Caffeinated Clint
By Clint Morris
Most of today’s remakes are a bit like a broken-down sprinkler system – they’re built on a solid foundation but are clogged with so much ol’ gunk that they never have much of a chance to breath, let alone get anyone wet.
”Let Me” In pierces through the distended nozzle resulting in an effervescent, invigorating dousing.
About three-quarters the way through Matt Reeves’ film, the ‘Break Up Song’ by the Greg Kihn Band (the film is set in the ‘80s you see – so there’s classic tunes being played on vinyl in every third scene, not to mention cameo appearances by Rubik’s Game and Mrs Pac Man) plays. Watching something so lusciously gleaming and, for the most part – despite being a remake – unique, those words ring louder than ever. It’s perfect. The moment serves as a subtle aide memoire that this one’s actually had some thought put into it.
They don’t write them like they use to….no wait, some do!
Generally-speaking, contemporary remakes suck worse than a shitty hoover. But it’s not just recent remakes that have failed to deliver, but films in general. No longer are most moviemakers and studios abiding by their original mission statements to deliver intriguing and original stories to as wide as audience a possible – in fact, some might argue that Hollywood doesn’t even make ‘movies’ anymore, they make rides – but to be fair, they’re merely taking their orders from the accounting department at Mattel or whoever they’re in bed with over at McDonalds. But thankfully, thanks to filmmakers like Christopher Nolan (”Inception”), Edgar Wright (”Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) and now, Matt Reeves (who also directed the low-budget thrill-fest ”Cloverfield”) we’re occasionally getting a reprieve from the slop. Let Me In – a film that definitely won’t be featured on the visible side of a Happy Meal Box – is another welcome excursion away from Bland High.
Based on the 2008 Swedish film ”Let The Right One In”, ”Let Me In” essentially plays to the same beat as its parent, it just brings up the bass a tad more in select scenes (and skips on a confusing plot twist that the original film encompassed). Wait…it’s not even fair to call this film a remake – it’s simply another film adaptation of the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. If ”Heaven Can Wait” and ”Othello” can be retold every few years, why not the tales of young vamp Abby!?
Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an alienated twelve-year-old who lives with his neglectful mother in an apartment block in a small New Mexico town. By day, Owen tries to steer clear of the vicious school bullies who make his life hell, while by night he – taking a page out of Hitchcock’s ”Rear Window” – peers into the lounge rooms of the surrounding apartments via telescope.
When the feeble but benevolent Abby (Chloe Moretz) moves into in the apartment next door with her silent father (Richard Jenkins), Owen finds himself an unlikely friend – one, of course, that he only catches up with at night.
She’s an odd girl though. And then there are the murders. And where did her father disappear too?
Owen’s soon convinced there is more to his new friend than meets the eye.
“Would you still like me… even if I wasn’t a girl?”, asks Abby, caught in a tight hug with her pint-sized buddy. ‘’What do you mean? I don’t know. I guess. Why?’’
Like its predecessor, ”Let Me In” is part coming-of-age story, part horror story – in fact, there’s a little bit of everything in it. Ask me how to describe it and I might say it’s “A better written version of Twilight – with the Gore of 30 Days of Night” or I might say, “Its Romeo and Juliet sans one pulse”. Both descriptions are accurate enough – they further exemplify that the film’s main concern is to tell the tale of a relationship between two characters (a romantic relationship, if you will, between two twelve year-olds), one of whom just happens to be stricken by a curse (how Abby was stricken with the curse we will never know; we don’t learn a lot about her origins).
The storyline is both brave and beautiful, but it’s the performances that keep ”Let Me In”’s bloody hypodermic full. As the scrawny Owen, Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (”The Road”) embodies both the corporeal and cerebral characteristics of your typical forlorn outsider, while promising newcomer Chloe Moretz (so good in ”Kick-Ass”, released earlier this year) is eloquently captivating as the mysterious, fascinating Abby. Smith-McPhee and Moretz shine- the young duo are so good in fact that they not only hold their own against legendary co-stars Elias Koteas (”Zodiac”) and Richard Jenkins (”The Visitor”), but in many occasions, leave the vets choking in dust.
Unlike the recent remakes of ”A Nightmare on Elm Street” and ”Prom Night”, ”Let Me” In is the furthest thing possible from a cheap Hollywood knock-off – it’s both a beautiful love-letter to original film and a faithful, memorable adaptation of an equally captivating novel.
One of the year’s highlights…. and yes girls, it offers much more bite than ”Twilight”.
