Let Me In

[polkablues]

Quick first impressions: they fixed everything that I didn't like about the original, then went and screwed up some things on their own. 

Grade = "B"asically the same as the original.

[modage]

from my blog:


Anyone who was as big a fan of Let The Right One In as I was, couldn't have been excited when it was announced there would be an American remake.  There are exceptions of course, but this was a completely original, nearly perfect film and I don't think anybody believed that there was a way to keep those elements in tact when adapting the story for an American audience.  It turns out there was a way: Matt Reeves.  The director of Cloverfield has succeeded in the near-impossible, making Let Me In feel as personal and thoughtful as the original.

After the trailer I had expected an almost scene-for-scene remake so was surprised to see both how different the film was.  I found that it worked best when it was doing something new: the Rear Window style apartment complex that gave the neighbors roles instead of random townspeople, an expanded role for the police, the un-chronological opening, etc.  It was the scenes that closely followed the original that I couldn't help but compare.  I knew every beat so well that something just felt off.

While the original is still my favorite, there are a lot of things this film does right.  The casting is great, cinematography is beautiful, Los Alamos New Mexico is a good substitute for Sweden's snowy isolation, and none of the story's strangeness or violence has been toned down.  If I have a few nitpicks, it's that there is some CGI I could have done without (though the original is guilty of that as well), I didn't care for the look of the actual vampire and by making Owen more thoughtful (and less of a sociopath) it leads you to question his choices more.  But I envy those who haven't seen the original because this is a completely worthy version of a great story and I wish I could have seen it without having to compare.

[Stefen]

Everyone needs to see this before it's out of theaters.

[Ghostboy]

Everyone needs to see this before it's out of theaters.

I was going to see it tonight - but it's too late. Guess I'll wait for the dollar theater.

[picolas]

i really wanted to let this be its own thing and not compare it the whole time but i know the original too well and this wasn't different enough not to do that, so i ended up watching them side-by-side in my head and looking at the choices made throughout, which lead me to the conclusion i will put at the bottom.
*mmmm... spoils for both i guess.*

things that were cool and maybe even better than let the right one in:
- a lot of neat visual ideas and textures. the overall grimy, grainy look works well. some shots were better than the ones they referenced. eg. climbing up the hospital walls.
- lacke's new methods of killing people that are so much riskier/scary to watch. it's borderline unbelievable that he'd take such big risks, but i buy it more because it's america and maybe there are fewer people hiking alone in the woods. that freaking car crash. finally the deleted footage from punch-drunk love finds a home.
- the lacke/eli ('abby') relationship felt more fleshed out for some reason. the hand on cheek scene was really great. maybe it's just jenkins, but i saw the sad, complicated love more. i'm on the fence about the old photobooth photos of them as kids, but i thought they were right for this version, which is less ambiguous about everything.
- the budget to make certain effects better, like skin burning, corpses etc.
- elias koteas

things that were not good, in some cases downright bad, and make this film obviously not on the same plane as let the right one in:
- all of the superhuman things abby does including attacking people are done using this kind of cg that i'm seeing more and more that is not physically believable (like in black swan.. i think it has to do with 'seamlessly' morphing between real footage). i can't believe a little girl is moving that way, and she doesn't really have to move that way, as the original will show you. it's another classic case of less cg being a thousand times more effective.
- there are lots of moments that went from ambiguous to not. for example the scene where eli tells oskar he must strike back at the bullies. in the original this is treated like 'is this a good thing? yes and no..' and oskar has conflicting feelings about whether he should actually be hitting people, but here the score is telling you 'right on!! hitting the bullies back! hooray!'
- every fucking relationship in the movie is two characters speaking monotonously to each other 80% of the time. the way owen/abby behave towards each other is faaaar more awkward. and that's not unrealistic, but it's nowhere near as interesting as let the right one in, where they're really in love. it IS unrealistic just how monotonous they are, though. every line is spoken in a low whisper, as though it's only half-meant. there is very little range in anyone's voice. at first you think it's okay because these are disturbed people, but after a while it's just lazy directing. let the right one in allows the characters to play with each other and get annoyed with each other ('why do i have to invite you in?? 'tever! walk in! now!').. yknow. be human. these characters are relatively lifeless. owen's mom/dad are just thrown to the side. they become simple jerks. straight up. they have no idea what's going on nor do they care. now you could argue that about the original too, but there it's more of a stylistic choice. it's not so effing blatant that no one gives a shit.
- a specific choice that showed me matt reeves didn't get a lot of things about the original: when owen tells abby his age in specific days, he isn't being sarcastic. he's saying it like he matter-of-factly knows his exact age. REALLY, MATT REEVES??? no. he's supposed to say that as a counter to eli being unspecific about HER age. he's making a joke. you turned it into something awkward that didn't really make sense.
- i was very disturbed by the moment near the end where owen runs to his locker to get out his knife and then decides not to use it. why have that moment? what does that moment mean? why didn't owen at least TRY to stab that guy?? that would have been a great moment! and it would have made the bullies even angrier! and they could have easily grabbed the knife as he attempted to stab them. he didn't need to succeed necessarily. especially considering he's already hit them once, why does owen revert back to his early stage of being afraid to hit/hurt people?
then the bullies drag him to the pool and give him the impossible challenge of holding his breath for three minutes and he doesn't get a second to respond. he's the VICTIM and they are FULLY in control. in the original, oskar knows he's fucked, but he doesn't struggle. he swims up to the guy's outstretched hand and basically accepts death, because he's THAT STRONG. so why the FOCK do those two moments HAPPEN IN THE REMAKE??? the simple answer is that owen hasn't changed. he's still afraid to fight/hurt people.
and that runs counter to the entire POINT of Let the Right One In. because at its core that film is a metaphor for the transformative power of love, in all its glory AND ugliness. by the end of the movie you're not sure which way is up because YES oskar has become empowered and he has a purpose and he doesn't feel bad about himself anymore and he cares about things BUT he's also basically a psychopath who will likely cling to eli until she's given all the love she can and he dies old and confused. in the remake, all that's happening is a guy getting a girl. good for him, but has that shifted his very being? nope. so why am i even watching this? it's so.. slight. dude just feels bad and meets someone nice and they decide to be bf/gf.
this movie reaffirmed my deep love for the original because it showed me just how amazing that relationship is, and how impossible it is to create that kind of thing, especially using kid actors. i'm really surprised by the good reviews from people who know the original, because beyond style and some of the adult character's performances, there is NO comparison. this is a far less interesting, less complicated version of something that is profoundly beautiful and complicated. it's a pretty good sketch of the mona lisa.

[modage]

By accident I saw this a 2nd time last night.  I still liked a lot of it, though it is IMPOSSIBLE not to compare them.  A few more thoughts...

Re: Picolas: I thought Owen DID try to stab them when he got to his knife, but there were too many of them and they basically overtook him right away.

I really do not care for the vampire makeup at all.  The CG attacks and the makeup take me out of the movie.  Though the original has the cats, so maybe it's a draw.

I don't care for the way the neighbor vampire goes up in flames.  The camera lingers too long on her before she ignites.  The angle isn't as interesting as the one in the original at the end of the room.

I think the pool scene is the biggest fumble in the film.  The original is a CLASSIC scene just perfectly done beat for beat.  This one is all wrong, using multiple angles, Owen coming out of the pool too early, the lights going off first, it all just feels wrong.  

Another thing I thought about this time was by showing the picture of Abby and her caretaker to Owen early in the film the audience and Owen both become aware of his choice to move forward from that point on.  So at the end of the film he's basically completely aware of the situation he's putting himself in.  In the original the ending is TRAGIC because the audience realizes in the last scene that Oskar is on his way to being the next caretaker but he may not even realize it yet.  

I had forgotten the original had no police in it and it's that random townsperson who ends up in Abbys apartment.  Making Elias Koteas a prescence from the beginning of the film IS a good improvement.  Also bringing everything close to Owen instead of cutting away to those random townspeople.  

All the scenes with Richard Jenkins are great, the stuff in the car better/on par with scenes in the original.

As much as I hate to say it, the score is intrusive at times.

I have never seen a movie where more is out of focus than in this one.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying I notice it big time.  Every shot.  Most out of focus.  (I get why they did it.)

[picolas]

Re: Picolas: I thought Owen DID try to stab them when he got to his knife, but there were too many of them and they basically overtook him right away.

no way. he just stands there. he pretends he might stab them, they call his bluff ('what are you going to do with that?'), and he very deliberately tries to run away. he was never going to stab anyone. and my point still stands that he never accepts their challenge, which is a HUGE distinction whether reeves is aware of it or not, so he's still basically the same kid from the beginning of the film.

I don't care for the way the neighbor vampire goes up in flames.  The camera lingers too long on her before she ignites.  The angle isn't as interesting as the one in the original at the end of the room.

i thought this movie missed out on that subplot big time, and i was questioning the vampire validity of her chewing on her own flesh to the near-fatal degree that she was. i love the moment in the original where she gets a little sniff of her own blood, but she could never chew off her own arm.

I think the pool scene is the biggest fumble in the film.  The original is a CLASSIC scene just perfectly done beat for beat.  This one is all wrong, using multiple angles, Owen coming out of the pool too early, the lights going off first, it all just feels wrong.  

are you just talking about it visually? as i've said i have huge issues with the emotional beats/owen's victim status that basically underline how weak this version is overall, but visually i enjoyed it, particularly the shot from underneath where pieces are falling from all directions. though i have no idea why matt reeves would cut the money shot of oskar finally coming up for air and smiling, then eli smiling back with her eyes. i suppose cause their relationship isn't that strong.

Another thing I thought about this time was by showing the picture of Abby and her caretaker to Owen early in the film the audience and Owen both become aware of his choice to move forward from that point on.  So at the end of the film he's basically completely aware of the situation he's putting himself in.  In the original the ending is TRAGIC because the audience realizes in the last scene that Oskar is on his way to being the next caretaker but he may not even realize it yet.

that's a really really good point. yeah, it makes owen into a bit of a dummy.

I had forgotten the original had no police in it and it's that random townsperson who ends up in Abbys apartment.  Making Elias Koteas a prescence from the beginning of the film IS a good improvement.

it definitely increases the stakes, and elias is great. i missed the original neighbours, however the first time i saw let the right one in i found that whole subplot jarring until the girlfriend becomes a vampire.

[Ghostboy]

I managed to catch this at the one theater that that was still playing it (once a day). It's very solid, no doubt about it, and the performances and technical aspects are spot on. But it just felt so pointless that I don't feel too bad about it bombing, even though it's actually a very worthwhile movie and no doubt more worthy of success than any of the other crappy horror movies that came out this month. Matt Reeves said he wanted to go back to the source material, which I've only skimmed, but there's nothing here that isn't in the original movie, leaving one to presume that the original movie was as good an adaptation as possible and there was nowhere for Reeves to go from there but sideways.

[Pas]

That was insanely good. It wasn't in my ballot cause I just saw it but I hope everyone else didn't forget it.

My only gripe: the last killing wasn't graphic enough. I wanted to see these little fucks suffer.

[Reel]

I had an issue with most of the killings, actually. In the original it was much more realistic and cringe inducing, here it was like "time to pump up the special effects, they're gonna want something updated and different if it's a remake!" but really if they would've taken the same route it would've been a lot more succesful IMO.

My gripe: since when does it snow in New Mexico? haven't spent much time there but I thought it was, you know THE FUCKING DESERT.

The best parts of this were Richard Jenkins performance and the 80's soundtrack. As much as I want to praise this expanding on this first one I still think I liked that a whole lot better.

[Alexandro]

Your gripe? It snows in the desert too. Welcome to planet earth.

I liked both films pretty much the same. Both are close to great but don't really get there for different reasons.
Some things work better in one than in the other.

[Stefen]

My gripe: since when does it snow in New Mexico? haven't spent much time there but I thought it was, you know THE FUCKING DESERT.

Los Alamos, like Santa Fe and Taos, is located in the Northern part of New Mexico. It's closer to Colorado. They get lots of snow in Colorado. I live in Albuquerque and we get snow here, too.

Let Me In was my favorite of the year. I was skeptical of a remake of one of my favorite movies, but I think it actually works better than the original. The only beef I had was some of the visual effects looked weightless, like how CGI looked in the mid 90's where it felt nothing had any weight behind it. But the visual effects in Let The Right One In are pretty bad, too, so it's a wash there.

[polkablues]

I wish there was a way to make a composite version, with the car crash, spontaneous combustion, and lack of CGI cat attacks from the US version, while retaining the vampire kills and climbing from the original where she didn't jump around like Yoda in the Star Wars prequels.

[picolas]

and the guy not being a coward at the end. and the waaay better performances. and the whole twisted/ambiguous meaning behind their love restored. and a lot of things.

[polkablues]

and the guy not being a coward at the end. and the waaay better performances. and the whole twisted/ambiguous meaning behind their love restored. and a lot of things.

All those things would be nice.  To reiterate what I said earlier in this thread, for every instance where this version improved on the original, they went and fucked up something else.  There's a near-perfect movie to be made from this, but instead we ended up with just two really good ones.