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Let Me In (2010)

 


One phenomena of the North American film industry is the practice of taking successful and popular European and Asian horror films, and Americanizing them.  Some are as successful as their original source materials, others not as much... and some leave you wondering if the process was necessary...

Owen is a young boy growing up in a broken household.  Isolated, and neglected, he faces brutal bullying at school that further pushes him towards a breakdown and violence...

Then Abby moves in.  Abby makes him smile.  Abby makes him feel special.  Abby make him feel wanted.

Abby needs blood...

2010's "Let Me In" is an Americanized version of the Swedish film "Let the Right One In"- which is based on a novel of the same name.  The story is fairly simple to follow, yet deep enough to keep you mentally and emotionally engaged.  There are no wasted moments in the story- every scene helps to support every other story element.  This is lean, smooth story telling at it's best.

The core of this movie is the theme of losing your innocence, and the lengths people can/will go in order to escape loneliness- even if that escape puts us at the mercy of a potentially toxic relationship.  The ambiguous nature of Abby's motivations towards Owen causes the viewer to pause and think about their own past relationships that could've been considered emotionally "vampiric".

The characters are both simple and complex.  They're simple in that the majority of them are more archetypes than fully fleshed characters, while Abby and Owen are full of depths and crannies to explore.  The bully- Kenny and his gang are pretty archetypical High School bullies.  The only depth to Kenny comes when it's revealed that he's bullied by his big brother- who hurls the same taunts at Kenny that Kenny uses to demean Owen.

The performers- especially Chloe Grace Moretz (Abby), and Kodi Smith-McPhee (Owen).  They bring a wonderful, darkly innocent chemistry to their characters' relationship.  Smith-McPhee capably layers sympathetic and mentally unstable elements into the role of Owen, while Moretz manages to walk the razor thin line of horror and pathos in her portrayal of Abby.  While you know that there's an underlying sediment deposit of darkness to these characters, the performers draw you forward into wanting them both to have a "happy ending".  Just an enjoyable experience watching them.

Matt Reeves does a wonderful job directing "Let Me In".  From the subdued and dusty colour palette used, to making the violence explicit- without the use of graphic use of gore, to his ability to make the every day brutality of bullying as horrific as the vampire feeding.  Just amazing.  He paced this film a smooth, flowing narrative that pushes you forward headlong without you feeling that time was passing.

I would have to say that, while it may not have been necessary to Americanize this story, "Let Me In" is a decent adaptation of a foreign film that I would certainly recommend.  I'm putting it in "The Good"

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