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Original Message
"Let the Right One In!:" this year's, "Pan's Labyrinth," though
Posted by tinear on February 14, 2009 at 08:12:44:
more likable.
In a suburb of a very frigid Stockholm, citizens are disappearing, sometimes found strung up like slaughtered pigs. At the same time, a 12-year old extremely introverted boy from a broken family daily faces such extreme bullying from a school group that he is driven to driving the hidden knife he carries into tree trunks, obviously imaging them to be his adversaries.
A strange girl with a reclusive father moves next door to him and, gradually, he realizes she isn't.... human.
This is the best film of '08.
Though it is frightening--- at times very much so--- that in itself is no great thing; as was said by Hitchcock, a fellow jumping out from a doorway is that much.
Rather, it is the well-drawn characters of the boy and his similarly aged adolescent friend, both of whom are on the cusp of young adulthood but both clearly in danger of never reaching it, that capture our attention and force our affection.
The performances are astonishing with, I am overjoyed to report, none of the Hollywood eye-rolling, looking this way-that way-and back again, cigarette-chewing, hair-fixing, furniture throwing (my personal favorite example is Leonardo's in "Revolutionary Road:" the desk-top-clearing sweep) or other shenanigans.
Love, maturing, friendship, violence, and survival--- all seriously treated without being preachy, trite, or obvious: smashing!
Extra bonus: the director actually managed to make a moody film without resorting to the grey-blue palette which has become as predictable in this genre as blood.
Oh, since this is Valentine's Day: take your beloved. This is also the warmest, most heart-rending, most romantic film I've seen for a long time!