Principal photography on the American remake of Let The Right One In, a recent Vampire classic from Sweden, is now underway in New Mexico. If you’ve seen the original then you are already annoyed at the mention of New Mexico. The original film, directed by Tomas Alfredson, was set in a sparse, ice-covered 1980s apartment complex. Matt Reeves, director of this unnecessary remake, is trading snow for dirt. Worse, he’s changing the name to “Let Me In”, which defies the purpose of the original title.
But the changes don’t stop there.
The press release says:
In the haunting and provocative LET ME IN, an alienated 12-year-old boy (Smit-McPhee) befriends a mysterious young newcomer (Moretz) in his small New Mexico town and discovers an unconventional path to adulthood.
Unfortunately, discovering a path to adulthood is not what the original movie was about. It had nothing to do with maturing and everything to do with finding emotional connections in unlikely places.
The press release goes on to say:
The filmmakers note that while the new film will pay respect to the original Swedish version, they intend to forge a unique identity for LET ME IN, placing it firmly in an American context.
And therein rests the worst aspect of this remake. Let the Right One In was not planted “firmly in an Swedish context.” In fact, as a viewer, you are never quite sure what county you are in because it simply does not matter. This is a universal tale about being young, awkward and alone, three aspect of life that are not uniquely American.
It appears a lot of mistakes are being made with this remake, which is unfortunate as it may get in the way of people seeing the original movie. You know, if you don’t like to read subtitles you can always watch the dubbed version. Even a dubbed version is better than what we can expect from Matt Reeves.
Buy The Original “Let The Right One In”
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