Okay, I saw it. My full review will be up on my blog very late tonight, but in a nutshell I loved it. Was it a shot-by-shot remake? both films feel subtly but clearly different. Quite nicely, I was able to dive into Let Me In without constantly comparing it to the first film. The three leads--Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz and Richard Atkins--gave wonderfully nuanced performances. At the same time, Writer/Director Matt Reeves managed not to simply take the Swedish story and place it against an American landscape. No, the cultural setting changed, while the heart of the tale remained--sad, happy, beautiful, horrifying, disturbing yet somehow sweet all simultaneously.
Spoilers follow:
This movie focuses upon the boy Owen (Oscar in the original), with most of the subplots in which he is not involved falling by the wayside. More than in the first film, Owen seems to be at the dawn of sexuality, as does Abby (Eli). One idea that haunts as the film ends is that Owen will go forward, at least physically, yet Abby won't. Right this second they are in perfect sync. It brings a terrible poignancy to her line "Can't things stay the same?"
Religion is a part of this film's background in a way it simply isn't in the original. Likewise alcoholism (Owen's never-quite-seen mother numbs herself with religion and wine) takes an American turn. The woman infected by Abby doesn't get anywhere near as much time, but what she does get is more memorable by far--the moment when she starts drinking her own blood is from the novel, btw. Likewise current events are more front and center, as it was in the novel.
Generally, the plot is more concentrated and telescoped. Honestly I thought the flick (at 1 hour, 55 minutes) was just a tiny bit rushed. I also felt the music (generally beautiful) intruded a few moments here and there. At the very start, though, the music did much to set the mood, echoing this strangely barren landscape.
Reminds me--that one wall of Owen's room is a vista of the Earth as seen from the Moon was a cool touch. He is an achingly lonely little human being, lonely in a crowd which is in some ways the worst way of being alone.
Until he meets Abby. Strange, lonely, unhappy Abby. A little girl and yet not. Reeves made the point that Abby is not simply an old woman in a twelve-year-old girl's body. I saw that interview earlier today but totally got that before. Moretz as Abby is in some fundamental way stuck a child. A child with decade after decade of experience, a child who has seen things no child should ever see--but her mind and emotions and flesh all trapped at the level of a little girl who knows she'll never be anything else.
Owen in the end chooses to be with her, but does so without realizing the full consequences of that choice. How could he? He's still a child. Just like Abby. The ending brings that into sharp relief.
END SPOILERS.
I will be seeing this film again at least twice in theaters. I haven't felt like that since LOTR.
