Let the Right One In

This lucid indie gem from Sweden, adapted for the screen by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his novel and directed with imagination and restraint by Tomas Alfredson, releases the vampire movie from overwrought conventions, offering instead a coolly balanced examination of alienation and love. The movie follows the burgeoning relationship between Oskar (Kare Hedebrant), a pale 12-year-old tormented by bullies and ignored by adults, and his new neighbor, Eli (Lina Leandersson), who is “more or less” 12 years old and, though less pale, a vampire. Each offers what the other lacks — Oskar gets strength to face down the bullies, while she gains acceptance, love and maybe a new blood supplier. Set in a wintry Stockholm suburb, the film is lit like a Renaissance painting, and the audacious sound design and wise performances from Hedebrant and, especially, Leandersson infuse the film with low-key naturalism. Right One restores poetic cohesiveness and the power of myth to the archetype of the immortal.