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| Giacchino |
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.
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- Music as Written for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: **
| Bias Check: |
For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.46
(in 43 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.21
(in 23,411 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes a note from the director about working with Giacchino.
