Byzantium

'BYZANTIUM': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Another vampire tale from director Neil Jordan (who also directed the critically acclaimed 1994 film adaptation of Anne Rice's popular book 'INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES'). This movie is based on the play by Moira Buffini (she also wrote the screenplay) and tells the story of a mother and daughter vampire duo who have been on the run for 200 years. It stars Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan as the mother and daughter vampires and co-stars Sam Riley, Johnny Lee Miller, Caleb Landry Jones and Daniel Mays. It's a pretty standard vampire film with some nice directing and decent acting.

Arterton plays Clara and Ronan plays her daughter Elanor (even though she's only eight years younger than Arterton). They've remained the same age for 200 years (when they became vampires, that can live in the sun) and need human blood to survive. They're constantly on the run from other vampires (as they've broken their 'brotherhood's laws). Clara has now befriended the shy Noel (Mays) and is running a brothel out of his recently inherited rundown coastal hotel (the Byzantium). Elanor has fallen for a young waiter named Frank (Jones) and has begun exposing her and her mother's secrets to him, through (what he thinks) is a beautiful fictional story.

The movie looks good and Arterton (like always) is gorgeous in it. She makes a great femme fatale vampire and Ronan is decently cast as her sheltered daughter. Jordan's directing is fitting and the story is interesting, if you like vampire movies (although I didn't like it that these vampires can survive in the sun). It's nice to see a vampire movie about a mother and daughter for a change and the romance and male characters are pretty minimal. It's also interesting to see sympathetic vampires, in a film, that still kill and prey on innocent people. Very flawed heroes to say the least. It's nowhere near as classic as Jordan's 'INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE' but it's still a decent vampire flick.

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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")

I have just seen this film as part of the famous Bridport Film Festival called "From page to screen". It features films that have been adapted from books and are very often accompanied, either before or after the screening, by a question and answer session with either the Director, Producer or Author etc. Bridport is in the county of Dorsetshire in the United Kingdom. This pre-release screening of Byzantium was enhanced by a very informative Q&A with the Producer Stephen Woolley. If you are expecting fangs, crucifixes, coffins and garlic prepare to be surprised! These vampires are a new take on a familiar theme. Much of the film is shot on location in the seaside town of Hastings which gives it a fabulously grungy and stark atmosphere. I have to admit that I didn't really want to go and see "another" vampire film. Believe me when I say that this is not just "another" vampire film.

Byzantium is more a study of being human than being vampire and holds the attention easily with strong lead performances. At the center is actually a mother daughter relationship, a question of nature versus nurture and survival. As well as all the vices of humankind thrown in for good measure. In this movie the vampires are all human, albeit changed and remain human, albeit enhanced but at a cost and within the shadows of normal living. Life and death of course are issues and living,if we could live forever would we rise above what we are? Questions within. Really enjoyed this and good to see Saiorse Ronan back on form after that terrible Alien outing. Gemma Arterton also puts in a great performance. This is billed as a vampire movie however I'd recommend it to anyone as although the elements are there its very far from what you'd expect of a movie of that genre.