tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post8829095920932480539..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Let Me In – A ReviewKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-76047535338441709242020-11-30T15:40:49.356+00:002020-11-30T15:40:49.356+00:00I concur with your reading and critique of Let Me ...I concur with your reading and critique of Let Me In. Neither film is perfect, though I would say both are very good films. It would be great if the strengths of both could replace their weaknesses.s t e w a r t s e l k i r khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06895508191815066002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-53375543771006083082011-04-04T22:57:32.768+01:002011-04-04T22:57:32.768+01:00William: It's a good point but I don't th...William: It's a good point but I don't think any actor in the world can stop me from mulling on stuff like that - you too, I'd nearly bet. :)<br /><br />Jamie: Check out what Bob has to say in the comment above - he'll get you into it.<br /><br />Jim: Different films from the same book - that's rather a cool idea. I think I could make a different film from Watership Down - a slightly better one. :)<br /><br />Jena: Go on, treat yourself. :)<br /><br />Bob: Your excellent comment brought me back to this post. Thanks. I think logic fails me in this discussion and I find myself going with my heart, which moved more at the bleakness of the original. I was pleased that I caught the nuance in the original that Owen would become the next caretaker - I got that and I found it the single most moving aspect of the story. Then the old photo in the remake just telegraphed that to everyone. I felt my secret had been let out.<br /><br />Anyway, you've made me want to see it all over again now and that's good. Thanks very much for the contribution.Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-80327356725692618932011-04-04T09:03:40.497+01:002011-04-04T09:03:40.497+01:00Ken, like you, I have seen both movies and my gues...Ken, like you, I have seen both movies and my guess is years from now there will be those still debating which film version is stronger. That's probably the greatest compliment one could pay to Let Me In, because most were sure (myself included) that the remake could never live up the original. <br /><br />I'll be direct here. I believe that "Let Me In" is a slightly stronger movie than the original.<br /><br />To start, let me point out what I don't like in the remake, and that's the use of CGI. It was unnecessary and wasn't really implemented all that well considering we're talking about a Hollywood film, yet it's only used in a few scenes, so it's a minor complaint. Where Let Me In excels, as you noted, is on focused script, providing greater emphasis on our two young characters. Reeves highlights this further through some subtle shot-making. For example, he never shows the parents completely, leaving them out of focus, or shot partially, or not in the scene at all, as in the case with Owen's father, who talks to his son by phone. This further heightens our awareness of Owen's isolation. Last, I can't say enough about the difference between the caretakers in the two movies. Richard Jenkins in Let Me In is a substantial improvement over Per Ragnar from the original. This is not a knock on Ragnar, but more an acknowledgment on what Jenkins adds to the role. This is important, because Reeves did change the relationship between the Caretaker and Abby. While in the original there was clearly a dark, pedophilic undertone between the man and, what we would learn was a boy, that is not the case in Let Me In. There is a loving relationship between the two. The Caretaker clearly was an older version of Owen, who long ago and far away fell in love in Abby as a girl and stayed with her his whole life. Abby, in the remake, is never meant to be a boy. That creates a more poignant and circular ending, as we now have a greater understanding of where Owen's life is heading. The final scene in both movies is the same, but understanding that Abby is a girl changes our perception of the relationship. So while I understand reader Murdoch's comment about Chloe Moretz being too feminine, in reality she is perfect. <br /><br />The young actors in both flicks do a wonderful job. Hedebrant as Oskar and Leandersson as Eli in Let the Right One In were strong, but certainly so are Kodi Smit-McPhee (BTW, he's Australian, not American) as Owen and Chloe Moretz as Abby in Let Me In. I have to add that while Leandersson was great in the role of Eli, the girl/boy/vampire, it is hard for me to be anything less than gushing about Moretz's take on the role of Abby the vampire. She is nothing short of mesmerizing in the role of a girl who is only twelve, but has been twelve for a very long time.<br /><br />To sum it up, these are both very strong films. I give the original credit for being first and setting the blueprint. I give the overall nod to the remake for recognizing what was done right and then making a fine movie even stronger. Rent them both.Robert Meredithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11750760245823708296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-5047040783617716252011-03-20T07:28:28.988+00:002011-03-20T07:28:28.988+00:00I would love to watch the movie, You have made me ...I would love to watch the movie, You have made me curious.Jena Islehttp://jenaisle.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-84885686199965095452011-03-13T15:54:18.230+00:002011-03-13T15:54:18.230+00:00I loved the original film and was worried when the...I loved the original film and was worried when there was talk of an American remake. They have botched up so many great films - <i>Solaris</i> is the first that jumps to mind – and considering their own home-produced fare I could just see them <i>Twilight</i>-ising the thing. Thankfully, as you say, they didn’t and if I’d only seen the remake I’d probably be telling all my friends about it. The problem was that –and <i>Watchmen</i> suffered from this too – they were a little too faithful to the source material. Correction, they were a little to faithful to the original film. There is much more to the book and I would have liked to have seen a fresh take on the source material. I can see why that might have been a challenge but it can work: just compare the BBC version of <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> with Peter Cushing as Winston Smith with John Hurt’s performance. I had the opportunity to watch them both one day apart and they are two very different films and yet both absolutely faithful to Orwell’s novel; the screenwriters simple chose to emphasise different things. I had no problem with the castings in <i>Let Me In</i> other than the fact that the vampire was a little too feminine. Hard to believe she was really a boy. <br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-65418933049757958862011-03-13T15:47:13.361+00:002011-03-13T15:47:13.361+00:00Interesting post - I think I've told you befor...Interesting post - I think I've told you before that I absolutely loved Let the Right One In - it was my favourite film of that year, and so I've not been that keen to see this US remake, having been disappointed by them several times before (yes, I'm looking at you, Vanilla Sky!) But you've probably convinced me to put my prejudices to one side and try the remake.<br /><br /><br />I'd certainly agree with the location being an important factor though - not being familiar with Scandanavia, I found it gave the impression of an "other-worldness" whereas as you say, we see depictions of the US every day in mainstream films. <br /><br />I also think that's why some East Asian horror films can be particularly effective for a Western audience - as there's an extra level of unfamiliarity, which in itself can be disorientating.Jamiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06683381598425799536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-71659805051994852062011-03-13T15:38:24.559+00:002011-03-13T15:38:24.559+00:00I offer that if the American kids' acting were...I offer that if the American kids' acting were good enough, you'd not have been trying to remember what they'd done before. <br /><br />Maybe that's me, though. There are no actors who would make me want to see a film, it's always the story so I don't think about them. A friend told me this week that when she's watching TV and an actor first appears, she pauses it to ask her husband where they've seen him or her before. "Oh, yes," I said. "Is your divorce going through?"William Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13315381474957511300noreply@blogger.com