Boston Globe review: In a chilling ‘Let the Right One In,’ there will be blood
Boston Globe review: In a chilling ‘Let the Right One In,’ there will be blood
This review of BU’s Let the Right One In was first published in The Boston Globe on November 1, 2022. By Terry Byrne | Photos courtesy of Nile Scott Studios
Excerpt
Atmosphere is everything in the dreamy/nightmarish world of “Let the Right One In.”
This young-love-meets-vampire-story treads an uneasy line between rescue and revulsion, but director Christopher V. Edwards choreographs this production with such fluid, cinematic movement that we fall under its romantic spell even when we know it won’t end well.
Mishka Yarovoy, who was stunning in SpeakEasy’s “The Inheritance” last spring, plays Oskar, an isolated middle-schooler who is ruthlessly bullied by Johnny (Francis Otis) and Micke (Jojo). Yarovoy gives Oskar some adorable idiosyncrasies, including the sounds he makes as the rocks he uses as toys “explode” when they land, and the almost musical squeaking he can produce with his sneakers. He also makes us feel Oskar’s discomfort in his body, as he awkwardly flinches or withdraws into himself, even when curled up on the couch with his mom or when talking to the school’s sympathetic gym teacher (Dennis Trainor Jr.). But Oskar has no one to turn to, since his mother drinks too much and his father is only occasionally interested in playing checkers with him.
Oskar finds refuge at a playground, where he meets his new neighbor, Eli (Leah Hohauser). Although she smells like “an infected Band-aid” and goes barefoot and coatless despite the cold, he is grateful for a much-needed friend, and she recognizes his outsider status. This meet-cute moment is complicated by the fact that Eli is a vampire, a fact the audience knows since we’ve already seen Hakan, Eli’s assistant (the always compelling Richard Snee), gassing and slitting victims’ throats to feed her. But Oskar is simply astonished that she doesn’t eat sweets, and it takes some time before he accepts what’s right in front of him.
Hohauser is outstanding as the 200-year-old trapped in a 12-year-old girl’s body, combining impressive athleticism with a child-like wonder, giving this bloodthirsty killer a sympathetic edge. She worries about Oskar’s bruises from bullying and tries to encourage him to fight back. For her part, she leaps viciously on her victims, and later, gently snuggles up to her new “boyfriend” with an innocence that is shockingly at odds with what we know she is capable of.