Vampire

Let me begin this very short rating opinion by saying I own of all of Shunji Iwai's movies on DVD and am a fan of his work; however, I found Vampire to be a failed experiment-collaboration with American actors. For me, this movie was a chore to watch as it was painfully tedious, dreary, soulless, and at times disturbing. Simon, the main character, was very unlikable and the only reason I forced myself to finish this movie was because I hope to see justice bestowed for his unconscionable acts. Personally, I am happy Yû Aoi only made a brief appearance because because her talent could not redeem Vampire. Like all of my favorite movies, I regularly revisit "All About Lily Chou-Chou"; "Vampire" I wish to forget.

Sure feels like Vancouver, BC during the dreary days, which creates the appropriate mood for the flick. Its title unfortunately associates it with some real stinkers. It is not one of those. I don't know where the movie fits, but it leaves a significant after-taste. I use these user reviews to help decide whether or not I will watch the movie. If you do too, then it's a watcher, but strangely so. It feels Canadian, as in raw and hand-held sort of. Acting is solid, and the story keeps your attention. Vampire, no. Sanguine something, perhaps. It should not be castigated just because it is not polished to the extreme, and all tricked out with CGI.

I found the concept interesting (quiet, seemingly normal biology teacher meets his lust for blood by suicide victims) but this film was a mess. I felt like there were too many moving parts and not enough of an interesting plot! There was Simon, the likeable main character, his crazy mother, his crazy would-be girlfriend, the suicide victims... nothing fit well together! It seemed like scenes that were randomly filmed and they attempted to do a mashup to make the film flow! There was no climax really, and too many unanswered questions at the end. This movie also felt like it was 10 hours long. I kept wondering when it would end, and then it kept going! And then when I got to the end, it was a BIG letdown. I understand the director was trying to be artistic, but wow...

From the director of two of the best films about teenagers ever made, All About Lily Chou Chou and Hana and Alice, Vampire is an idiosyncratic art film. It was Iwai's English language debut, premiering at Sundance in January of 2011. It was so poorly reviewed that it barely even got released theatrically anywhere (only in Japan, as far as I can tell), and only recently became available in America via Amazon download. The truth is, it is a disaster. Thankfully, though, it's a very interesting disaster. With expectations adjusted accordingly, I liked it, at least a bit. Kevin Zegers plays a high school biology teacher who has a secret life as a serial killer called the Vampire because he drains his victims' blood. His victims, though, are consenting, wishing him to help them commit suicide. His pretenses are generally false - they believe he's going to commit suicide alongside them (or, alternately, that he's going to use the blood for scientific research on suicidals), but he is a gentle man. He actually believes himself to be a vampire, or maybe he wishes he were one, and he drinks the blood afterward. The film is often lovely - aided by a gorgeous, ethereal musical score by Iwai himself. There are a couple of killer sequences, particularly the film's only real horror sequence, where Zegers is forced to accompany another serial killer (Trevor Morgan) as he hunts and murders a woman by suffocating her with a plastic bag. Of all the deaths I've encountered in movies this past month (I only watch horror films in October), this was by far the most terrifying to me, with the woman just left to stumble around trying to escape her plight. The real failure of the film comes with the subplot involving Zegers' Alzheimers-ridden mother (Amanda Plummer), whom he keeps from wandering out of his apartment by attaching giant, white balloons to her. This feels like something out of a terrible indie comedy (well, it did premier at Sundance!) and it just never works. There are a lot of other instances of people just not acting like real people ever would.

This is not a vampire flick. It shouldn't really be necessary to point this out, after all the summary makes it very clear. But it would seem that the reason for this film's overall cold reception is precisely that it doesn't feature supernatural, love-lorn beings to satisfy inhibited sexual desires of self-destruction. Rather, it presents an altogether uncomfortable view on real-life blood-thirst and a controversial look at suicidal obsession.

If you're familiar with Iwai's work, then neither the subject matter nor the style come as much of a surprise. Iwai's staple theme is alienated youth and the thin line between friendship and destruction. In 'All about Lily Chou-Chou', he explored bullying and underage prostitution against a backdrop of how virtual and real-life personalities differ, 'Swallowtail Butterfly' dealt with the ups and downs of a group of misfits bonding and betraying each other, and 'Hana & Alice' showed a close high-school-girl friendship with elements of rivalry over a particular boy.

'Vampire' follows a story which actually happened in Japan: a man convinces young women in suicide chat-rooms to die together with him, eventually tricking them so that he may consume their blood. The focus isn't so much on why he wants to do this (apart from ambivalent references to the quest for immortality), but rather why these women want to die - and this is where I see a continuity with Iwai's other work. It's not so much about the story itself, which takes somewhat unfathomable turns and ends up in a confusing mêlée, but rather the visuals, which create a mystified, surreal and at times even humorous perspective on death. The proverbial 'vampire' is actually seen as a perversion of this theme, which becomes obvious in a rather gory parody of the 'serial killer' image, complete with fangs and cape.

If you wonder what a Japanese film with American actors may look like, then this one may be very well for you. To me, it's been worthwhile just for seeing that the styles of Japanese cinema - character vagueness, visual rendition, and most of all quietness - can be translated into English rather well. However, if you really expect a vampire flick, better wait until the next 'Twilight' segment.