Byzantium Reviews

Vampires, Neil Jordan, and Saoirse Ronan looks like a winning combination on paper, but Byzantium all style and no substance. Ronan is customarily subtle, poignant, and nuanced, and Jordan imbues the entire thing with his austerity and low-key eroticism, but there’s just not enough story to justify the length, the narrative withholding, or “surprise!” method of delivering bits of material. It’s all right in front of you, very clearly and obviously, and Byzantium thinks it’s distance and manipulations are smarter than they are.

 

Problem lies squarely with Gemma Arterton’s Clara, a character with a backstory, profession, and trajectory that deserves her own movie in which everything is fully fleshed out and not dripped out in-between bits of love birds and self-mythologizing narration. Vampirism in Byzantium is a gentlemen’s club and Clara’s transformation from sickly prostitute to vampire femme fatale is more drab than anything. There’s juicy, rich material with vital lifeblood flowing in the veins of that story, but Byzantium treats it as a mere afterthought or as exposition for Ronan’s Eleanor to deliver under the guise of a notebook containing their shared journey to this point.

 

If you’re wondering why it’s a shared journey and can’t figure out that they’re mother/daughter, then I’m not sure what to tell you. They masquerade as siblings or some other familial relation, it changes depending on what city they’ve escaped to this time around, and remain in constant vigilance and fear of discovery by the brotherhood of vampires on their trail. They’ve been chasing these two ever since their creation, some hundred-plus years ago but what’s time to an immortal, really?

 

The feminist uprising flirted at within Byzantium is shuttered in favor of a love story between an undead girl and a dying boy. Granted, the scenes between Ronan and Caleb Landry Jones are by far some of the best, quaking with romantic yearning and a meeting of equally doomed kindred spirits. She’s forever a sixteen-year-old vampire while he’s slowly dying from leukemia. I suppose other love stories have been built on worse premises. I’m being pithy, but the scenes between the two of them are uniformly strong, engaging, and a reminder of just how talented these two young actors are.

 

It’s just such a mild disappointment that Jordan essentially made an art house Twilight instead of the far more interesting girl power fable lurking around the fringes. For all of its flights of violence, slow burning eroticism (check the way Ronan plays with her victims by slowing tracing her long fingernail over their veins), or charismatic love story, Byzantium ultimately boils down to a drab piece of Masterpiece Theater.  

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I always had a weak spot for Neil Jordan's work, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, it was pretty neat that Jordan was making another vampire movie almost 20 years after 'Interview with the Vampire' and it was interesting that he took a completely different approach this time around but, to be honest, I actually struggled to really care about the damned thing. Basically, nowadays, even though vampires might not be as popular as the zombies are, we still get tons of movies dealing with such creatures and a filmmaker really needs to bring something new to the genre to get me on board. Well, in this case, the only really original thing was the fact that these immortal creatures were for once penniless which was rather unusual but pretty much everything else was rather boring and generic, I'm afraid. I don't blame Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton though as they both gave some solid performances, especially Ronan. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't really blow me away, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Neil Jordan's work.

An Irish vampire movie, thus back to where the vampires were originated. There are no good vampire movies these days, all those are teen target products which are simply a fantasy flick. In the old days, its horror and terrifying ugly giant beasts, the werewolves were, but in the todays movies they are adorable giant wolves. It's either vampire movie or werewolf, the result is same. 'Twilight' or 'Vampire Academy' and others, just not my type, though watch them for entertainment and to keep up-to-date.

The reason I watched it is for Saoirse Ronan, because I like her. But Gemma Arterton has been so good like always. To me this is what called a vampire movie. Of course, themes should vary from a movie to another, that does not mean one can completely abandon the basic theory. Neo-gothic is one of that, the present filmmakers forgets, because that kind of set-up gives Dracula effect. This film has been just like everything I wanted, so I enjoyed every bit.

It is always great to see a movie that portrays the world over the span of 100 or more years. As usual survival and hiding the identity is the main intention for the concept. But from who (other than humans) and why is the suspense that reveals formally at the right time. If you like 'We're the Nights', then this is the right one to pick. But not great as 'Interview with the Vampire' was, in fact, it was directed by the same director.

7.5/10

Initial Thought: I have been meaning to watch this one for awhile. I just never had the chance until now. It looked rather interesting and different. Besides who wouldn't fantasize about being bitten by Saoirse Ronan or Gemma Arterton.

Characters/Acting: Really I only care about Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan here. There are a few other quite familiar faces though. Only the two main girls matter for me. The characters are all quite likable and expertly portrayed. All except of course Jonny Lee Miller's character who you learn to despise rather effortlessly.

Story: Two women take shelter in a resort and things begin to get out of control when their secret is shared. This isn't your typical bloodbath vampire story. Yeah it has a few pretty good death scenes, but it has a more human style story to it. You can see the situations as more relatable with this style. There is something so mesmerizing about the cinematography here. You simply can't disagree that this is a beautifully shot film. The story is pretty dark and definitely not for the younger crowd who are drawn to the run of the mill vampire flick. This one deals with heavy subjects in a very grown up style. In my opinion it could be compared to that of an Anne Rice novel. The blood waterfall scenes were pretty awesome to behold. I thought the ending was quite well done.

Directing/Writing: I have only seen The Brave One and Breakfast on Pluto by Neil Jordan. Those too were really good in my opinion so it should be interesting to see his take on vampires. I haven't seen anything by Moira Buffini, but I have heard of both of her films. Tamara Drewe also stars Gemma Arterton in the lead. Neil Jordan yet again doesn't disappoint with his flawless storytelling.

Final Thought: It's quite an original work of art. It's a bit slow for people looking for a bloody vampire movie. It's a much more compelling story than that. It's along the lines of Let The Right One In. If you want something different with your vampires that isn't repetitious cheese I definitely recommend this one.