Tomas Alfredson

A director who started in comedy and then began to mix a darker style of humor with degrees of drama to great success, Tomas Alfredson would ultimately become known to international audiences for his later, more sombre work. After establishing himself in comedy, Alfredson gradually changed course via his association with Sweden's legendary, risk-taking comic group Killinggänget, which specialized in surreal and ironic humor. Dramatic content gradually came more to the forefront in Alfredson's projects and he became known to audiences outside Sweden for his distinctive and disturbing horror thriller, "Let the Right One In" (2008). Boasting a spare but mesmerizing visual design and atmosphere, and a central relationship that was both touching and disturbingly sinister in its implications, the film was unlike most vampire movies then to date and Alfredson was hailed for his approach to the material. With "Let the Right One In" and his equally lauded adaptation of John le Carré's Cold War espionage novel "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011), Alfredson demonstrated the power that can result from a quiet, subtle take on familiar subjects like vampires or spies, rarely approached in a way that evokes a palpable degree of melancholia and apprehension in the viewer.