Not to be confused with the 1961 thriller based on Henry James\u2019s The Turning of the Screw<\/em>, the 2016 historical French drama, or the Netflix show about a teenage girl with \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 superpowers, this Innocents<\/em> comes to us from Norway. Eskil Vogt, who has co-written all of writer-director Joachim Trier\u2019s films (including Trier\u2019s recent, Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World<\/a><\/em>), goes the lone writer-director route on Innocents<\/em>. (He previously directed the drama Blind<\/em> in 2014.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vogt presents a modern-day fable where kids are secretly superhuman. Nine-year-old Ida (Rakel Lenora Fl\u00f8ttum) and her autistic older sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad) find this out when their family moves into an Oslo apartment complex. Ida begins hanging out with Ben (Sam Ashraf), a tormented boy who can move things with his mind \u2014 including people \u2014 while Anna forms a bond with Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim), a telepathic girl with vitiligo who gets Anna to overcome her dysphasia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the parents too wrapped up in adult stuff to take notice, these youngsters form a fantastic four, working their psychic skills out in the woods. But while the girls are just goofing off, Ben \u2014 chip fully planted on his shoulder \u2014 starts to become a menace, using his talents to retaliate on those who dare cross him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven\u2019t guessed by now, Innocents<\/em> is a children\u2019s story that may not be appropriate for young ones. There\u2019s also a possibility this might turn off parents who find the thought of mind-controlling bad seeds to be frightening as hell. (Kids are already manipulative little bastards as it is.) In his own moody, metaphorical way, Vogt has crafted a tale of children figuring out right and wrong by basically making his own version of a superhero origin story. (I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if this is just Vogt simply auditioning to helm the next MCU blockbuster.) The young actors are persistent in their precociousness, playing supernatural scamps who try to hold on to their childhood even when they are forced to make mature decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I keep seeing the word \u201ccreepy\u201d used to describe what goes down in Innocents<\/em>. Yes, it\u2019s suspenseful and even unsettling in a couple scenes, but it\u2019s far from creepy. If anything, it\u2019s yet another engaging foreign film where wise-beyond-their-years children go through an unbelievable journey that they\u2019ll hopefully come out of as better people. (The more I think of it, Innocents<\/em> would work great as a double feature with Petite Maman<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Celine Sciamma\u2019s wondrous latest.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless Firestarter<\/em> 2.0<\/em> churns out something better, The Innocents<\/em> is the telekinetic-tyke movie to see this week. “The Innocents” is in theaters and on demand Friday. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/innocents2-1024x577.jpg\")
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