Byzantium
So, last night jez and I went to see Byzantium.
It was a bit of a spontaneous cinema outing, but I'm really glad we went, for it was a gloriously good vampire film.
It was also one which was satisfyingly detached from the normal vampire myth. It wasn't a film which fit nearly into the White Wolf paradigm (no sire/childer mutual blood sucking Embrace here!) and it instead seemed to be drawing on an Irish tradition, which I know nothing about and so can't comment on very much, but looked really interesting.
The cinematography was dreamy, the script was really good, the acting was brilliant and the whole thing had a slightly dreamy quality to it. Or maybe that was just the lead character, who was the quiet conflicted vampire who only fed on the dying, played by Saoirse Ronan (the girl from the Lovely Bones), who was in sharp contrast to her bolshy, pragmatic, vampire hooker mother played by Gemma Arterton. And did I mention this was all about a mother/daughter duo and their relationship? Because it was and it made for a really interesting and non-stereotypical dynamic, not to mention passing the Bechdel test with flying colours.
I love vampire films anyway - vampires are kind of my first love amongst mythical monsters - but I really loved this one in particular and was remarkably sad when it ended. I could have stayed in the cinema much much longer.
You should all go and see it.
It was a bit of a spontaneous cinema outing, but I'm really glad we went, for it was a gloriously good vampire film.
It was also one which was satisfyingly detached from the normal vampire myth. It wasn't a film which fit nearly into the White Wolf paradigm (no sire/childer mutual blood sucking Embrace here!) and it instead seemed to be drawing on an Irish tradition, which I know nothing about and so can't comment on very much, but looked really interesting.
The cinematography was dreamy, the script was really good, the acting was brilliant and the whole thing had a slightly dreamy quality to it. Or maybe that was just the lead character, who was the quiet conflicted vampire who only fed on the dying, played by Saoirse Ronan (the girl from the Lovely Bones), who was in sharp contrast to her bolshy, pragmatic, vampire hooker mother played by Gemma Arterton. And did I mention this was all about a mother/daughter duo and their relationship? Because it was and it made for a really interesting and non-stereotypical dynamic, not to mention passing the Bechdel test with flying colours.
I love vampire films anyway - vampires are kind of my first love amongst mythical monsters - but I really loved this one in particular and was remarkably sad when it ended. I could have stayed in the cinema much much longer.
You should all go and see it.