106. The Cabin in the Woods

106. (06 May) The Cabin in the Woods (2012, Drew Goddard)* 50

LET ME IN

Written and Directed by Matt Reeves
Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, Elias Koteas and Richard Jenkins

Abby: Just so you know, I can’t be your friend.

I have a reasonable amount of sympathy for Matt Reeves, the director of LET ME IN. He made a perfectly adequate and genuinely authentic remake of Swedish filmmaker, Tomas Alfredson’s LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, but there was no way for him to come away from the experience as a winner. Fans of the original, of which there are many, and of which I count myself among more or less, see no reason to mess with success. And so, to appease these fans, Reeves remains as true to the original vision as possible. As well intentioned as this is, it renders LET ME IN even more pointless as a result.


It begins with a children’s choir singing ominously over a humming that is eerily chilling. It continues with the same slow, quiet pace that allowed the supernatural elements of the original to appear fully natural. Owen and Abby (Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Grace Moretz), the American counterparts to Oscar and Eli (Kare Hedebrant and Lena Leandersson), meet on what looks like the same jungle gym, in the same courtyard, behind the same low income housing where Oscar and Eli met. He is the same loner kid who gets picked on regularly at school and she is the same little girl, hiding her vampirism from those around her. Both are ostracized and both find understanding in each other. Their relationship, in great part thanks to these two fantastic, young actors, is just as tender and terrifying as Oscar and Eli’s was. Is there any point in retelling the exact same story the exact same way though?


I’m all for remakes; at their best, they can take already brilliant screenplays and reimagine them visually in all new manners, with sometimes all new meanings. At their worst, they are embarrassments that can be so big, they even tarnish the reputation of the original. LET ME IN falls directly in the middle of this spectrum. As dark and delicious as it can be at times, it never manages to give any reason for its existence other than to make it more accessible for audiences uninterested in subtitles. If you’re going to make a remake, you should have a good reason to do so, perhaps a new take on the subject that makes remaking it relevant. Pandering is not one of these reasons.

The Visitor

My favorite film of 2008 so far is “The Visitor” a wonderful, touching and moving film about Walter (Richard Jenkins), a lonely professor who teaches one class in a small college in Connecticut. He’s asked to present a paper at a conference in New York City, and sees his life change when he encounters Tarek, a good-hearted street musician from Syria, and his Sengelese girlfriend Zianah living in his New York apartment.

The friendship Walter forms with these two, and how he emerges from his shell based on that relationship, form the backbone of the movie. Tarek teaches Walter to play the drums, which he learns with great enthusiasm, even joining Tarek and his friends in rhythmic jam sessions in the park.

Tarek and Zianah are both in the country illegally, and when Tarek is arrested, Walter attempts to help, hiring an immigration lawyer to get him released. Tarek’s mother Mouna comes to New York from Detroit looking for her son, and an attachment begins to form between the native Syrian and the widowed professor.

Probably my favorite film shot of the year shows Walter, Mouna and Zianah walking together on the street. They don’t have their arms around each other, or anything clichéd like that, just three strangers from different parts of the world who have formed the most unlikely of friendships.

The acting here is spot-on, with Jenkins’ hang-dog expressions perfectly encapsulating the character.

The film went into release in April, 2008 and here it is July and it’s still playing. It’s among the most likeable movies of the year, and I can only hope that everyone in the Immigration Department or any politician who has a say in this country’s inane immigration policies sees this movie.

Writer-director Thomas McCarthy’s previous movie was the wonderful “The Station Agent” (2003), about a dwarf (Peter Dinklage) moving to a small town and the people he meets and befriends there. I like McCarthy’s work a lot, as it showcases decent, humane people connecting with each other though they seemingly have nothing in common. I look forward to his next movie with the greatest of pleasure.

Rating for “The Visitor”: Four stars.