h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few days ago Dragonqueen asked me to write a little review for a film I was planning to see. We went to see it last night, and it was SO fantastic, I wanted to share a little review here, too, in its own little entry (I wrote the same on the "What Films..." thread on Ask).

Last night we went to see "Låt den Rätte Komma In" ("Let the Right One In").

It's a sweet Swedish coming of age story about two lonely, outcast pre-adolescent children. One of them is Oskar, a boy whose parents basically ignore him and whose classmates torment him mercilessly. The other is Eli, a beautiful, melancholy girl, who moves in next door and on whom he develops his first crush. Eli also just happens to be a vampire.

I thought the cinematography was outstanding (the Swedish winter nights were gorgeous), the chemistry between the two leads impressive, and the dialog and character development were flawless. The violence, when it was there, was brutal but subdued- underneath it all, Oskar and Eli are just lonely, innocent children. There are no cheesy special effects, no cheap scares, and nothing gratuitous. The things that happen do because they *have* to.

Without spoiling the film for anyone, there were a couple of specific things I thought were brilliant: the man who arrives with Eli at the beginning of the film and provides a glimpse of what Oskar's future with her would be like; and a scene near the end, which takes place in a swimming pool, that made me laugh out loud with my hair standing on end.

I really, really enjoyed the film. So much so, I'm sure I'll want to see it again. Highly recommended (though, in spite of the ages of the children in the film, perhaps not for kids under 13).

Sounds ace. Them Swedes know how to film.

That sounds really great - I'm trying (unsucessfully) to find it over here.

Thanks for the review, PC.

Guess I'd better try to get a ticket for next weekend.

ah it's not out on DVD yet?

It's only *just* in the theater here now- how long has it been out there, dragonqueen?

And now for something completely different, courtesy of K:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3xL5SJl5WU

I think "Låt den rätte komma in" had it's first showing in the end of October. It runs at the largest movie theatre downtown, but they've diminished the number of showings already.

I hope you manage to see it, DQ. If not, when it comes out on DVD, I would be more than happy to hook you up.

Thanks for the review
Sounds like one for me to see.

If you do see it, I hope you'll enjoy it, Abbi. It really was good. I'm looking forward to seeing it again when it's available on DVD.