Le goût du sang

I haven't read the book so this is a commentary on the movie by itself as a movie. For some reason I was expecting this movie to be darker, edgier, perhaps even a horror movie. The PG-13 rating didn't phase me as so many horror movies are coming out now with PG-13 rating. But this one borders on PG on it good-heartedness and gentleness. It's not particularly entertaining since there's not much drama in the movie, not much to look forward to. The main character is too reserved and withdrawn to be particularly interesting. The main bad guy is hard to understand because of his thick accent. There's some ambivalence here on the good/bad dichotomy as the werewolves aren't really bad by nature, they're just trying to blend in and protect themselves, so you can't dislike them all that much. Plus it's hard to dislike wolves. My concern here that the wolves may have been harmed during filming. At the end of the movie there is no disclaimer that no animal was harmed, instead there's something to the effect that efforts were made avoid injury, which isn't quite the same. The love story didn't convince me all that much. Does it always have to be the American tourist? On the positive side, I like the fact that this was filmed in Bucharest, it sure looks like an interesting city so there are some great sights here. The mythology behind the story is good too. I like the special effects and the transformations. They look very unique. And something can be said for a movie that's not as malevolent as most movies. This is a good film for teens.

"Blood and Chocolate" is a surprisingly good movie. I was expecting it to be some terrible, low-budget horror-wannabe movie in the vain of "Dracula II: Ascension," "The Prophecy: Uprising," and "The Prophecy: Forsaken". Instead, "Blood and Chocolate" was a well-done film. This movie was nearly pitch-perfect. The acting, set design, score, cinematography and story were nothing short of wonderful.

Olivier Martinez gave an outstanding performance in what could have been a clichéd role. His portrayal of Gabriel was multi-dimensional and none of his screen-time was wasted. He brought all of the elements together as leader, father, and lover (even though there are no sex scenes, he is constantly smoldering with an animal rapacity). He gave a credible performance, especially in light of Gabriel's fate. (I also enjoyed his commentary on the DVD. He is a very thoughtful and funny person.) Agnes Bruckner's portrayal of Vivian was well done. Her acting was not robotic. Vivian's nature is pent-up and bland; she has no outlet for her inner turmoil other than running, and according to the rules of the pack, she must not form close relationships with humans. It is important to remember that this character is not the same as Selene from "The Underworld" series who seethes with vengeful ferocity even while she's strapping up her bustier. Hugh Dancy was adorable and believable; which is always a difficult feat in the role of romantic interest. Also, in the character of Aiden, the filmmakers were able to acknowledge their respect of the loup garoux storyline; they were practically screaming, "This is not some cheesy werewolf story!" Katje Riemann and Bryan Dick also gave nuanced performances as Astrid and Rafe. (The movie suffered from trimming Astrid's storyline. I strongly recommend watching the deleted scenes on the DVD. I think the fate of Astrid's storyline was the result of studio executives wanting to focus on the two younger characters more, but ultimately that decision hurt the overall movie.)

The soundtrack was nothing short of amazing! In my opinion, it suited this movie perfectly. The percussion was not overdone, nor were the synthesizers. Each drumbeat not only heightened the excitement, but also helped to intertwine the dual nature of the loup garoux (human and wolf). I felt it as if it were the quickening pulse of the loup garoux giving in to their wolf nature. I think the decision to stay away from gypsy music (which I love) was a good one. The synthesized music was good and helped to the ground the story in youth and freshness, rather than some overwrought Romanian folklore manner.

On the dual nature of the loup garoux, the transition from human to wolf was beautiful. I loved the notion of the "leap of faith" involved in the transformation and the mythical element of that transformation. Also, the coloring of the loup garoux eyes were spot on. The respect of the transformation from human to wolf translated to the great execution of this premise. The entire story could have been a cliché since the story is mostly "Romeo and Juliet" for the loup garoux set, but it was well-done and well worth watching.

"Blood and Chocolate" had a few missteps. Nothing in the movie makes this title appropriate, other than a short, barely-audible line by Astrid. Not until visiting this web site was I aware that the movie was an adaptation of a book. Whatever occurred in the novel to make "Blood and Chocolate" a suitable title was omitted from the screenplay and the movie suffered for it. As I have stated, Astrid's storyline should have remained intact in the film. My final criticism is that the story is so well-done, I would have liked to have seen an R-rated version of the movie. Meaning, I would love to have seen an even more serious treatment of this story. My understanding is that the novel is geared toward pre-teens which explains the light treatment of the storyline.

I highly recommend "Blood and Chocolate" to anyone looking for an interesting and well-crafted film.

The Matrix has a lot to answer for. Post Matrix every vampire or werewolf movie (Van Helseign, Underworld, Blade) seems to involve copious amounts of special effects, Martial arts and the main character decisions being whether they kill the bad guy with a gun, sword, falling building, poison that makes people explode, or giant stake improvised from the radio antenna on top of the Empire State building.

Blood and Chocolate follows the traditions oh movies from the 1980s (The hunger, Wolf, Cat people and even The Lost Boys).

Characters are not fighting over whether to enslave the human race (if vampires planned to enslave the human race, wouldn't it be easier to let everyone know, and 1.3 Billion people versus a few thousand vampires or werewolves will be a very short battle indeed).

Blood and Chocolate tells the story of a teenage werewolf who wants to escape what she is being told she should be and a young American writer/artist who has already escaped from his domineering ex-ranger father).

In this story, werewolves are blessed, not cursed, they are the best of man and the best of beast. Though perhaps that is what they should be, and some of them are the worst of both.

This is a human story at the human level. Some of the characters merely tend to turn into wolves. The movie is more about mood and excitement and action. The action is realistic, not modern son of Honk-Kong martial arts over the top stuff. I loved it, even though I also love the modern effects driven movies. In fact the special effects are so bad, it is likely that was a conscious choice (I think the transformation is a homage to Cat People).

If you like this movie, check out the old stuff from the 80s.

What a fine accomplishment for German director Katja von Garnier. She has delved into the traditionally all-male world of directing a genre monster movie and turned it into a Romeo & Juliet with style. There's a distinct lack of gore, and the violence isn't overbearing, while the astounding art direction and overall moodiness of the movie is only heightened by filming on location in Romania, a perfect backdrop for the heavy gray feeling of Blood and Chocolate. Even when the couple in love is happy, there's a brooding nature that permeates the streets, even in daylight. Most amazing is the graceful and poetic transformation of the humans into their alter wolf egos. They run into a frenzied pitch and then leap into the air and become real wolves, rather than the usual cheesy werewolves accentuated by special effects. It's quite breathtaking.

This movie is actually very good for the first 20 minutes or so. The director is mechanical (German, you know) but the introductory parts are stylish. After that, this becomes something barely worthy of after school teen fodder.

These things often depend on the fact of dual identities, and stories are based on problems coming from that dual identity. This is no different: girl-wolf falls in love with regular boy. There's some irrelevant business about the leader of the pack. Ho hum. Do we ever doubt the outcome? They often also depend on the actual cinematic magic of transformation. But what we have here is about 70 years behind in special effects.

What brought me to this was the rather delicious notion of the two fluids. Our haunted teen girl works in a chocolate shop. I don't know the book makes of this. It has amazing cinematic promise. But the film includes her chocolate job only in a cursory way. The supposed sex appeal is so lacking in sex, even that's gone.

This director sits as a judge for the Berlin film festival? Wow.

There is an interesting character, that appears in only a few scenes and has no lines. The deal is that leader of the pack remarries every seven years. The main women characters are the wife before the current one, and our teen girl who is the designated next one. Some of the scant story is in the tension between these two. One woman abandoned and the second one an unwilling bride. The interesting one is the inbetween one.

I'm interested in films that feature Absinthe. This is one. The werewolves drink it ("some people think its poison") and later are literally burned by it. Usually when it appears as it does here, everything afterward could be considered a hallucination. It could be here, but the filmmaker surely did not intent that ambiguity.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.