The film adaptation of Let the Right One In is a textbook example—indeed, a classic example—of how to make great film from a great book when time constraints prohibit the movie version from telling the entire story. What many of the millions of who have enjoyed what is arguably the greatest vampire film ever made do not know is that the cinematic adaptation directed by Tomas Alfredson accounts for less than half of the content of John Ajvide Lindqvuist’s novel. The excision of material is perfectly calculated, however, that one does not really miss out on anything of terribly important significance in the narrowing down of the story to the relationship between Oskar and Eli.
Let the Right One In a brilliant vampire film for a number of reasons, but foremost among them has to be the fact that it tells a story that takes the romance out of vampirism. Eli shows the dark side of having to subsist entirely on blood. She can either become a killer herself or engage men to kill for her. Hakan is an mysterious older man who fills role of the latter until he is trapped and essentially sacrifices himself rather than betray Eli. It is not presented as such in the film, but the idea is implicit through the story of Oskar that she also met Hakan when he was a boy. This seems to be her modus operandi. Scenes in which she enters a house uninvited reveal the consequences of breaking the established rules of being a vampire. The film can be considered the anti-Twilight because it shows that being a vampire is ugly business.
The young actress who plays Eli, Lina Leandersson, is to be singled out because she gives—again, arguably—the single greatest performance by a child actress in the history of movies. Her gigantic eyes are luminous and filled with all the tragic dimension of being a vampire. Kåre Hedebrant is almost her equal as the bullied Oskar who is a boy with, let’s just say, various levels of possibilities in her personality.
The film is beautifully shot throughout and more than qualifies as a masterpiece of filmmaking. It is in the shrinking down of an entire world into the story of the two most important characters in the book which makes it such an iconic example of adaptation, however. A miniseries that would expand upon the film adapt the other stories contained within was at one time planned and it would be fascinating. But for a theatrical film version limited by time constraints, it is difficult to imagine it having been done better.
