Let The Right One In

1) How is the backstory handled?

Well for the most part there wasn't much of a backstory. You were only given the key information you needed to make sense of the story, and even when you needed backstory you got them in a subtle way. You found out Oskar's parents were divorced when you heard a moment of his mom on the phone saying "He's going to his father's next week." You knew about Oskar's strange news paper clipping fascination once he answered the police's question about how they could tell if a crime was arson, and you we're reminded of the hobby again once you saw Oskar looking through his clippings.

2) How is camera movement used?

The camera is rarely moved throughout, but when it did move it went super slowly. The movie was made mostly of quick shot changes, which once again only showed you what needed to be seen.

3) How is camera distance used?

The camera distance was always an extreme; extremely far or extremely close, there was nothing in between. When there wasn't much to a scene other then the actual character's movements or facial expressions the camera was way up close (one more time: not showing you more then you need to see). When there were scenes that were better off left to your imagination there was a lot of distance between the actual action and the camera, but there were sound effects to help spark your imagination.

4) How is the character developed other than with dialog, or how does the director develop character visually?

The one scene I really can relate to this question is the shot right after Oskar fights back, the camera is looking up at Oskar, suddenly making him seem like he's on top. Oskar is victorious and is finally no longer the one getting hit, and this jump in character was so easily portrayed just by having a camera look up at him from the ground.

5) Sound is used to incredible effect in this movie - how do the filmmakers use sound?

The filmmakers used sound to give the viewers enough for there imagination without actually showing any of the blood and guts. The sound also threw off my senses - everything seemed way too close to me.

6) Håkam - what's up with this guy?

Håkam and Eli's relationship is incredibly weird. I don't really understand why Håkam stays by her side. Håkam's actions are all fatherly though - his killing people just so the sweet Eli doesn't have to get as upset as she does after killing seems like an attempt to keep the already unhappy Eli from getting unhappier.

7) What is behind the puzzles? What do they symbolize?

I'm unsure about how to answer this question, but it basically seems like there are puzzles throughout Oskar and Eli's relationship. There's the Rubiks Cube that initiates the relationship, there's the morse code that is their own way of communicating, and I'm not sure but I think the egg that Oskar tapped was a puzzle Eli completed. Beyond the actual games, I think their relationship was a bit of a puzzle at first since Eli had a mystery about her after telling Oskar they can't be friends. Also, all of Oskar's news clippings seemed to end in mystery (since none of the crimes were solved) and Eli was actually the answer to all the deaths Oskar would read about.

8) Plot point one is?

I think plot point one is when Oskar hits the bully. This was the first time Oskar fought back, and he had a liberated look on his face once it was done. A part of Oskar's personality had changed after he took Eli's advice.

9) Plot point two is?

Plot point two is when Oskar "invites Eli in" after he saw her dying. After this point you knew that no matter what Eli was, vampire, human, boy, or girl, Oskar still cared about her. After the hug it was evident that the fact that Eli was a vampire became just a small detail in their relationship.

10) Is this a happy ending?

It's not a happy ending, Eli's still something she doesn't want to be and Oskar doesn't seem to be completely satisfied with his life, but it's not unhappy either. It's not a happy ending but it's happier then what there life was like previous to their meeting each other. They've been alone in the world, and now they can be alone together.

On another note:

Let The Right One In Trailer

I absolutely loved how fitting this trailer was. There was a total of three lines of dialogue in the whole thing, but it managed to get to me anyway. For me, the scariest parts of the trailer was when the loud and close to you sound effects kicked in and that first moment with the bully, which is incredibly close to the movies effect on me.

Lina Leandersson Interview

After I clicked on Lina Leanderson's IMDB profile and realized that she had no professional work before Let The Right One In I was intrigued. I found this interview where she says that she found out that they were casting online, and asked her mom if she could go to an audition. Out of the large casting Lina, a girl whose only previous experience was acting classes that got cancelled because not many people in the town had signed up for them, got the role of Eli.