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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Let Me In (Michael Giacchino)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you are curious to hear Michael Giacchino's first
entry in the horror genre, a very subtle exercise in quiet dissonance,
long sequences of near silence, and fleeting expressions of troubled
romance.
Avoid it... if you hoped for Giacchino to emulate the tender and alluring romantic tone that highlighted Johan Soderqvist's score for the original 2008 Swedish variation of this same concept.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Let Me In: (Michael Giacchino) Author John Ajvide
Lindqvist has correctly stated, "I might just be the luckiest writer
alive. To have not only one, but two excellent versions of my debut
novel done for the screen feels unreal." He adapted that story for the
screenplay of the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In, which
earned widespread international acclaim and led to a variety of
independent awards for its excellence. Director Matt Reeves adapted the
story once again for a 2010 American remake, Let Me In, though he
vigorously claimed that he was more concerned with re-telling the
original story from the book with an American viewpoint rather than
remaking the 2008 production. Critics responded positively to Reeves'
endeavor, though they noted that the 2010 film was indeed more of a
remake of the 2008 version, which irritated some. Unfortunately, the
American release did not live up to performance expectations, failing to
ride the large current wave of vampire concept popularity and thus
failing, more importantly, to even recoup its $20 million budget during
its worldwide tenure in theatres. The rather unremarkable story is one
that once again combines youthful romance and the vampire genre, telling
of a pre-teen boy who is a bullied loner and becomes enamored with the
(supposedly) equal aged girl who moves in to his apartment complex. She,
of course, is the vampire, and her father is in fact another guardian
she met long ago who fell in love with her and murders people to supply
her with blood. A detective traces the killings back to them, but not
before another cycle in the vampire's life begins. One of the commonly
discussed differences between Let Me In and Let the Right One
In is the emphasis on the vampire element in the 2010 American
version, as opposed to the 2008 Swedish film's focus on the sensitivity
of the interaction between the children. That distinction, with
surprising distinction, really carries over into the two disparate
scores for the films.
The 2008 version was provided music by Johan Soderqvist that was met with considerable accolades in the film score community. It adequately addressed the horror of the story but still managed to elevate the romanticism and tenderness of the children's relationship through a satisfyingly harmonic heart, with a few truly beautiful cues to underscore that innocent side of the love. The remake's score was handled by the suddenly super-popular Michael Giacchino, who had written the outstanding end credits cue (the only original music in the film) for Reeves' Cloverfield. His take on Let Me In loses most of the romance and instead addresses the stark tension of the plot more than anything else. Those expecting to hear Giacchino use any of Soderqvist's material from Let the Right One In, or even explore the same emphasis on the youthful romantic element, will therefore be disappointed by Let Me In. There is some common vocabulary shared by the two scores, including a significant role for plucked instruments, but Giacchino strays far more towards Christopher Young territory and thus abandons the distinctly European feeling that Soderqvist's score exudes. The warmth that made the Soderqvist music so alluring in parts has been altered by Giacchino to make it surprisingly cold, including the replacement of the accessible acoustic guitar solos with harp and solo string performances that move excruciatingly slowly. Choral shades also do little to comfort the listener. There is a tendency by the composer to address topics of uncomfortable gravity with crawling tempos and lengthy pauses in his music, sometimes dissolving to near silence for long periods of time. This marks the first major horror entry for Giacchino, though some of the sparsely-rendered, deep groaning heard in this work will be reminiscent of his darker moments for the television show "Lost," especially in the application of deeply ominous brass and piano. Giacchino does provide several themes for the various relationships in the remake, though none of them will be as remotely appealing to the ears as "Eli's Theme" from Let the Right One In. The thematic ideas in Let Me In take a significant amount of time to develop throughout the score, and some listeners may not receive full satisfaction from them until the final five or six cues. A slight theme for the vampire's guardian in "Sins of the Father" is joined by a creepy idea for the boy in "Peeping Owen." The latter idea, with its use of instrumentation often associated with innocence (harp, piano, xylophone, choir), will remind some listeners of early Danny Elfman tragedies involving youth. The primary theme of Let Me In takes more time to establish itself for the vampire and the tale as a whole, eventually receiving the score's most substantial ensemble performances in "Parting Sorrows" and "End Credits - Let Me In." Developing out of a very slowly plucked harp motif, this theme is morbidly romantic but never really pulls on the heart strings as much as the equivalent material in Let the Right One In. Also notable in Let Me In are a handful of cues that showcase rare optimism, starting with the main theme bursting with accelerated woodwind and cello rhythms in "New Day on an Old Lake" and concluding with the falsely charming tone of the rejected "Trained and Steady" cue to close out the album. The remainder of Giacchino's music for Let Me In is largely unremarkable. There are extended sequences of subtle bass thumping or dissonant strings that accomplish very little outside of context. The horror sequences seem underplayed for some reason; the pivotal "The Weakest Goes to the Pool" uses the score's pulsating deep brass technique before a remarkably limp and fluttering action sequence at the end. Most of the less romantic music in the score is extremely unattractive, and its functionality for the film is betrayed on album by a tediously long presentation. Had more time been spent cutting this score down to 40 minutes (instead of 78) and less time spent by the composer conjuring cute track titles (which really do show disrespect for a film like this, not to mention the studio name), then Let Me In would be a solid three star product. As it is, the album long overstays its welcome and exposes the score's very sparse, barely audible portions as obvious weaknesses apart from the film. Expect to rearrange this score into a solid 15-minute suite and disregard the remainder.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 78:25
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a note from the director about working with Giacchino.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Let Me In are Copyright © 2010, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/26/10 (and not updated significantly since). |
