Can I Come In? Say That I Can Come In

A Review of Let The Right One In...

Tomas Alfredson has defied all expectations. He’s taken the most self reflective of genres and reinvented it with a single stunning film. Unquestionably subversive at times transcendent, Let The Right One In reintroduces the vampire character to the real world. Gone are the clichés and what replaces them is a story of uncertain friendship and fragile love in a social reality of the darkest fantasy.

Oskar is a 12 year old boy out of sync with this world, so pale he’s almost translucent, so physically unimposing he’s practically invisible, the ghost of the narrative. Unfortunately for Oskar escape is elusive; he’s tragically bullied at school, and consequently buries himself in a scrapbook of violent murders and trades in any friendship for a world of fantasy.

Enter Eli, immediately different in the tranquil Swedish setting, Eli has jet black matted hair and wears only a pink shirt to protect her from the cold. They meet in a shallow pool of light cast by streetlights, a sickly halo thrown over the old rusting playground. Outside the light is lurking the dark unknowable night, but inside Oskar finds a protector from the dark. All the while there are questions Eli cannot answer, a serial killer stalking the streets of his town and dangers beyond the darkness of the playground but Oskar has already stepped into the light.

The film is highly reminiscent of Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, and is all the more heartfelt a love story with its faltering under adolescent uncertainty. When Eli comes to Oskar’s room one night, after feeding, she climbs in behind him, and unable to see her face he asks her to be his girlfriend. She replies “will anything change?” he says No and so she agrees. And as they lie there listening to Eli’s heartbeat, the film reaches a moment of transcendence where innocence, horror and love dissolve into each other.

In its collision of fantasy and reality, love and loss, and darkness and light, Let The Right One In has swept aside the rest of the genre and proved that horror thrills definitely don’t come cheap.

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Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - A Review of (500) Days Of Summer

“ A memory driven look at a failed romance”

Tom, a greetings card writer is an old romantic, Summer a vintage looking beauty has completely contemporary views on love and romance. Tom has been searching for the ‘one’ since his childhood years and as soon as Summer enters his life he knows it’s her he has been waiting for ( Your average Rom-Com plot structure to some extent) Except 500 Days is not averagely seen on the romantic comedy shelf, its structure is not linear, this isn’t an entirely new concept however it does keep the audience’s attention for longer as it has not been commercially reproduced – as yet.
The beginning of the narrative, but not the love story, starts at the end of the romance with Summer, setting the break up date for day 290 of their relationship. Setting this out from the start gives the viewer the knowledge that this story might not finish in the way previous films of this genre do and immediately makes for a more interesting watch. We also know that any scenes set after this date will inevitably involve Tom moping around the screen in any attempt to redeem the affections of Summer.
Deschanel is mesmerising in the film, considering her characters reluctance to love Tom in the same way the audience will, it was entirely possible that she would become hated, but her performance makes the audience endear to her. She is a charming and refreshing take on the usual role of the female in similar roles.
Gordon – Levitt has not been seen in a romantic casting since the 1999 film ’10 Things I Hate About You’ however his indie approach to this role is remarkable, he proves to be equally as adept as Deschanel in portraying the sweet and somewhat naive Tom, even his boyish looks that only set to remind us of the child he played in ‘3rd Rock From The Sun’ work in his favour adding to his innocence in love.
The film could be easily imaginable as a collage, the kind some make of their favourite relationship or days from their life, this gives it a much more visual non linear structure showing us only the key moments from the relationship and initially only from Toms viewpoint, as the film develops so do the hindering problems that the couple face. After the break up and the start of his plan to win back her affections we are given subtle hints that although we want this to happen for his own emotive sake, that Summer has moved on. This may not be initially picked up on at first watch but gives the film the density which sets it apart from other ‘one watch’ romantic comedies and the rare concept that you can watch it more than once, not only for the charisma and chemistry between the main characters but also that more insider hints at heartbreaking finale can witnessed on 2nd,3rd and 4th viewing.
The film is a perfect mixture of realistic romance , cynicism and overall enjoyable viewing for hopeful singles, couples and those recently dumped all backed up by a solid soundtrack boasting songs from Regina Spektor, Doves, Wolfmother and The Smiths.