Both Let the Right One in and Let Me In are both masterful bites on the vampire genre and cinema alone. With both films I felt the exact same sensation. It was a mixture of every adolescent feeling I had endured throughout my life. For me its beyond a movie going experience, it's being absorbed into a thing of beauty and art. This is when you know you are being wrapped up into something that will forever leave an impression on you.
If your not familiar with the original's story, which is kept essentially as the exact same thing in Let Me In, tells the story of a lonely pre- pubescent boy whom is an extreme outsider of anything relatively well, that has to do with life. This connection he can't make is due to the hindrance from the lonely home life being endured from a divorce mother and bullies at school. The boy evokes every attribute of innocence, something that is trying to be corrupted against his will thus the loneliness. All is cold and somewhat hopeless until a mysterious young girl who is the same age as Owen moves into the same apartment complex. After nights of awkward mingling on the freezing, iced over playground belonging to the apartment complex, Owen and the mysterious Abby who only comes out at night barefoot, finally make an immediate intimate connection. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that Abby is a vampire? From there the film spirals into the emotions of lost childhood, innocence, beauty, regretful violence, and every intimate emotion that has been dealt with in life.
What has made this story so great from the start is that its a tale of emotion, and not horror. But more importantly the horror of our confused emotions as children. We have all felt this and we can all connect to it.
The story of Let Me in is constructed beautifully by Matt Reeves' chilling directing. Some shots evoke a mirror image of the original thus showing his infinite amount of respect for the original. Yet Reeves adds enough of his own talent to make it his own vision. There is one scene in which I won't spoil that is probably one of the most well constructed scenes I have seen in quite some time. Reeves knows how to direct quite moments of loneliness, and pulse pounding action scenes. The best addition to the directing is the tone of the film. When you watch it, you feel cold, and you feel as if your in New Mexico with the characters.
All the acting in the film is sensational rivaling they're Sweedish counterparts. Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit Mcphee are flat out THE BEST child actors alive. Kodi as Owen portrays the feeling of lost innocence with spot on portrayal. Although Chloe as Abby isn't physically as menacing as her Sweedish counterpart, she plays the role with the right amount of anger, and the look of a lost soul. Watching these two characters interact is a true privilege.
If there are any problems with the film, its with the Richard Jenkins character which is Abby's caretaker who drains his victim's blood for Abby to feed off. The problem I had with this version of the character juxtapose to the original's is that the character's back story is kept completely ambiguous in the original. In Let Me In there is sort of a hint as to who he was at one time. This felt as if the filmmakers were depriving the audience of letting us use our imagination. This isn't to say Richard Jenkins gave a bad performance though. He is actually quite good as this character.
With one subjective criticism aside, Let Me In is truly a remarkable film. A film that doesn't come around too often. Its something that you make an actual intimate connection to. After its viewing you feel as if you have relived your journey of growing out of adolescence.
Something we all miss right?
If your not familiar with the original's story, which is kept essentially as the exact same thing in Let Me In, tells the story of a lonely pre- pubescent boy whom is an extreme outsider of anything relatively well, that has to do with life. This connection he can't make is due to the hindrance from the lonely home life being endured from a divorce mother and bullies at school. The boy evokes every attribute of innocence, something that is trying to be corrupted against his will thus the loneliness. All is cold and somewhat hopeless until a mysterious young girl who is the same age as Owen moves into the same apartment complex. After nights of awkward mingling on the freezing, iced over playground belonging to the apartment complex, Owen and the mysterious Abby who only comes out at night barefoot, finally make an immediate intimate connection. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that Abby is a vampire? From there the film spirals into the emotions of lost childhood, innocence, beauty, regretful violence, and every intimate emotion that has been dealt with in life.
What has made this story so great from the start is that its a tale of emotion, and not horror. But more importantly the horror of our confused emotions as children. We have all felt this and we can all connect to it.
The story of Let Me in is constructed beautifully by Matt Reeves' chilling directing. Some shots evoke a mirror image of the original thus showing his infinite amount of respect for the original. Yet Reeves adds enough of his own talent to make it his own vision. There is one scene in which I won't spoil that is probably one of the most well constructed scenes I have seen in quite some time. Reeves knows how to direct quite moments of loneliness, and pulse pounding action scenes. The best addition to the directing is the tone of the film. When you watch it, you feel cold, and you feel as if your in New Mexico with the characters.
All the acting in the film is sensational rivaling they're Sweedish counterparts. Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit Mcphee are flat out THE BEST child actors alive. Kodi as Owen portrays the feeling of lost innocence with spot on portrayal. Although Chloe as Abby isn't physically as menacing as her Sweedish counterpart, she plays the role with the right amount of anger, and the look of a lost soul. Watching these two characters interact is a true privilege.
If there are any problems with the film, its with the Richard Jenkins character which is Abby's caretaker who drains his victim's blood for Abby to feed off. The problem I had with this version of the character juxtapose to the original's is that the character's back story is kept completely ambiguous in the original. In Let Me In there is sort of a hint as to who he was at one time. This felt as if the filmmakers were depriving the audience of letting us use our imagination. This isn't to say Richard Jenkins gave a bad performance though. He is actually quite good as this character.
With one subjective criticism aside, Let Me In is truly a remarkable film. A film that doesn't come around too often. Its something that you make an actual intimate connection to. After its viewing you feel as if you have relived your journey of growing out of adolescence.
Something we all miss right?