Let that other vampire movie in

I was just recently wondering how Twilight would go if Bella and Edward switched places--that is, if Bella were the vampire and Edward the mortal lover. Would she be as protective of him? Would he not mind being the weak and vulnerable one?

In Pinoy stories, it's not unusual to have the suffering supernatural character a hot-looking female, as in the case of the aswang (well, I have Alma Moreno in mind), the diwata, the white lady or the restless ghost. When it is male, it's usually malevolent and unattractive--think kapre, tikbalang or maligno. Love stories between a mythical female character and a human male usually end with her giving up immortality to join her mortal lover, or to save his life. But in Western movies, we often have supernatural characters or even superheroes male and strong, and their love interests frail human girls. Think Spider Man and Mary Jane, Superman and Lois.

But just before New Year's, we watched Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In), an interesting Swedish movie where the vampire was not only female, but also a child. She kind of reminded me of Claudia, Kirsten Dunst's character in Interview With The Vampire. Both were trapped in a child's body for eternity. Eli, the girl vamp's name, had been 12 for 200 years, which made her technically older than Edward. But unlike the Cullens, she wasn't sparkly or dazzling, but was sickly and funny-smelling when thirsty, and she had dirt under her fingernails that looked like dried blood.

In short, she was plain scary--not the type of predator that could draw you in with your senses--which wasn't really necessary because she hunted by pouncing on her victims from a tree, or crying out for help in a dark corner then biting her would-be rescuer. She comes out only at night and sleeps in a tub during the day, and would catch fire when exposed to sunlight. Her eyes shed bloody tears when she tried going inside someone's home uninvited. The title actually alludes to the traditional belief that vampires could not enter anyone's home unless invited in.

The story revolves around a boy named Oskar who befriended her. Constantly bullied in school, Oskar found an ally in Eli, who eventually became his girlfriend. Their friendship was sort of innocent, at the same time disturbing. There was a tender kissing scene, but not the kind that made your heart flutter; rather it made your heart ache. The dialogue was relatively sparse, at least that's how it seemed because I was only reading the subtitles.

On the whole, I found the story well crafted, and the film exquisitely executed. I would highly recommend it if you wanted some salt and less sugar in your regular vampire love story.