The plot is based from a book which is about a twelve year old boy, Oskar, who befriends a young girl who moves in next door. He is a loner himself and has to deal with bullies at school and a working mother. He finds a newfound sense of courage through his friendship with Eli even amidst a new handful of slayings that are taking place all around him. Soon he learns that Eli is actually a 200 year old vampire and his friendship is put to the test.
The plot actually isn’t that suspenseful. It’s more subdued and about the relationship between the two rather than the action that takes place around them. I bet that this book was a really good read and it’s now officially on my infinite list of books to read someday. The two main characters are really well defined and their relationship is so interesting to watch. They both have motives and reasons for the things they do and the relationship pans out in a very believable way.
More than the plot in this movie, I really loved the cinematography. All of the camera angles were well thought out and weren’t just stuck in a place to capture the action. There was just the right amount of CGI necessary for a vampire movie, but not too much as is done in some movies to flaunt the effects. There was a fair amount of gore in the movie, but it could’ve been much worse considering. It was really the plot and performances between the two young leads that made this movie memorable, more than the goriness of the killing scenes. The one part that was lacking was the sound editing. The score was so subtle that it was almost invisible in the movie. It felt as if there was no soundtrack and just natural sounds in the movie. I think it made the point that this was about the realistic relationship, but in order to stay entertained it needed some dramatic sound mixing in this movie badly.
The performances were superb and these were two young Swedish actors! They both really pulled the movie off and it was really all about their relationship. I also liked the performance by Eli’s ‘dad’. I wanted to know more about his motivations when the movie was over.
This was a great movie. It really left the viewer with a lot of interpretation to do, which is a nice contrast to a lot of fluff movies that spell everything out for you. It also didn’t focus on the dark gore associated with most vampire movies. It was just the right balance. It is a subtitled Swedish movie however and it does run a little slow, which I think is due to the sound editing. I really think this movie has great potential to cross over and especially now that it will be re-made for American audiences. I would recommend to vampire movie lovers and anyone who likes dark foreign movies. “I could stay and die or leave and live” – Let the Right One In.
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