duskraider I really tried with this film but about half way through, I knew that this film would not deliver on what I thought it promised. Perhaps it is my fault for not watching a trailer for the movie, but I generally like to go into movies with no more than a tagline. I thought this movie would be about vampires. To a light degree it is but it is a much distant tertiary plot at best. Instead, viewers are treated to a slow burn of a movie, where a 200-year old vampire somehow has not grown up or figured much of anything out yet. Ronan's character just seems to float through this movie with no awareness of her surroundings or how to live life even if it is eternal. Through her needless actions she gets more people killed who have lived a quarter of her life and seem to have a better grasp on reality. But I articulate too much on a characterization and motive flaw.This movie tries to juggle multiple storylines but falters in carrying them all. We jump back in time once and while in this flashback we jump to a flashback within that scene. A big lack of cohesiveness fell over this movie. This type of jumping happens multiple times within the film and never really grasped me or made me feel for any character except perhaps the mother. The movie never quite knows if it wants to be a period piece or a origin story. I could have done with neither and instead focus on vampires. But this movie treats vampirism as if it's not really worth talking about. We get a weird subplot about the Brotherhood but it is never explained what they do, how many there are, why females are not permitted, why they couldn't find our main female protagonists for over 200 years conveniently. I have much disdain for the sickly boy that the Ronan's character falls for. Why does she fall for him? It's not really explained but his character annoyed me to no end. One scene he seems able, the next he's literally a zombie. Regardless of whether this may be a true to life representation of leukemia patients, his performance sucked the soul out of this movie. His plot of being turned was predictable. The movie doesn't justify why he deserves it. The surprise plot twist of the vampire aristocrat turning on the Brotherhood just seemed to serve as a convenient plot device for the main characters as well.My last criticisms are for the ineffective backdrop of the main characters being vampires. The sickly boy even asks questions, which go unanswered, that left me scratching my head. Where are the vampire fangs? Not a prerequisite but the thumb nail puncture thing did not work for me. Why can these vampire's be in direct sunlight with no ill effects? Why did not one of the vampires display anything supernatural about themselves? So I can go to an island and be instantly granted eternal life? I was looking for a movie to give a different take on vampire lore and all I got was a generic movie with silly character interactions.

bandito Worth at least 8! as now 6.5, ridiculous.The cast, story , picture is great.It is a bit slow but that is very appropriate for this movie. When he directed Interview wt a vamp, it was a different story and take of the vampires.This director is amazing.It seem the vast majority of his work is great.

morrison-dylan-fan Since seeing his Neo-Noir work get praised on IMDb's Film Noir board,and also catching clips of 1999's The End of the Affair,I've been meaning to take a look at director Neil Jordan's work,but have for some reason have never found the perfect moment.Joining an event being held on IMDb's Film Festival page,I was delighted to find that one of the titles chosen for the event was Jordan's latest title,which led to me getting ready to visit Byzantium.The plot:Angering a vampire group called the Brethren,mum and daughter vampires Eleanor & Clara Webb attempt to avoid the Brethren by staying hidden in the shadows.Feeling agitated over Clara's demands to keep her vampire life secret,Eleanor begins writing and telling people about her "past life",which leads to Clara's having to kill the humans who find out their secrets.Getting sacked from her job as a stripper,Clara becomes a prostitute.Showing some empathy towards a client called Noel.Clara uses her vampire seduction skills to get Noel to let her and Eleanor stay in a hotel that his mum ran called Byzantium.Arriving at the hotel,Clara starts to turn the hotel into a brothel,as Eleanor starts to step out of her mums blood-drenched shadow.View on the film:Left sitting on the shelf for 2 years after filming,director Neil Jordan & cinematographer Sean Bobbitt stop the movie from appearing dusty by wrapping it in stylised brooding elegance. Transferring each line in Eleanor's "life story" onto the screen,Jordan and Bobbitt dip the film into silk Gothic Melodrama,with the flashbacks spanning the beautiful high seas and mountains on Ireland,which are joined by an earthy, bruised crimson which unveils the pain and torment that Clara suffered during her vampire "birth." Getting between Clara & Eleanor for the "present",Jordan brilliantly uses eye-catching tracking shots to subtly display the gap developing between the Clara and Eleanor. Bringing Clara onto the screen with a fantastic strip club dance,Jordan unleashes bubbling Gothic Horror claret across the screen,as the memory of a "river of blood" is revived by Clara trying to keep Eleanor's fangs hidden away in the neon-lit outskirts.Adapting his own play,the screenplay by Moira Buffini gives Clara and Eleanor to distinctive set of fangs,with Clara's long fangs of history allowing Buffini to bite into black comedy with a bloody relish,whilst Eleanor's young fang desire to be a free from her family history allows Buffini to cast a sweeping Gothic romance across the title. Throwing some unlucky humans to the girls,Buffini pulls up the Gothic Horror veins by giving the troubled mother/daughter relationship between Eleanor & Clara a tense,fragile atmosphere,as Eleanor tries to enter adulthood whilst also fighting with Clara over how a vampire should be.Looking stunning in her stripper entrance, Gemma Arterton gives an excellent performance as Clara,with Arterton dressing Clara in Punk leather,whose deadly off-the-cuff remarks are a taster to Clara's deep red fangs. Attempting to rebel against her own rebellious mother,the elegant Saoirse Ronan impressively keeps Eleanor away from appearing sappy,thanks to Ronan giving Eleanor a firm, determined bite,as Clara and Eleanor enter Byantium.

sol- Tired of a life of immortality and utter secrecy, a female vampire, destined to be sixteen forever, tries to divulge her life story in this Neil Jordan horror movie. The 'horror' descriptor is a bit inaccurate though since the film is light on scares and gore and very heavy on talk as it tries to equate teen angst and depression with the internal conflicts of a bloodsucking creature of the night. It is not a bad idea for a twist on the traditional vampire tale, however, the film is undone by an overly complex narrative structure that switches back and forth between the past and present, with the present further divided between the protagonist and her slightly older guardian who has her own reasons for keeping their existence secret. The story never really advances forward with so much time spent on flashbacks filling in what are essentially gaps in the story's exposition. There are some exciting, adrenaline rush moments towards the end as all the reasons behind the secrecy come to light, but the pacing is slow (arguably too much so) for the most part. The film is additionally burdened by being grim and downbeat with absolutely nothing in the way of comic relief - which is to say that it is not an easy film to endure. It does have its small rewards, of course, such as the insight into the effects of having lived for so long (enough time to perfect playing any musical instrument) and Saoirse Ronan manages to render her character fascinatingly world-weary for someone so young. Daniel Mays also has a nice, down-to-earth supporting turn as a lonely hotel proprietor who shelters the two vampires.