Movie Review of Let the Right One In (2008)

Everyone who was ever bullied at school will identify with Oskar.

The quiet courage in not breaking down, even as a gang of boys try to break him, marks Oskar as a hero from the start. Though it kills us to watch him go through that.

His isolation from his peers shows in his loneliness, hanging around an empty playground close to home.

A new girl has moved in next door. Overlooked by dozens of apartment block windows, the two twelve year olds begin a tentative friendship. It's both excruciating in its awkwardness and simultaneously heart-warming, as contact is made.

But all of this is against a backdrop of a wider fear on the estate. Bloodied corpses are being uncovered in the snow. Bodies are found hung upside down from trees in the woods. Their throats were slit. Their blood was collected in a plastic bottle.

Oskar's mother wants to keep her son close, in case the murderer snatches him too.  Eli's guardian has no such fears.

As for the bullies... *smile*  There are some truly cathartic moments involving them. Bullied children everywhere will want to be holding Oskar and Eli's coats.

Apparently director Tomas Alfredson was casting for a year, all over Sweden, before he found his two young stars. 

Kåre Hedebrant (Oskar) and Lina Leandersson (Eli) were only eleven years old, when they acted in this movie. That fact astounded me. 

Their performances have a mature subtlety that had me convinced that they were older, acting younger. Only the physical reality of their obviously prepubescent forms had me stumped. But no, they were actually a year younger than their characters!

They were both nominated in the Breakthrough Performance category of the Online Film Critics Society Awards. Lina won it.  In addition, they've been nominated for dozens of other movie awards for Let the Right One In.

They deserved it.  They were both utterly believable in their roles. Kåre was in practically every scene, and this wasn't a simple story-line. Color me impressed.

I'm gutted about this!  There are strong female characters in Let the Right One In.  They have names, but they never talk to each other.

Some of the most memorable scenes in the movie involve its women. But again, not simultaneously.

How difficult would it have been for Yvonne (Oskar's mother) to speak with his teacher about his bullying. Ok, Virginia couldn't have done that, as they were played by the same actress!

But Yvonne and Virginia surely had things to say to each other in the street. There were bodies turning up and they were neighbors!  Even a quick, 'Hello! How are you?'  'Fine, apart from this strange boil on my finger...' kind of conversation would have covered it.

There was even a tantalizing moment, when Virginia met Eli, when the Bechdel Test could have been passed.  But their jaw-dropping encounter happened with non-verbal communication.  Until Lacke turned up, and Virginia seemed to remember how to speak.

All in all, a disappointing Bechdel Test fail this time.