Byzantium

Really enjoyed this film although I was a bit lost for the first half hour or so as I was expecting something quite different than this film delivered however as the "Story" unfolds at a fairly slow pace you feel quite drawn to the two leading characters "Eleanor and Clara" and at this time I would like to mention I was quite impressed with the acting of these two ladies Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton as compared to other films I have seen them in. This film is not easily compared to anything else that I can think of as it is not Quite a Horror film or really a Vampire film, but the thing I found I kept forgetting it was Just A Story and not "Real" as the film was very well presented in the quality of the acting and filming techniques gave it "Reality" feel. I am avoiding too much of the Detail as I believe you are better off not knowing too much about it, if you like a good quality film with a good story line that is not quite about Vampires. For those that may have the usual questions,the "Blood and Guts" are very minimal as is vision of any nudity.My best description is that it is a Love story of a parent for a child.I gave this an 8 as I feel it is a better film than the current rating suggests.......

Eleanor Webb (Saoirse Ronan) writes her life story in her journal and then discards the pages. She tells an elderly man about Clara (Gemma Arterton). Clara works at a strip club and is chased by Werner. She would cut his head off. Meanwhile Eleanor kills the old man by sucking out all his blood. Eleanor finds Clara with the dead body and they have to go on the run. They escape to a coastal town and finds lonely Noel (Daniel Mays) who lets them stay at his deserted hotel Byzantium. She has a certain hold on men. Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) befriends the piano playing Eleanor. Clara is Eleanor's mother born some 200 years ago who was turned into a prostitute by Captain Ruthven (Jonny Lee Miller).

Director Neil Jordan brings a sense of emotional suffering into the vampire genre more than any of the young adult fare. It's much more of a character study and their internal struggles. There is sex but there is no sexiness to the story. It is about emotional pain. There is some blood splattering. This is mostly a depressed, moody, brutal take on the vampire. The start is a bit slow. It wallows in its moodiness too much. I like it to be more brutal physically to make its emotional brutality come out more. It would help to see Eleanor suffer as she sucks out blood. It would also help to show the bloodthirsty Clara a little sooner. She's a wild and crazy character. The build is a little too slow. Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton are both terrific. Gemma does some of her best work. This movie has such a great mother daughter conflict.

In the present days, the lonely sixteen year-old Eleanor "Ella" Webb (Saoirse Ronan) and his sexy and protective mother Clara (Gemma Arterton) are vampires for two hundred years. When a dangerous stranger hunts Clara down, she severes his head, burns her apartment and flees with Ella to a coastal town. Clara meets the lonely Noel (Daniel Mays) that is grieving the loss of his mother and is completely broken. He lodges them in his derelict Byzantium, a former hotel and bed-and-breakfast that belonged to his mother. Clara sees the chance to make money for Noel and she with a brothel. Eleanor befriends the teenager Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), who has leukemia, and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile two strangers are tracking Clara through the deaths of their victims. Eleanor is tired of living on the run and decides to tell their secret to Frank, but there are parts in Clara's past that she does not know.

"Byzantium" is a classy and cult vampire movie directed by Neil Jordan that once again makes a great vampire movie. The story is disclosed in slow pace and the characters are very well constructed. The performances are top-notch and Clara has an amoral behavior while her daughter is the opposite, but there is explanation along the story. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Byzantium: Uma Vida Eterna" ("Byzantium: An Eternal Life")

In the present days, the lonely sixteen year-old Eleanor "Ella" Webb (Saoirse Ronan) and his sexy and protective mother Clara (Gemma Arterton) have been vampires for two hundred years. When a dangerous stranger hunts Clara down, she kills him, burns her apartment and flees with Ella to a coastal town. Clara meets the lonely Noel (Daniel Mays) that is grieving the loss of his mother and is completely broken and he lodges them in his derelict Byzantium, a former hotel and bed-and- breakfast that belonged to his mother. Clara sees the chance to make money with a brothel for Noel and for her. Eleanor befriends the teenager Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), who has leukemia, and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile two strangers are tracking Clara through the deaths of their victims. Eleanor is tired of living on the run and decides to tell their secret to Frank, but there are parts in Clara's past that she does not know.

"Byzantium" is a classy and stylish vampire movie directed by Neil Jordan. The story is disclosed in slow pace and the characters are very well constructed. The performances are top-notch and Clara has an amoral behavior while her daughter is the opposite, but there is explanation along the story. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

... This is how to make a vampire film.

I find it difficult to fault this film. The plot is intelligent and engaging. No one is entirely black or white. The heroes are flawed and complicated, the villains, for the most part, have motivation and even sympathy. I found myself rooting for the murderous, vampiric prostitute as much for the innocent girl trapped into releasing those tired of life.

It's really two films, one set 200 hundred years ago, one in the present time, with many of the same characters and the same location, Hastings, once a fishing village, now a tired seaside resort.

The actors are very good, particularly the leads. As a resident of SE England, I recognised many of the locations. The ending was perhaps a little predictable, but still satisfying.

Don't go see this if you like your vampires to sparkle, but if you liked Let The Right One In and gritty drama, go watch it.