my little vampiric crush (Review of "Let The Right One In")

few films leave a lasting impression on me. i love film and movies.. and by an impression, i mean i start to remember quotes, watch it multiple times and study a scene's lighting, mis-en-scene the film's post production quirks rather carefully that might boarder on maniacal.

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In dir. Alfredson, T, 2008) was one such film.

Overall the film was just what my heart needed, about a somewhat morbid, yet pure and fatalistic love between a 12 year old boy, Oskar, and a 12 year old looking girl, Eli, who's actually a 200 year old vampire.

innocent proposals by Oskar asking Eli to be his girlfriend, unknowing of the painful baggage carried by a being such as Eli. Eli, a creature fraught with a secret so terrifying that it's a miracle that she allows herself to actually love him too, despite the consequences of such selfishness.

in the end, what really stood out for me, is how vulnerable the two lead characters are. in a gripping scene where Oskar mocks Eli's vampiric limitations as a means of coping with the betrayal of not being told her dark heritage earlier, Eli demonstrates her own determination to make them work out, and quite literally exposes herself in such a vulnerable and imperfect manner, following their reconciliation.. only a master film maker like Alfredson could evoke this much emotion in the span of a three minute scene.



little nuances like playing on the vampire lore that these creatures are unable to enter a person's home uninvited, Alfredson uses such common knowledge to poetic effect by demonstrating the precarious glass wall that separates the two young lovers, only to tear it down and leave you gasping at the frail beauty that ultimately weaves this entire piece of filmic art together.

in a brief image of Eli, bleeding from her eyes and ears, a creature so powerful yet surrendered to the idea of loving a mortal boy, it was a moment when i fell in love with a character so fatally wounded by previous hurt and injustice and yet strong enough to try again. to me, this is what the film is ultimately about, not happily ever afters, not about having the right recipe for love to work. this film takes the worst of the human heart and what it's capable of, puts a frame around it and let's you find beauty in the brushstrokes.

Oskar and Eli are just two young lovers trying to figure it out for themselves. as their relationship grows through the film, you grow with them, laugh with them, cry with them.. and feel afraid with them. i cannot think of anything bad to say about this film. the gorgeous swedish winters, a soundtrack that is another piece of art by itself.. it's so profoundly beautiful that you get beautiful fan-made trailers like this:


3:16 - 3:22 was the moment i fell in love with Lina Leandersson, the eleven year old actress who played Eli.

five outta five.

why you ought to watch transformers, the greatest motion picture epic of all time


Optimus Prime
he was always my favourite, the gentle, kind soul who is always manigmous and stands on the side of justice and good. but now, he actually decapitates the decepticon, bonecrusher in one fell swoop. that's the money shot right there. in a homage to optimus's energy axe and grimlock's energo sword.. this death move proves there's a limit to the even optimus's virtue of patience.

the crap story
seriously, why befuddle the rollercoaster ride with some stupid existentialist crap that so many films tried to follow (ala the matrix). michael bay has a lousy narrative, some cheesy comedic moments, but fantastic action sequences and transformers! LOTS OF THEM! they shoot, get shot at, stomp on each other, decapitated and ripped in two.

my mouth was open for 99% of the movie
optimus prime, bumblebee, jazz, ironhide, ratchet, megatron, starscream, devestator, bonecrusher, barricade and meagan fox. i was telling the yuen throughout the entire movie that i was losing my mind! holy shit! omigosh! that's crazy!

freedom is the right of all sentient beings
peter cullen, the original voice of optimus prime reprises his role. the deep set voice, that sounds so heavily burdened and tired of all the violence, and yet the life and passion it evokes when he stands by his causes to protect and uphold. the ultimate hero. to hear him say his other immortal line "one shall stand, one shall fall" and all the other references to the rich cartoon series that fills my life with so much joy.

proving that i'm still a fan
i watched it on opening day. NEED I SAY MORE???

this movie will blow your mind! don't worry about the story, or the new look the transformers got. don't let those prissy fans tell you how much it doesn't pay homage to the cartoon series. IT DOESN'T MATTER, and this comes from an absolute fan over the cartoon series. it's tenaciously enjoyable, and you will want to watch it again and again and again. Transformers FTW. life can be complete if you choose to.

no pictures, just go see it.

ZOMG

how in the world do you keep calm aftr watching something like that? ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG make ZOMG

anyway, my thoughts on Blogout 2007? it was nice meeting all these other bloggers, because truth be told, i have been content maintaining my own little cottege blog for the fair few who like what i do, but i suppose some folk have bigger dreams than that. i'd like to think that i have a fairly spiffy blog that contains some of the latest features of web 2.0, but it really isn't optimised a whole lot. as you can see my technorati tags have been rather tempremental and thus, i don't get the visbility that some people get.

which sort of brings me to my next point about.. the efficiency of tools. however, nothing is more effective than just remembering this: harmlessbananas[dot]blogspot[dot]com. i think that's the best way, the best form of advertising, that people remember your URL and speak it, and mention it in everything that they do. like yongfook[dot]com, or small penis.

maybe i've over sensationalised web 2.0 a bit, going back to basics, let's have people remember our URLs for a change -)

back to Blogout 2007. i had more fun chatting with other bloggers and understanding how they think and how they see the world and the blogosphere, there are somethings that are not conveyed thru a blog than they are better in real life, and to me, that was my highlight. sure there were high fangled web devices, live tweets and webcams, but here at harmlessbananas, we've done those too.. and the problem is getting people excited about it right? i mean, not many people were moblogging either. but it was good celebration of tech and ideas. i feel i've successfully demonstrated the power of mobility with twitter and the moblog posts from yesternight. so, i'm glad.. and if you were part of the experience, i hope it jogs your creativity at the massive potential in mobile technology.