Let Me In (**)
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Starring: Kodi Smith-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Elias Koteas, Richard
Jenkins, Cara Buono, Dylan Minette
Seen: 13th May 2011
** Out of ****
Let Me In is an American remake of the well received 2008 Swedish
Film, Let the Right One In. Based on this though, I’ve lost interest in seeing
the original. This is not my kind of movie, and apart from some interesting
shots and some small but effective thrills, I didn’t enjoy it much.
In 1983, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, a police detective (Koteas) enters
the hospital room of a horribly disfigured man. The man has doused himself with
a very potent acid, and his face and any distinguishing features are completely
mutilated. When the detective answers a phone call, the man jumps from the
hospital room window, leaving behind only questions in a small note apologising
to Abby. The movie cuts to two weeks earlier, and follows Owen (Smith-McPhee),
a lonely 12-year old living with his mother (Buono), in the process of getting
a divorce. Owen is also being mercilessly bullied at school by the brutish
Kenny (Minette) and some of his friends.
At home, Owen spies on his neighbours through a telescope mounted in
his room, the exercise-crazy guy on one side, the promiscuous couple on the
other. One night he spots new neighbours moving in, Abby (Moretz) and her dad
Thomas (Jenkins). Things are slowly revealed to the viewer regarding Abby, but
her appearance is creepy right from the start, at their first meeting she is
dirty and barefoot in the snow. Thomas goes out and murders a man, who he then
drains of blood in the forest, and when we see Abby again, she seems healthy
and normal, raising suspicions for some viewers, definite certainty for others,
but not for the characters; who stay in the dark for some time. The detective
suspects Satanism, but has no idea of what he will find. Owen and Abby become
friends, and Abby promises that she’ll protect Owen, claiming she’s much
stronger than she looks.
At school Owen’s tormenting continues, and when he hits back things
only get worse, with Kenny recruiting his two friends and older brother – a
real courageous young fellow it seems. When Abby’s “cover” gets close to being
blown, Thomas disfigures himself after a car accident, bringing us back to the
opening of the movie, and setting off the final string of events that resolves
everything in a manner both sensible and fairly unexpected.
Smith-McPhee and Moretz both act far above the capability their ages
suggest they should, and Jenkins and Koteas are both quietly good in their
respective roles of guardian and pursuer. While the movie is beautifully shot,
with a few particularly effective scenes (a view from inside a car behind the
driver when it crashes is stunning and an angle change in view revealing Abby
for the first time is simply chilling), it’s honestly boring. I watched Let Me
In with friends, and we experienced some of the silences in the movie as nothing
other than awkward, rather than pensive or containing the pervasive underlying
feeling of dread I believe was being aimed at. This movie will find its
audience as it is a well made art-house vampire movie, but I’m not part of that
audience, even though I was hoping to be when I walked into it.
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