Under Their Thumb
The second half of the double feature: Byzantium.
I’ve been fascinated by vampires for a long time, but media, especially movies, centering around them is pretty hit and miss. I was recommended Byzantium several years ago by fatpie42 here on Livejournal, but it took until now to watch it, and I didn’t know what to expect. If you’re still around, fatpie42, thank you, because this was a very good, perhaps even great, little tale.
There are two stories at play in this movie, one set in the modern day and a series of flashbacks showing how the characters got to this point. In the modern story, two women, Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) are on the run from some mysterious figures, forcing them to constantly be on the move. After an incident involving murder and arson, the two make their way to a seaside town to start life anew. Clara takes up with a nice man named Noel (Daniel Mays), who owns several floors of an old hotel called the Byzantium. She convinces Noel to turn it into a brothel, but insists on leaving Eleanor out of it; indeed, we get constant reinforcement that Clara is extremely protective of the younger girl. Eleanor, meanwhile, meets a sickly boy named Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) and kind of finds herself attracted to him. While attending a creative writing class, she’s given an assignment to write an essay about who she is, something she longs to do but has been forbidden to discuss with anyone. She takes a chance and lets Frank read her real story, but Frank turns the story in to the teacher and by extension the principal, who assume it’s a coded story that’s hiding an abusive home life. Interspersed between all this are the flashback scenes, which show the truth--Clara and Eleanor are vampires, and the flashbacks show how that came to be, as well as who their mysterious pursuers are and why they’re chasing them. I could elaborate more on this, but I think I should leave it a mystery so you can see it for yourself.
I will, however, say this much about the flashbacks; they were probably my favorite pleasant surprise. Fatpie42 certainly didn’t mention it in their recommendation. All I know is that when the movie cut to a scene in the 1700’s/early 1800’s, featuring men in naval uniforms no less, I was immediately even more interested in the movie, and I was already enjoying it. It’s a small part of the movie, but if you love period costumes, you won’t be complaining much. I’m certainly not.
Leaving that aside (hard as it may be) there was a lot I really enjoyed here. However, I can’t go into too much detail, partly because I’d rather not spoil things but mostly because it’s kind of an intangible thing. When I watch movies, I often spend a lot of time picking up on elements that later become talking points in my reviews, sometimes to the point of having to pause it to turn things over and/or wonder what the filmmakers were thinking. That didn’t really happen with this movie; I spent large stretches of it just enjoying watching it unfold. My critical brain wasn’t turned off entirely, as you’ll see in a minute, but it went dormant for long stretches, which I’d say is the sign of an effective movie.
Of course, no movie is perfect, and I do have some quibbles, though they’re mostly story related. There are some plot points that clearly only exist to advance the story, because they don’t make a great deal of sense given what we’ve been shown. Some of the things that happen in the last few scenes feel like dumb moves on the part of the characters, or go against everything we’ve seen up to this point, even if it’s exactly the sort of trope we’d expect. And there’s one specific moment when Eleanor sees a group of young girls in what look like religious style outfits walking along first a beach and then a street, with one of the girls giving her a significant look. While I think it’s supposed to be symbolic, with Eleanor being reminded of her past, it was framed in such a way that I initially thought this girl was a third vampire, who recognized a kindred spirit and was trying to reach out to Eleanor. Maybe that one’s my specific problem, but I think that could have been shot a little better.
There’s one final thing that’s worth discussing, and that’s the vampire aspect. I think one of the other reasons that I enjoyed the movie is because it’s not really your traditional take on vampires. They do drink blood, but they don’t sprout fangs; instead, the nail on one of their thumbs grows long and pointed when they feel the need to feed, and they use that to pierce their victims. I don’t know if that’s from traditional vampire folklore or was made up for the movie, but it’s unique and interesting. Another noteworthy detail is that most of the traditional strengths and weaknesses of vampires never come up. There’s no problem with sunlight, no garlic, no crosses, but also no hypnotism or transforming into other creatures. In fact, other than the blood drinking and a few glimpses of being fairly invulnerable to damage, there’s only one concrete piece of vampire lore in there, and it’s one that you don’t see very often in movies. In this universe, a vampire can’t enter a building unless they’re invited in. While it’s an aspect of vampires I personally like to leave out of my vampire stories (a little too difficult to work around), I really appreciate seeing it used here, especially since it’s done well. Massive kudos for whoever came up with how the vampires operated in this story. Massive kudos all around, really, from the actors to the cinematography.
As should be blatantly obvious, I highly recommend giving this one a look. Well told, atmospheric, and avoiding tipping into outright horror for wimps like myself, it’s something both movie buffs and vampire fans will probably enjoy. But of course, you have to decide for yourself if it sounds like something you want to see. All I can do is invite you in.
I’ve been fascinated by vampires for a long time, but media, especially movies, centering around them is pretty hit and miss. I was recommended Byzantium several years ago by fatpie42 here on Livejournal, but it took until now to watch it, and I didn’t know what to expect. If you’re still around, fatpie42, thank you, because this was a very good, perhaps even great, little tale.
There are two stories at play in this movie, one set in the modern day and a series of flashbacks showing how the characters got to this point. In the modern story, two women, Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) are on the run from some mysterious figures, forcing them to constantly be on the move. After an incident involving murder and arson, the two make their way to a seaside town to start life anew. Clara takes up with a nice man named Noel (Daniel Mays), who owns several floors of an old hotel called the Byzantium. She convinces Noel to turn it into a brothel, but insists on leaving Eleanor out of it; indeed, we get constant reinforcement that Clara is extremely protective of the younger girl. Eleanor, meanwhile, meets a sickly boy named Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) and kind of finds herself attracted to him. While attending a creative writing class, she’s given an assignment to write an essay about who she is, something she longs to do but has been forbidden to discuss with anyone. She takes a chance and lets Frank read her real story, but Frank turns the story in to the teacher and by extension the principal, who assume it’s a coded story that’s hiding an abusive home life. Interspersed between all this are the flashback scenes, which show the truth--Clara and Eleanor are vampires, and the flashbacks show how that came to be, as well as who their mysterious pursuers are and why they’re chasing them. I could elaborate more on this, but I think I should leave it a mystery so you can see it for yourself.
I will, however, say this much about the flashbacks; they were probably my favorite pleasant surprise. Fatpie42 certainly didn’t mention it in their recommendation. All I know is that when the movie cut to a scene in the 1700’s/early 1800’s, featuring men in naval uniforms no less, I was immediately even more interested in the movie, and I was already enjoying it. It’s a small part of the movie, but if you love period costumes, you won’t be complaining much. I’m certainly not.
Leaving that aside (hard as it may be) there was a lot I really enjoyed here. However, I can’t go into too much detail, partly because I’d rather not spoil things but mostly because it’s kind of an intangible thing. When I watch movies, I often spend a lot of time picking up on elements that later become talking points in my reviews, sometimes to the point of having to pause it to turn things over and/or wonder what the filmmakers were thinking. That didn’t really happen with this movie; I spent large stretches of it just enjoying watching it unfold. My critical brain wasn’t turned off entirely, as you’ll see in a minute, but it went dormant for long stretches, which I’d say is the sign of an effective movie.
Of course, no movie is perfect, and I do have some quibbles, though they’re mostly story related. There are some plot points that clearly only exist to advance the story, because they don’t make a great deal of sense given what we’ve been shown. Some of the things that happen in the last few scenes feel like dumb moves on the part of the characters, or go against everything we’ve seen up to this point, even if it’s exactly the sort of trope we’d expect. And there’s one specific moment when Eleanor sees a group of young girls in what look like religious style outfits walking along first a beach and then a street, with one of the girls giving her a significant look. While I think it’s supposed to be symbolic, with Eleanor being reminded of her past, it was framed in such a way that I initially thought this girl was a third vampire, who recognized a kindred spirit and was trying to reach out to Eleanor. Maybe that one’s my specific problem, but I think that could have been shot a little better.
There’s one final thing that’s worth discussing, and that’s the vampire aspect. I think one of the other reasons that I enjoyed the movie is because it’s not really your traditional take on vampires. They do drink blood, but they don’t sprout fangs; instead, the nail on one of their thumbs grows long and pointed when they feel the need to feed, and they use that to pierce their victims. I don’t know if that’s from traditional vampire folklore or was made up for the movie, but it’s unique and interesting. Another noteworthy detail is that most of the traditional strengths and weaknesses of vampires never come up. There’s no problem with sunlight, no garlic, no crosses, but also no hypnotism or transforming into other creatures. In fact, other than the blood drinking and a few glimpses of being fairly invulnerable to damage, there’s only one concrete piece of vampire lore in there, and it’s one that you don’t see very often in movies. In this universe, a vampire can’t enter a building unless they’re invited in. While it’s an aspect of vampires I personally like to leave out of my vampire stories (a little too difficult to work around), I really appreciate seeing it used here, especially since it’s done well. Massive kudos for whoever came up with how the vampires operated in this story. Massive kudos all around, really, from the actors to the cinematography.
As should be blatantly obvious, I highly recommend giving this one a look. Well told, atmospheric, and avoiding tipping into outright horror for wimps like myself, it’s something both movie buffs and vampire fans will probably enjoy. But of course, you have to decide for yourself if it sounds like something you want to see. All I can do is invite you in.