Director: Neil Jordan.
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Jonny Lee Miller, Caleb Landry Jones, Sam Riley.
Running Time: 118 minutes.
Certificate: 18.
Synopsis: Two young women flee from city to city, never staying too long so as to reveal who they truly are. They turn an abandoned hotel into a brothel to afford their secret lives and keep them alive.
Trying to cram in as much epic vampire-ness as possible, BYZANTIUM (based on Moira Buffini’s play) regrettably misses too many great opportunities to become a memorable and respectable vampire movie. It wants us to believe there is a mystery behind the two women and that they carry a heavy secret. But they divulge too much of themselves to be mysterious creatures of the night, merely a mother and daughter whose dysfunctional relationship has miraculously survived for two hundred years.
The disappointing mystery surrounding their vampirism is the idiocy of both women. Mother Clara (Gemma Arterton) cannot move on from prostitution. After two centuries she still thinks it’s the only way to make money in a small town, but she’d be better off waitressing at the local pub. Her daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) is fed up of the secrecy, thinking the best thing to do is tell the first teenage boy she meets the deep and dark background to her life in a detailed book.
The film is saved by great performances from Arterton and Ronan along with Jonny Lee Miller and Sam Riley. The evident attempts made by Neil Jordan to bring back the brutal original depiction of vampires post-TWILIGHT are admirable and much appreciated, but it’s unfortunately not enough.
The love-hate element between Clara and Eleanor is very reminiscent of the complicated relationship shared by Lestat and Louis in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE and much of BYZANTIUM shares its pattern – as well as its director. Never shying away from bodies climbed by a sexy Arterton or explicit murders and blood, BYZANTIUM remains a drawn-out and non-engaging story.
BYZANTIUM is released in UK cinemas on May 31st.
josephjoe
May 28, 2013 at 4:16 pm
I haven’t seen Byzantium yet, but by most accounts I’ve read, it’s a classy and enjoyable vampire tale.
While the story may not be One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest or To Kill A Mockingbird, It is intriguing and also unusual for a vampire movie, in that it’s protagonists are female.
So, with all the Twilights we’ve had to endure, not to mention the Hangovers and all the other myriad rubbish foisted upon hapless moviegoers in recent years, Byzantium sounds like a good night at the movies.
Dan B
May 28, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Judging by the review though, it’s got all the right ideas but it just doesn’t pull it off.
Maybe go back to Lost Boys instead for a great Vampire film?