Vacation movie viewing

[kenjari]

Tonight Other Kenjari and I finally got around to watching that movie about a shy, introverted adolescent who develops a close romantic relationship with a new-to-town vampire. Yup, we watched Let the Right One In. It's a recent Swedish film and it's very good, although quite unlike American teenage vampire movies (or TV shows, for that matter). The main character is Oskar, a shy, intelligent, often bullied middle school student. He meets and forms a relationship with Eli, who has moved into the neighboring apartment with her "father". Oskar eventually figures things out and finds himself drawn into Eli's life (or unlife, as it were). It's very quiet and spare, and curiously un-romanticized. There's none of the kind of action or horror you'd expect to find in a vampire film, and no eroticism either. It's subtle, sometimes sweet, sometimes creepy, dark, and beautiful.
We also went out to the Coolidge Corner Theater this weekend to see the new Studio Ghibli movie Ponyo. It's as good as you'd expect - very cute, with beautiful visuals and an environmental theme. The animation is gorgeous, and includes the use of a couple of distinct styles, which is something I hadn't seen before in a Ghibli film. The narrative is on the simple side, but this movie is aimed at a younger audience than the last few - it's more on a Totoro level.

Comments

[cricket-pg.livejournal.com]

Is it bloody? Matt put it on the Netflix queue, and I'm trying to decide whether I can watch it with him.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

There are a few intensely bloody moments, but the gore level is much, much lower than what you'd get in a Hollywood vampire/horror film. The bloodyness is concentrated, but mostly brief and infrequent. And with two small exceptions, we really are talking about blood as opposed to gore (that sometimes makes a difference for me). If you were to simply close your eyes for the bloody parts, you would still be able to enjoy the film.