WOMAN OF THE WEEK: Lina Leandersson

Normally, I give some catchy catch phrase about it being Hump-Day, but since our WotW is a bit on the younger side, I'm just going to say HELLO WEDNESDAY! Today's WotW is a girl I've been putting of putting up here for a while now. Now that "Twatlight" is in full swing for New mBOOn, I figured today would be as good as any to showcase my favorite Vampire character since Count Dracula. That's a pretty powerful statement, considering this vampire is a 13 year old Sweedish girl. I can't help it though, she combines being terrifying and being sweet perfectly (EAT THAT JOHNATHAN LIPNICKI). I'm talking about Lina Leandersson, who will forever be our Eli in Let the Right One In.

Lina is no stranger to DotW, as a month or so back, I posted why Eli was far surperior than that chump Edward Cullen. I had heard so much buzz about LTROI that I knew I had to get ahold of a copy of it. A friend of mine who I have dubbed the "Queen of Hard-To-Find Horror flicks" had somehow gotten a hold of a copy of LTROI with the English subtitles (before they mass released it and fucked it all up). I instantly fell in love. The storyline was unbelieveable, the casting was great, the script was phenomenal, and Lina Leandersson was mindblowing. Absolutely mindblowing.

There's something about her that just draws me to her. I can't quite put my finger on it. I will be honest that it is very difficult for me to describe how incredible she is, because she leaves me speechless. To start with, its such an understated performance. People often times don't realize how talented she is, because it's hard to realize that she is only 12 years old in this film. She accomplishes so much by doing very little. Just a glance here, a word there. We are taught in acting class that "less is more" and that you don't have to be William Shatner to get your point across. Lina is clearly ahead of her time. There's a wisdom beyond her years in those eyes, its like she really is an adult in a child's body. This is perfect you know, to play an ageless vampire.

She's also very talented at working off of other people. The relationships she has with other characters through the film are very distinct. Her body language even changes depending on who she's sharing the screen with. Her relationship with Oskar is by far the most stunning, but the relationship she has with her victims is something to be noted of. You can see in her eyes that her kills aren't because she's vicious, but because she has to live. However, when she is with Oskar, you can see her youth shine through. It's magic really.

My favorite scene and the scene that most people recognize, when she bleeds. This scene proves that she's got the acting chops of a grown actress. The scene where Oskar taunts her and she finally walks in his house uninvited, even though she knows she'll suffer for it, is absolutely breathtaking. Her face communicates so much in that moment, like she's willing to hurt herself because she loves him so much. It's beautiful and haunting. Two things that I haven't seen work together in a very long time.

She has so much left in her, I cannot wait to see what else she will bring to the screen. Thank-you Lina, you don't know it yet...but you're going to be a living legend, a walking *soon to be* classic character. You completely define what most girls dream of. To be a respected actress at such a young age. Thank you for your amazing performance. You are, phenomenal.