It’s looking like 2008 will be remembered as the year of the youth vampire romance movie, due to the soaring popularity of Twilight and its mortal-immortal dream couple, Bella and Edward — they of the eye-locked gazes that practically burn holes in the screen. So it’s somewhat serendipitous to have another youth vampire romance showing in town, albeit one with considerably more bite. Swedish film Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) is back after a brief but memorable appearance at this year’s Calgary International Film Festival, where it took the Best International Feature prize. Consider it the barbed wire yang to Twilight’s gossamer yin, though the gazes between its stars are no less compelling for it.
    The mortal in this tale is Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a pale, gangly 12-year-old who lives with his single mother in a low-rent apartment block. The favourite target of merciless school bullies, he wiles away evenings concocting revenge scenarios and cutting out crime articles from the newspaper. This is a sad, lonely little boy, weighed down by the kind of melancholy only Scandinavian films set in the dead of winter can portray. Staring out the window one night, he can’t help but notice his new neighbours — a stone-faced, middle-aged man and a dark-haired girl about his own age, who cover their apartment window with a thick sheet of cardboard. The peculiarities only grow from there. Eli (Lina Leandersson) doesn’t celebrate her birthday. She smells funny. Her fingernails are ragged and crusty, and she walks around in the winter without shoes or a coat. Though she insists up front they can’t be friends, they soon are, even as Oskar puts the pieces together.
    The elegant, familial vampires of Twilight are nowhere to be seen here. Eli is a working-class sucker, barely scraping out an unglamorous existence in the grey cement neighbourhood. Nevertheless, amidst the blood and ice blooms a romance as awkward and sweet as what you’d expect from two 12-year-olds. Their connection warms this cold, cold film (director Tomas Alfredson’s winterscape is almost too effective — don’t bother taking off your coat in the theatre). Deep in the gloom beats the heart of the Wonder Years. Osker goes out on a limb and asks Eli to go steady, even though she has the power to destroy him, and feels the thrill of strength in her presence. It’s completely disarming in its own bloody, gritty way, and when it’s over, instead of lusting for more, you’ll want to let this one digest for awhile. Especially if you’re walking home on a cold winter night.