Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)

This is a movie about 12 year olds, but it's definitely for adults. Oskar (played by Kare Hedebrant) is a puny 12 year old boy who's being bullied by another boy named Conny, who has a posse with him. Oskar fantasizes about stabbing Conny and making him squeal. Like a pig.

It's all a fantasy, though, as Oskar knows all too well.

But then a man and girl move into the apartment next door. Things get weird. The girl, it seems, is a vampire, and people in Oskar's home town turn up dead in strange places. The girl, Eli (played by Lina Leandersson), appears to be 12, too, but she doesn't go to school, and Oskar sees her only when he's out playing at night. They become acquaintances, then friends in spite of Eli's reluctance. She encourages him to fight back against Conny and his stooges, and one day Oskar does.

The thrust of the film is not about Oskar's bullies but about his relationship with Eli. Oskar is only 12, and he has no clue. He asks her to go steady, but he admits that doesn't really change anything between them - it's just what older kids do. In the depths of the movie, what is really going on is a relationship that is doomed to failure. We've all seen them; some have been through them. Oskar is a normal 12 year old doofus, and Eli has been 12 for hundreds of years, and she kills people so she can live. It's "Lost in Translation" with a wicked twist.

The director captured the awkwardness and lack of self-consciousness of kids at that age well, and the actors playing the teachers have the worn look of people used to dealing with kids whose minds wander at the drop of a hat. The atmosphere is that of a small town where people know each other and mostly care. Everyone is trusted until the murders start. Oskar's parents are separated, and Oskar's torn between them and hungry for his father's love and attention. It's very well done.

His infatuation with Eli develops normally, as she's the only one who pays attention to him. Leandersson was well-cast; she's odd-looking and unkempt in the film. Eli has her own worn look, but it's not from dealing with kids. We get a look at how bad it is being a vampire; it's worse than those other horror movies make it out to be. The man she lives with is her lackey, and he tires of his life before the movie ends. For some reason Eli chooses not to use Oskar as her food, and they become friends although she's told him they can't be friends. I'm sure she's been through that before.

Now there are twists and turns that I'm not going to reveal, but we have a movie about kids on the cusp of growing up, not a vampire horror movie. It's a fascinating movie about the relationship between two kids, but we adults can see a world unknown to little Oskar. Directed by Tomas Alfredson.

(Regarding the title, legend has it a vampire can't enter your home without an invitation. So you must sure when you invite people to your home that you let the right ones in.)