Let Me In

Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Grace Moretz in Let Me In

Matt Reeves' Let Me In, from 2010, is an OK, if somewhat pointless remake of the very good Swedish film, Let The Right One In. Reeves gives us some nice pictorial moments. A shot of hospital doors with a reflection of Reagan decrying evil places us convincingly in the 1980s. However, Reeves can't really develop this theme, despite gratuitous pondering of the nature of evil by the twelve year old protagonist (Kodi Smit-McPhee), because perfidy is personified by a junior high bully; a straw dog.

Reeves gets some nice Rear Window effects with his protagonist's telescope spying on his neighbors in his apartment complex. The film's tone, however, is off. In the original, the dead end nature of the apartment dwellers lives was mirrored by the spartan and bleak character of the complex itself. In Let Me In, the complex is just too darn gentile for people trending downwards. When the protagonist talks with his deus ex vampire on a jungle gym in the original, the spot seemed like an oasis in relation to its surroundings. In Let Me In, the effect is negligible.

Part of the problem is that the sexuality of the vampire is foregrounded instead of being implicit. Chloe Grace Moretz's vampire's untouchable glamor and otherness is plain to see from the start. Despite Ms. Moretz's effective performance, it is obvious that she is just not some young chick in a hoody. The film is thirty minutes too long and talented performers like Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas barely register.