Let Me In: the American Remake of Let the Right One In

Typically, when you watch a foreign film and like it, then hear that America is going to give it a try, the automatic response is "awe, damn it!"  Why?  Because oft times, this is the brutal truth.  Things are changed, often scenes or characters which you thought were important are suddenly absent or grossly different in the Americanized film.  The ending is usually different, and to make matters worse, "it's just not the same."

So says most critical film snobs who adamantly profess their cinematic knowledge on the rest of us damn heathens.

I will admit that I didn't re-watch the original prior to watching this American adaptation, which is usually a thing I like to do so that I can better compare.  However, in this instance, it wasn't as necessary as I thought it would be.  Luckily, my memory's still very strong (knock on wood) and I was able to recall much of what I had seen before.

The cinematography of the original was an integral part of shaping the story, where the mother of the main character, a little boy named Oskar, is never clearly seen and is always out of focus, as though she is out of the child's focus and separate from what is going on in his world.  A detail that seems subtle, but for artistic reasons and deep meaning, a very important detail nonetheless, and one that was kept the same in Let Me In.

There were other scenes that were very similar in how they were shot, what dialog was spoken, how the characters acted towards each other, and that was all very surprising, since I hadn't expected much from the new film.  Generally, the important parts that are necessary to further character development and plot are all still in the new adaptation.

Another plus was that its pacing was much quicker than Let the Right One In, which is interesting considering that both films are nearly the same length, Let Me In being a grand total of one minute longer.  But I won't lie: I don't care if you thought that the Swedish film was so fantastic and that you won't see the American adaptation because America ruins everything, Let Me In wasn't bad and it kept me more interested throughout.

The Swedish film is by no means a "bad" movie, in fact it's quite well written and expertly filmed; it does its job fine.  But I'll be damned if that movie didn't move slower than a snail with narcolepsy.  I was bored through most of it, simply because it reminded me of the pacing in Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt, where it seemed as though the director would leave the camera running and the actors staring at each other so he could go offload a few pounds in the John.  My point being that if you hold a scene long enough for me to begin to shuffle my feet absentmindedly, then my attention is not rapt and you're losing your audience.  Like I said, Let the Right One In is a good film, but fucking slow.

The only true qualms that I have with the film are two relatively big moments in the story, and I'd rather not ruin either movie for anyone who hasn't seen them.  But I will say this: one scene has to do with fire, and in the original, it was kept rather contained, in the American version, it was pretty ridiculous--but that's America--we love settin' shit on fire!  The other scene--the girl in the original has a very personal thing about her revealed, as well as implied, and in the new film, it is only implied.  Now, I don't know if it's just because I saw the original that I "got it" and didn't mind that it was slightly different, but I would like to know if anyone sees the remake without having seen the original and "gets it" too, or if they're left feeling unsure about it.  Here's hoping I'm not ruining anything for anyone, but I'm pretty sure I'm being vague enough.

Anyhow, point in short: the remake, having been made in America, wasn't as much of a raped atrocity as I thought it might be.  So, kudos to writer and director Matt Reeves (director of Cloverfield) for doing it justice and doing quite a good job all around.

And as a final note: those who remember the first film might find it nice to know that whoever the location guy was for the remake did an amazing job at finding locations that were very similar to the Swedish film.  They get a cookie.