This is the time of the year that I receive batches of DVD's from PR
firms on behalf of major Hollywood studios and distribution companies
in anticipation of the December awards meeting of NYFCO (New York
Film Critics Online). No batch was awaited more eagerly (at least by
this NYFCO member) than those from Magnolia Pictures, the
distribution arm of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Cuban (and Wagner as well) are both committed to boldly innovative
independent fiction and documentary movies and the current batch
reflects Magnolia at its best. I can recommend all of these movies,
some of which are now available from Netflix and will be so indicated
with an asterisk.
My preferences are in this order:
1. Let the Right One In
A beautifully written, acted, filmed and directed Swedish movie that
pairs two 12 year olds: Oskar who is bullied mercilessly by
schoolmates, and Eli, a girl who has just moved in next door in their
Stockholm suburb and who happens to be a vampire. Consider this movie
to be a much more elegant and intelligent version of "Buffy, the
Vampire Slayer", the TV show that effectively equated adolescent
turmoil with demonic afflictions.
Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) first encounters Eli (Lina Leandersson) late
at night as he sits in the snow-covered front yard of the dreary
brick tenement they live in trying unsuccessfully to solve a Rubic's
cube. Despite his initial wariness toward his new neighbor
(misfortunes at school have made him understandably defensive), he is
impressed both by her ability to effortlessly solve the puzzle as
well as her pretty but pallid face. The only thing he doesn't like
about her is her "funny smell" that he brings to her attention. Since
she has been dead for generations, it is no surprise that she has a
bit of an odor.
Despite being a vampire, Eli has the same desire for friendship that
any 12 year old would have. (She explains to Oskar at one point that
she has been 12 years old for centuries.) When Eli learns that Oskar
has been the target of bullies, she urges him to hit back hard, which
he does. At an outdoor skating rink, he delivers a well-placed blow
with a stick to the side of the head of his worst tormentor.
By coincidence, this is the same stick that Eli's manservant Hakan
has used to push one of his victims into an ice-covered brook.
Although their relationship is not delineated (much of the movie's
power resides in its susceptibility to multiple interpretations),
this much is clear: his role in life is to kill complete strangers,
drain their blood, and feed his mistress. In contrast to the batty,
insect-devouring Renfield of the Dracula saga, Hakan has much more of
the appearance and demeanor of a depressed accountant.
Although the movie's climax features a deeply satisfying
confrontation with Oskar's bullies, it is much more about the bonding
of two lonely 12 year olds. Speaking for myself, their experience
mirrors my own. It is too bad that I did not have a vampire on my
side back in the 1950s.
full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/magnolia-blossom/
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