Byzantium

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 poster drew me to this film. Not the poster shown here on IMDb, but the colorful green, yellow and red which are used other places. I wasn't expecting too much, but was surprise ad when I saw the casting, and that it was a Neil Jordan-flick. I've admired Jordan since I saw The Crying Game.

This story reminds me quite a bit about the Swedish "Låt den retta komma in" ("Let the right one in"). It has the right realism which made the the Swedish film so special, and the same coloring tone. The scenery in the beautiful harbor tine of Hastings are perfect, and it really made me want to visit there, which I will, most certainly. Combined with the Dickens inspired older sessions in the movie.

If there were justice in this works, this would have had the success of "Twilight", or rather instead of. It's very British, stylish, bleak, beautiful, and the casting is simply perfect, like it seems in all British films.

The idea is simply brilliant, and I love the idea of vampires running a brothel, as well as the depth of the longing for a different life. It's desperate.

Saoirse Ronan is once again electric, and the third film I've seen in a short time with Caleb Landry Jones (both fabulous, "Antiviral" and "Contraband") convinces me he is a big star in the making. Gemma Atherton is perfect.

I found the storytelling excellent, and I was very entertained all way through, though this isn't really my type of story. I think the ancient part of the story is good, but I think the red bloody waterfall is a bit over the top, and also slows the story and the believability. But otherwise this is grand film making.

... 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.

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.