecting a teenage girl. Like '30 Days Of Night', 'Let The Right One In' puts a vampire story in the snow to make the blood run a lot redder. 'Let The Right...' is far more successful though at achieving it's goals. This is done by pacing the story and using the violence sparingly; therefore, building the tension to wonderful levels instead of bombarding the audience with a barrage of killings like '30 Days...' (which often comes off like the 'Thriller' video). Probably the most engaging part of 'Let The Right...' is it's two leads, Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, who manage to be both totally awkward and completely comfortable in their scenes together. Tomas Alfredson's style recalls the recent work of Gus Van Sant at times. Maybe it's just the teenaged lead with the hipster hair, but many scenes seem to share Van Sant's vignette-style pacing and his love of peoples' faces.
Like all movies about vampires, 'Let The Right...' addresses the violence inherent to their nature. Both Oskar's and Eli's relationship with violence feel like two sides to the same coin. His is a sense of retribution for being bullied at school. Hers is essential to her survival. The way the two meet at the end doesn't feel right, but I guess it was inevitable - this is more a love story than a movie about vampires.