tagged w/ let the right one in
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Is the original just as good as the remake? Brett and Ellen review Matt Reeves' new, American version of the Swedish vampire novel and film, "Let The Right One In."
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Let Me In
Directed by Matt Reeves
vs.
Let The Right One In
Directed by Tomas Alfredson
Even in a pop culture landscape littered with the bloodthirsty undead, Let The Right One In stood out as a poignant coming of age story as well as a bone-chilling horror film. The haunting mediation on the difficult and often painful transition into adolescence garnered much praise on the festival circuit in 2008. The film earned a loyal cult following through word of mouth and when Matt Reeves announced his American remake, those very same cinephiles lashed out in anger. The general consensus was, “why fix something that isn’t broken?”
Sadly, mainstream audiences seem to have a problem with subtitles, so it was inevitable that the film would be remade. That said, fans of the original should be grateful that Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), alongside legendary British horror brand Hammer Films (a studio that set a new tone for the vampire lore) got the job done, because Let Me In is an almost flawless film.
Based on the best-selling Swedish novel “Let The Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist, and the highly-acclaimed film of the same name, Let Me In is a haunting, provocative thriller and in many ways is better than the original.
While originally pegged as their own vision of the novella, it’s clear that director Matt Reeves has mimicked Alfredson’s distinctive sense of style and looked to his adaptation for visual inspiration. Reeves takes a bold and critical step in shooting an almost shot-for-shot remake of the Swedish vampire flick. But by injecting his own craft, he finds a way to harden it with a little more emotion and flavor.
It’s clear from the start that another way Reeves differentiates his adaptation from the Swedish one is that Let Me In is actually frightening. Reeves opens midway through the story, quickly establishing the uneasy, foreboding tone as an ambulance transporting a victim of a brutal car accident wends its way through the dark, stormy and winter terrain. It’s a gripping, unsettling and truly horrific opening in which Reeves demonstrates an adept sense of how to generate dread and suspense through clever camera work, brisk framing and suggestion. While many of the memorable set pieces from Alfredson’s film are recreated with precision (discovering the body under ice, gutting a victim in the woods, and the unforgettable pool scene), Reeves tweaks a few scenes by adding a bit more blood loss and superb prosthetics. In addition, he stages an entirely new, bravura car crash sequence and some unique p.o.v. shots that showcase better camera work than that of the original. Reeves also makes a conscious decision to strip away any glimpses of Owen’s mom and dad, reducing his parents to out of focus background figures or distant voices.
Let me In transports the snowbound 1990′s Swedish setting of the original to a small town in 1980′s Los Alamos, New Mexico. We’re in a bleak American landscape when the Cold War was still at its height and Ronald Reagan is seen on a television set giving his “Evil Empire” speech. Later on, after watching Abby attack a woman, Oscar makes a phone call to his absentee father, asking his dad, “Do you think there’s such thing as evil?” It’s an interesting tie-in, showing how it would be like for a 12 year old boy harboring dark feelings deep inside to grow up in that context.
Grieg Fraser’s (Bright Star) cinematography is breathtaking, turning Los Alamos, New Mexico into a ghost town, a place cut off by a perpetual chill, and he sets Owen adrift in it. Tonally, the Swedish and American versions are the same especially when sculpting light and shadow, only Fraser at times opts for a brighter warmer colour palette when the two young leads are left alone. Blue becomes orange, and the winter cool feels early autumn. The contrast carefully compliements their relationship both with each other and the outside world without ever overpowering the story.
With the emotional resonances of the film resting on the narrow shoulders of its preteen protagonists, the filmmakers knew the chemistry between Abby and Owen was crucial. Credit to Avy Kaufman, the film’s casting director, who’s known for discovering a number of extraordinary child actors including Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, Max Pomeranc in Searching For Bobby Fischer and Adam Hahn-Bird in Little Man Tate. Chloe Moretz delivers a breakthrough performance; to the naked eye Abby appears to be caring and loving of Owen, but under further investigating she’s actually quite sinister and devious. Moretz is a remarkable, intuitive actress who is able to project a presence far beyond her years. Her consistently enthralling turn as Abby undoubtedly matches (maybe exceeds) Lina Leandersson’s stellar performance in Alfredson’s 2008 original, while her more sympathetic presence makes this a more emotionally satisfying film to a certain extent. While there isn’t a lot of dialogue, Reeves finds clever ways to drive the innate soulless of his characters with skillful direction particularly in Kodi-McPhee’s stellar performance as Owen. A prime example of how Reeves dabbles in Owen’s breaking psyche is in a scene in which Owen, wearing a disfigured mask repeatedly stabs a mirror screaming. These small but important changes showcase Owen’s anger, fear, loneliness, frustration and dark side. While Kåre Hedebrant (Owen’s equivalent in the original) has a slight edge in performance, Kodi’s unique goth look – jet black hair, long eyelashes, Morrisey like haircut, dressed in Khakis and Izod sweaters looks more the outsider.
Richard Jenkins, whose melancholic demeanor is put to good use as Moretz’s doomed caretaker equals that of Swedish actor (Per Ragnar playing the same part) but it’s Elias Koteas, in the added role of a police officer, that makes the biggest difference. Koteas, a seasoned character actor with an enviable resume both in film and TV, plays the nameless detective, trying to piece together the mysterious murders taking place in the small town. Koteas is another one of those guys who just plain does great work consistently, and here he makes for a credible moral compass while attempting to uncover the truth.
Finally echoing the prevailing, mournful tone is Michael Giacchino’s exquisite score, which is achingly poignant and far superior to that of the original Swedish film. Giacchino (who also contributed a piece of music to Cloverfield) sets the tenuous emotional tone of the film using a bell-like keyboard instrument called a celese as well as bass drum and a boy’s choir. His score is spare, haunting, rough at times and reminiscent of some of Jerry Goldsmith’s best work.
The pressure in adapting a story or remaking a film is that the filmmakers already have an archetype to which everyone will compare their work to. Some people will be unwilling to invite this film in, but those who do, will be rewarded. Let Me In is a film that achieves the rare feat of remaining faithful to its source material while emerging as a highly accomplished work in its own right.
Despite my statements above, it’s hard to argue Let Me In is a better film when considering Reeves was evidently influenced by Alfredson’s version. That said, Let Me In is every bit as valid a take on Lindqvist’s novel as the film by Tomas Alfredson was. Purists may be outraged by these statements, but Matt Reeves approached this material with a keen eye and a sharp wit. Unlike every other remake, Reeves clearly isn’t a director for hire. This isn’t a project started to make a buck. Reeves’s passion and love for both filmmaking and the original source material comes through in every frame. Let Me In is a spectacularly moving and elegant movie, and to dismiss it as just a remake, is to overlook a remarkable film (even if it is missing the famous scene involving the cat).
Ricky D
www.soundonsight.orgLet Me In
Directed by Matt Reeves
vs.
Let The Right One In
Directed by Tomas... more
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A review for the horror film Let Me In, which is a remake of the 2008 film Let the Right One In and is directed by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves.A review for the horror film Let Me In, which is a remake of the 2008 film Let the... more
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A recap of my trip to the AMC Studio 30 this past Tuesday, September 28th for a screening of the horror film Let Me In.A recap of my trip to the AMC Studio 30 this past Tuesday, September 28th for a... more
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Fans of the revered 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In were not universally enthused about last year’s announcement that an American remake was in the works. Nor were they reassured to learn that Matt Reeves – the Cloverfield guy! – had been chosen to direct it.
So it’s a relief to find that Reeves has done a smart and respectful adaptation of the earlier movie, carefully replicating its formal restraint and its chilly, muted tone. There’s a new character or two, and some unobjectionable new narrative touches; and there’s also a bit more blood, and quite a bit more action – which, as it turns out, is entirely fine.
So here we are once again – not in the snowy suburbs of Stockholm this time, but in a snowy suburb of Los Alamos, New Mexico. And once again we find a lonely 12-year-old boy, here called Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee, of The Road), peering out the window of his mother’s apartment one chilly night when a barefoot girl arrives outside, accompanied by much baggage and a bedraggled man, presumably her father. These are Owen’s new next-door neighbors…maybe he and the girl can be friends (she later turns out to be 12, too). Owen could use a friend. His parents are divorcing, his mom’s a drinker, and at school a hulking bully named Kenny (Dylan Minnette) makes his life an every-damn-day Hell.
Of course the girl, Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz), isn’t at all what Owen might imagine. As we see, in a succession of scenes taken directly from the original movie, she’s just as lonely as Owen, but a lot stranger. “Just so you know,” she says, when they first meet in a snowy courtyard, “I can’t be your friend. That’s just the way it is.” We soon understand why.
Abby is an ancient vampire, condemned to be 12 years old and friendless herself forever. The unnamed man with whom she lives (played by the invaluable Richard Jenkins) isn’t her father, he’s her slave, dispatched on nightly rounds to create fresh corpses and return home with their blood in a jug for Abby to drink. When he fails in one of these missions, Abby is forced to leave their apartment, with its blocked-out windows, and forage for herself. Thanks to the movie’s muted tone, and its minimalist score of discreet, sighing strings, the scene in which Abby waylays an unsuspecting passerby in a dark tunnel is just as much of a shock here as it was in the Swedish film. As is the famous sequence from the original movie, set in a school swimming pool, in which Kenny and his fellow bullies finally get theirs, in a spectacular way.
Reeves injects some fresh tension into the story by way of a new character – a suspicious cop played by Elias Koteas – and a nailbiting new sequence in which an attempted carjacking of an intended victim goes terribly wrong. Like Tomas Alfredson, the first film’s director, he doesn’t venture all the way into the black depths of the 2004 Swedish novel on which both movies are based – the book’s elements of pedophilia and child mutilation would never play on film. Fortunately, the story offers much more to work with, and Reeves, like Alfredson before him, makes the most of it.
The director has also been fortunate in his choice of leads. Moretz doesn’t have the dark eeriness of Lina Leandersson, who played the girl in Let the Right One In, but she’s a precociously skilful actress and she brings a more relatable substance to the role. Similarly, Smit-McPhee, with his watchful eyes and wounded demeanor, adds more emotional layers to the boy than Kåre Hedebrant was able to do in the original.
The story, of course -- an intimate examination of young love and loneliness, and of a deep yearning that can never be quenched (or so it seems) -- retains its hypnotic appeal. Anyone unfamiliar with the Swedish movie should find this one to be among the year’s better pictures – certainly leagues ahead of anything to be found so far in the Twilight franchise. Those who have seen the earlier film, however, will realize that the unexpected discovery of its dark charm is a pleasure that’s unrepeatable. At the end of this high-quality remake, so faithful in mood and structure to the original, and so sleekly crafted, they may be left wondering: What was the point?
Fans of the revered 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In were not... more
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Check the first clip from Matt Reeves terrifying remake after the jump.
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Best horror movies ever must have seen Let The Right One In on the wrong day or something. It was fine but I think with all the critics raving on about it, we were expecting so much more. Like Catfish, it can be better to know less about a film going in to enjoy it more. Hopefully Let Me In will prove all its many detractors wrong and we can enjoy this one.Best horror movies ever must have seen Let The Right One In on the wrong day or... more
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Tilda Swinton shares her current Five Favorite Films with The Rotten Tomatoes Show. From classic black and white romance stories like "I Know Where I'm Going!" to more recent adventures in homoeroticism and satire seen in Sacha Baron Cohen's "Brüno," she loves a little of everything.
The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30 e/p on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema.
For more from the Rotten Tomatoes Show: http://rottentomatoesshow.comTilda Swinton shares her current Five Favorite Films with The Rotten Tomatoes Show.... more
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Hollywood decided to remake not only the best horror films it could find in the east but also its own classics. Added gore, 3D, silly titles, worthless sequels, and vacuous characters were the order of the day. So, to discover the best in horror cinema during the 2000s, audiences had to look elsewhere – to Europe, South America, and Australia. There were some gems to be found in the States, but many of the most unique and frightening horror experiences were to be found elsewhere.
Top10Films presents the Top 10 Horror Films of the 2000s. What do you think? What was your favourite horror film of the decade? Has the horror genre progressed or gone backward during the decade? What was your most memorable moment?Hollywood decided to remake not only the best horror films it could find in the east... more
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