Let The Right One In [Blu-ray]

Frankly, I haven't liked many of the vampire movies that hit the theatres in the recent past. They had very little substance, apart from gore and blood. The only upside was the superb special effects. One did not however feel they were `real' characters, if you can use that term for a bloodthirsty vampire.
Into this arid cinematic landscape comes Let the Right One In, a Swedish movie that tells the moving story of a young vampire. The hauntingly beautiful story is rather simple - the vampire girl Eli ("I have been 12 for a long time"), develops a relationship with Oskar, a 12-year-old boy who is tormented by classmates at his Stockholm school. Their relationship blossoms in a frozen landscape, amidst the frenzy of murder necessitated by Eli's thirst for blood and Oskar's travails at school. It is a voyage of discovery for both protagonists in the movie - they learn the finer points of life (and death) from each other.
The viewer immediately warms up to both characters, played brilliantly by the two first-time leads. It is hard not to sympathise with Oskar, who finally learns to `handle' his tormentors the hard way on Eli's advice. Eli is one vampire you do not hate - her life is one long struggle for blood, company and love. The film does have gore - but it is not the primary focus. It has plenty of blood, but in the director's hand it becomes the conduit through which the two characters bond. Oskar stands by Eli even after learning that she is a vampire. If that is not love, what is ?
In that context, The Right One is a love story par excellence. The one thing that could have prevented Oskar from reaching out to Eli instead becomes their greatest strength. In one instance, Oskar saves Eli's life from a potential killer. The would-be killer ends up being a source of blood for Eli. She repays her gratitude in the final sequences of the film. Indeed, the eerie swimming pool scene is one of the finest moments of horror seen on film recently.
As for the technical aspects of the film, the cinematography is nothing short of excellent. It captures the desolate and snowy landscape of Sweden so well that one cannot help feeling the cold. The special effects are excellent for a non-Hollywood film. I am sure they will have better special effects in the forthcoming American remake, but will it retain the `soul' of this Swedish masterpiece? The acting is uniformly good too. There is no doubt that two leads will get more roles in Swedish and foreign films in the future.
There is a great debate on the Internet about the subtitle translation, but I did not encounter any problems on this Optimum release. Having no knowledge of Swedish, I cannot say whether it is the best available, but it worked for me and I had no trouble comprehending the dialogues. Of course, one always has to take into account that in any language, there are subtle nuances, play on words and unique idioms and expressions that may not lend themselves so well to translation in to another language. I have also not read the book, so I do not know how faithful the film is to the book (I know some changes have been done). But taken on its own, the film is well paced. This could be due to the fact that the author of the book has written the movie script as well.
Technically, the DVD is brilliant and the blu-ray must be even better. There were hardly any artefacts in the many night scenes. The sound is not demo material, but the engineers have crafted it well to match the `atmosphere' conveyed in the film.
In short, this is one film you should have in your DVD/blu-ray library. It is a remarkable piece of contemporary cinema, one that you would not forget for a long time. It will require the full attention of your mind - and the heart - for 110 minutes, but it's worth every second. Films like this come along only rarely, so treasure it while you can.

This film is absolutely amazing. Everything about it is great: the story, the acting, the cinematography. Everything.

It's different right from the start. The opening credits come up white text on a black backgound without any music, and the effect is quite spectacular. This simple trick sets an erie atmosphere instantly and is a perfect example of the approach taken in the rest of the film: less is more.

The film is long; one reviewer says slow but I disagree - I think perhaps minimalist is a better choice of word. The whole work looks stunning, and from the Blu ray menu to the subtle use of CGI, it almost felt like a piece of beautiful Swedish design for which the country is so known for; speaking of the subtle CGI, because it's used sparingly and cleverly, it's impact is all the more greater when you do notice it. Half the time though, you don't. Half the time, you're not sure if your eyes are playing tricks on you, and that's another example of the genius of the film and the incredible atmosphere it manages to create.

The scenery throughout the film is beautiful and Blue Ray is the perfect format for the sparkling white snow that this film is awash with. The actors who play the main characters, Oskar and Eli, although young, are excellent and do a great job. I won't go into the specifics here, I'm sure there's other reviews that tell you all about the story but 'Let the Right One In' is a love story of sorts between an awkward young boy and a young girl who moves onto his estate. What unfolds is a brilliant and touching piece of cinema that is both terrifying in places and beautiful in others.

It was also nice to watch a film in this language too I found, and the whole thing was just so well done on every level it was staggering. Certain scenes were so cleverly directed I was in awe of the director's use of the screen (if you've seen the film, take the final swimming pool scene for instance - that was very, very clever). So if you want an original film, that's visually stunning, emotionally touching, and also brutal and scary in places you'd be 'Letting the right one into' your film collection if you bought this.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is a wonderful film that deserves a proper release to home video, and the UK is able to enjoy just such a release. We here in America, however, aren't as lucky.

To praise LET THE RIGHT ONE IN as one of the best "vampire" films is doing it a disservice. While that claim is undoubtedly true, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is also one of the best films (regardless of genre) in quite some time. More a film about the budding relationship between a friendless, bullied 12 year old boy and someone who has "been 12 years old for a long time", the vampirism sets the backdrop and conflict for these two characters to find their way through to form a real connection. With amazing direction, cinematography, music and acting, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is a truly great film.

A quick comment about this Blu-Ray release. Here in America, we suffer from a release that boasts a "dumbed-down" subtitle translation (different from the subtitles in the theatrical release) and the choice of an English-dubbed audio track that many claim to be one of the worst they've ever heard. Since Blu-Ray does not suffer from the Region Coding that restrains DVD releases and is also immune to any PAL/NTSC compatability issues (this release is fully functional on American equipment), I purchased the UK release and have been absolutely thrilled with its quality and presentation. I must also admit that it is amazingly refreshing to be offered a foreign-language film in which there simply is no English-dubbed option; you hear the film in Swedish and read subtitles. Period.

It's a shame I don't have the option of finding a quality release like this one in the States, but I am very glad that I was able to take advantage of this one.