'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'... Director Tomas Alfredson Speaks On Impossibility To Film

When it comes to literary adaptations on any novel I always ask "Is it worth it?" By that I'm implying the need to go research the book, read if interested, wait to see the trailer and wait for the film to be released in theaters. All based on the notion that the film must inspire and respect the core themes on the page? John Le Carré's novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy provided this exact problem to director Tomas Alfredson, who's method is both brave and into the wild where he admits: "We agreed that this was probably a totally impossible book to turn into a film".

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Movie Review - 'Let Me In'

Let Me In Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas Directed by Matt Reeves Rated R

The decision to change the title of this film from Let The Right One In to Let Me In may seem like a minor one, but it turns out that it’s a microcosm for everything that is wrong with this American remake of the critically-acclaimed Swedish film/novel.

The key difference between Let The Right One In and Let Me In - both the titles themselves and the actual films - is nuance and subtlety.

For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, the film centers on Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a 12-year-old outcast who is constantly picked on at his school. Owen befriends the new girl who moves into his apartment complex, Abby (Chloe Moretz), who, Owen eventually discovers, is actually a vampire. Chloe and her guardian (Richard Jenkins) move into the quiet town of Los Alamos, New Mexico in order to lay low while feeding Abby’s insatiable need for blood. Once Owen discovers Abby’s secret, he must come to terms with what exactly it means to be friends with a vampire.

That’s why the original title was so brilliant. Both titles are a reference to the idea that vampires must be invited into your home, a concept which is used quite effectively in the story. But the big difference between the original title and the title of this remake is actually a philosophical difference between the two films themselves.

Let The Right One In is a warning - it’s telling you to be careful who you let into your life. There is ambivalence there. How do you know who the right one is? If you are an unpopular kid at school with no real friends, is it okay to befriend the girl who drains people’s blood to survive if she is nice to you? It deals in shades of gray and moral relativity.

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Cranked-Up New Poster for 'Let Me In'

The previous posters we've seen for Matt Reeves' Let Me In have felt like teasers to me, leading up to something. We saw one back in July that flirted with an image of blood in the snow, and earlier this month the snow-angel became occupied by Abby (Chloe Moretz). Now, with the film's release only a week away, the marketing seems to be shifting gears.

The new Let Me In poster, found courtesy of JoBlo, continues the creepy feel, but changes the tack quite a bit.

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New poster for 'Let Me In'

Let Me In, the American remake of Let The Right One In directed by Cloverfield's Matt Reeves, is set to hit theaters on October 1. We won't know for a few weeks if the remake lives up to the original. In the meantime, we have this new poster to whet our appetites.

I can see what they were going for here and I like the general idea, but I just don't think the poster gels as well as it should.

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New Clip From 'Let Me In'

Yahoo! Movies has a spankin' new clip from Matt Reeves' Let Me In, the Cloverfield director's American remake of 2008's Let the Right One In.

On one hand, this clip seems to be further evidence for the case that Reeves really gets the tone of the movie he's remaking. This clip has the same slow, thoughtful pace that helped establish the mood of the original so well. On the other hand, it sort of reeks of American remake over-writing. "I need blood to live" is such an unnecessarily deliberate line, the kind that I think wouldn't have made it into Tomas Alfredson's film.

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