Edinburgh International Film Festival

Let The Right One In, a new Swedish film directed by Tomas Alfredsson, is an amazing new look at the classic vampire movie, using new ideas and old vampire canon together to make an amazing and entertaining film. Set in the early 1980s in a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, the film’s main character is a young boy named Oskar. He is abused at school by bullies, and feels cut off while at home due to his parents separation and the mistrust associated with it. He finds solace in a new friend whom he meets on the jungle gym outside his apartment late one night. Her name is Eli, and while she seems a little strange, the boy sees only their mutual feelings of loneliness and vulnerability. Through a strange series of botched killings in the town, and various other events, the film unfolds into a fascinating series of events that bring the two young children together, probably forever.
The film is a cinematographic masterpiece. Each shot is well planned and executed, and the color choices and combinations set the mood for the entire movie. The acting is spectacular and the story amazing. The only flaw in the movie would be the a few of the CGI elements, especially concerning cats and fire (the two never being mixed, thankfully). The CGI effects seem overly fake and could have been made much better. However, as the two scenes with those elements in them are very short, I can overlook the flaws and give this film an amazing four and a half stars. It is an entertaining and engrossing film that I would like to watch over and over again.