Let the Right One In

I frequently simulate the moviegoing experience on dvd, by watching previews before the film itself, and I must say the trailers on this disk -- all horror gorefests -- rather put me off the main attraction, to which I was lured by its high ranking (#14) on the IndieWire critics poll for 2008. By the end I was glad to have seen it, despite all the blood, but I’m pretty sure I won’t even look at the forthcoming American remake (and watched this in Swedish with subtitles rather than dubbed in English, which I suspect would have been intolerable). I am neither devotee nor dismisser of vampire films, but this one wasn’t prettified, and was firmly rooted in its Swedish suburban setting. As with Pan’s Labyrinth, I bought into the violence of fantasy for the insight offered into the secret longings of children. The 12-year-olds who play the pale bullied boy and the dark not-a-girl who moves in next door are extremely magnetic and convincingly naturalistic. Tomas Alfredson’s direction is observant and frequently beautiful, with enough wrenching shocks, as well as humor and pathos, to keep one from asking any of the questions that would make the story fall apart. We willingly enter the world of what-if, and care about what happens there, while registering social and psychological realities. (2008, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-82.)