The Simple-Minded Murderer

controlled by this man. For a while he has been friends with the wheelchair-bound "Anna" (Maria Johansson) and it is her father (Per Myrberg) who offers the young man an opportunity to quit his dung-scented squalor and come and live with them. He's delighted but "Höglund" much less so, and against a battle of attrition between them the remainder of this drama quite tightly plays out as "Sven" tries to assert his own independence. Skarsgård brings a convincingly naive vulnerability and decency to his characterisation here and the rustic surroundings and a gentle amount of light-heartedness work well too as we observe just how effective a little touch of kindnes can be in the face of oppression. It's a love story, to an extent: of people, of freedom, of a red motor bike - and he presents someone here who's likeable without inducing undue pity. Auteur Alfredson is also on good form depicting a man whom he hopefully didn't base on himself. "Höglund" is one of those outwardly avuncular figures to the pillars of his town, but in private is a bit of a brute, a bully, and he certainly treats women as commodities rather than people. The production design delivers something of the truly basic existence of some of the citizenry; it's farmyard settings also allow for a little humour to creep in and there is something of the changing eras to the thrust of the screenplay, too.