THE FILM

From Sweden comes "Let the Right One In," a film of extraordinary mood and wildly inventive directorial potency. It's a hushed, gentle story of provisional friendship, the ordeal of adolescence, and the curse of vampiric immortality. A hypnotic motion picture from beginning to end, "Right One" is a marvel: an ingenious genre film that manages to terrify and endear in the same instant, deftly erecting one of the most persuasive, haunting movie experiences of the year.

Bullied at school, 12-year-old Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) dreams of revenge on his classmates, spending his hours wandering around his snowbound apartment complex. One night he meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), a mysterious creature of the same age with whom he strikes up a tentative friendship. As the two learn more about each other, it becomes clear that something is killing off the paranoid residents of the community, but to Oskar, Eli is his friend and confidant, with powers and history he doesn't understand. To Eli, Oskar is a rare innocent soul worth protecting, finding peace in his company and encouraging the boy to stand up to his enemies. Together they bond while the world around them quickly spirals out of control.

While already targeted for a U.S. remake, "Right One" (adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own novel) holds distinct European appeal I seriously doubt could withstand an attempt at crude Americanization. For starters, "Right One" observes brutality and naive sensuality involving pre-teens, it treats death with a certain frightening visual poetry, and this Swedish film is something of a masterpiece, directed with exceptional tonal control by Tomas Alfredson. The plot concerns vampires and blood-spattered splendors of the flesh, but it's one of the most endearing movies I've seen in recent time, embracing hesitant friendship with total commitment to character nuance and storytelling serenity.

"Right One" is consumed with mood, drinking in long takes of paranoid behavior and staging the action around stark snowscapes, photographed with brilliant menace by Hoyte Van Hoytema. Fearful of losing his audience at the first sign of distress, Alfredson brings Oskar and Eli together gradually, introducing bloodshed without proper explanation to drill the appropriate psychological holes that pay off later in the picture. Eli being a vampire is not the twist of "Right One," it's the opening chapter for Alfredson to play extensively with images of fright and themes of isolation, revealing the dark entity to be an ancient soul longing for companionship within a life that requires immediate viciousness. The director lets the uneasy sympathy grow from there, enhanced by the heavenly performances from Hedebrant and Leandersson, who never betray their years, making the central relationship awkward, exploratory, and enduring in ways that tap directly into the senses.

Time away from our leads is just as rewarding, though viewed with more overt genre trappings, executed with stunning Kubrickian precision and stealth by Alfredson. Once Eli's thirst encourages deadly curiosity from the tenants, all hell breaks loose, removing the ambiguity of "Right One," but replacing the question marks with eye-popping turns of fate.

"Right One" has an appealing, candid purity about it that contrasts with the violence on a spellbinding scale. The film takes astounding chances with characters, asking viewers to accept a form of evil (a child, no less) as a welcome presence worthy of compassion. The picture also contains a knockout resolution that solidifies Eli and Oskar as the preeminent screen couple of the year.

THE DVD

(3/24/09) Controversy! Weeks after the release of this DVD and after countless viewers embraced the film, somebody at this site has discovered that Magnolia Home Entertainment has employed the use of dreaded "dubtitles" over the film's theatrical subtitles. Newcomers to the feature will perhaps not notice the difference; however the film's impact is lessened to a certain degree by this needless shortcut -- a shortcut that I only marginally noticed but did not pursue during my DVD viewing of the film. I apologize to the great nation of readers for my oversight. Even in crippled dubtitle form, the beauty of this excellent film survives. Still, the changes are reversible and I hope that Magnolia issues a replacement disc ASAP.

Visual:

Encountering harsh winter locations and dark horror episodes, the anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation is a crisp, comprehensively handsome event that does justice to the cautious cinematography. Black levels remain solid throughout, while colors ring true. No digital hiccups were observed.

Audio:

The 5.1 Swedish Dolby Digital sound mix on "Let the Right One In" is every bit as enticing as the visuals. Wonderfully atmospheric, with sumptuous attention to the snow-encrusted landscapes and body language nuance, the mix is best appreciated with sequences of soft scoring or the blunt edges of the violence. A 5.1 and 2.0 English dubbed soundtrack is included but not recommended at all, along with a 2.0 Swedish track.

Extras:

"Deleted Scenes" (5:54) fail to include anything of significant surprise, yet a few extra moments of Oskar and Eli bonding are a treat to see. Plus, there's the added bonus of observing the CG-assisted regurgitation of red wine. There's just not enough of that in the world today.

"Behind the Scenes" (7:37) allows director Tomas Alfredson a chance to describe the mood and historical context of his motion picture, while viewing footage of its creation. If you squint hard enough, this intriguing featurette could almost pass for a mini-commentary.

A Photo Gallery and a Theatrical Poster Gallery are available to study.

And a Theatrical Trailer is included on this DVD.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Grotesque, unnervingly gentle, forbidding, and ethereal, "Let the Right One In" not only reenergizes vampire cinema, but it also restores faith in the often irrelevant concerns of pre-teens. This is by far the best picture of the last year, and anyone feeling a little punch-drunk from the stale art-house norm owes it to themselves to seek out this stupendous, bizarrely heartwarming genre bender.