The Innocents

The lonely, uncanny and sometimes unthinkingly violent world of childhood is explored with chilling candor and exceptional skill in this chilling Nordic supernatural thriller from the cowriter of "The Worst Person in the World." Set during the summer at an apartment complex surrounded by an ominous, fairy-tale-like forest, the film follows the sinister, increasingly alarming interactions of a group of prepubescent children: Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum), feeling ignored next to her autistic older sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad); the bullied Ben (Sam Ashraf); and the angelic Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim), who appears to communicate telepathically—and feel through—the nonverbal Anna. With unforgettable, dark images and fleet visual storytelling, Vogt’s film pushes the “evil children” subgenre into more philosophical territory, creating a morally askew universe controlled by a child’s primitive understanding of the world.