A couple of films on this edition of capsule reviews are films that most likely won’t made an appearance in the local cinema here in Indonesia. One for being too foreign, and the other for being too provocative.

Let the Right One In (2008)
with Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

Unless you’ve never indulge yourself in a material world, chance are you’ll know anything you need to know about Vampires. They’re mysteriously charming, very polite in a way that they won’t enter your house unless invited, insusceptible to aging, and oh, their diet is usually consists of a healthy dose of haemogoblin.

“Let the Right One In” adheres to these myths at least to ones I’ve written above but, to call it a simply a Vampire flick is incorrect. Not wrong, just incorrect. The film was more about a coming-of-age story. A young boy, estranged at home and constantly bullied at school befriended his new neighbor, a seemingly innocent girl. Only, of course, the girl is happen to be a Vampire. These two found a common ground among their differences for they are both estranged.

My rating: *** / **** Great atmosphere and feels. Great make-up for the Vampire girl (Lina Leandersson). She looks terrifying at times, innocently cute at others. I particularly loved her mesmerizing eyes in the very end. It’s a quite violent (and satisfying) end too.

Choke (2008)
with Sam Rockwell, Brad William Henke, Kelly MacDonald

I’ve read the original book by Chuck Palahniuk and given the prominent sex-addict issues, during my read, I’d sometimes wondered about the title choice for the book. But I guess, it’s that queasy feeling deep down in your stomach when you read this book that made the title actually appropriate. The book came with the warning and it’s a very very though book to read. Either Mr.Palahniuk is a good writer or he is just plain sick.

The film is lighter than the book, that one was obvious. At least, watching the film doesn’t make you want to literally choke but still, such film won’t see the light of day in Indonesia. It is disturbing, cock-full of nudity, and the overall suggestion of Victor Mancini’s origin might be not acceptable to some. However, I was pleasantly surprised with its translation from pages to screens. It’s effective, funny (not laugh-out-loud funny, mind you, but bitter laugh), and for the most part the translation of Mr.Palahniuk’s voice (one that I could remembered from the book at least) is palpable. Even so, as with most book adaptation, everything in this film felt utterly incomplete. I won’t recommend this film unless you knew Chuck Palahniuk. You don’t know who Palahniuk is? Well, “Fight Club” is good place to start.

My rating: **1/2 / ****