Byzantium

... This is how to make a vampire film.

I find it difficult to fault this film. The plot is intelligent and engaging. No one is entirely black or white. The heroes are flawed and complicated, the villains, for the most part, have motivation and even sympathy. I found myself rooting for the murderous, vampiric prostitute as much for the innocent girl trapped into releasing those tired of life.

It's really two films, one set 200 hundred years ago, one in the present time, with many of the same characters and the same location, Hastings, once a fishing village, now a tired seaside resort.

The actors are very good, particularly the leads. As a resident of SE England, I recognised many of the locations. The ending was perhaps a little predictable, but still satisfying.

Don't go see this if you like your vampires to sparkle, but if you liked Let The Right One In and gritty drama, go watch it.

Really enjoyed this film although I was a bit lost for the first half hour or so as I was expecting something quite different than this film delivered however as the "Story" unfolds at a fairly slow pace you feel quite drawn to the two leading characters "Eleanor and Clara" and at this time I would like to mention I was quite impressed with the acting of these two ladies Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton as compared to other films I have seen them in. This film is not easily compared to anything else that I can think of as it is not Quite a Horror film or really a Vampire film, but the thing I found I kept forgetting it was Just A Story and not "Real" as the film was very well presented in the quality of the acting and filming techniques gave it "Reality" feel. I am avoiding too much of the Detail as I believe you are better off not knowing too much about it, if you like a good quality film with a good story line that is not quite about Vampires. For those that may have the usual questions,the "Blood and Guts" are very minimal as is vision of any nudity.My best description is that it is a Love story of a parent for a child.I gave this an 8 as I feel it is a better film than the current rating suggests.......

'BYZANTIUM': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Another vampire tale from director Neil Jordan (who also directed the critically acclaimed 1994 film adaptation of Anne Rice's popular book 'INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES'). This movie is based on the play by Moira Buffini (she also wrote the screenplay) and tells the story of a mother and daughter vampire duo who have been on the run for 200 years. It stars Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan as the mother and daughter vampires and co-stars Sam Riley, Johnny Lee Miller, Caleb Landry Jones and Daniel Mays. It's a pretty standard vampire film with some nice directing and decent acting.

Arterton plays Clara and Ronan plays her daughter Elanor (even though she's only eight years younger than Arterton). They've remained the same age for 200 years (when they became vampires, that can live in the sun) and need human blood to survive. They're constantly on the run from other vampires (as they've broken their 'brotherhood's laws). Clara has now befriended the shy Noel (Mays) and is running a brothel out of his recently inherited rundown coastal hotel (the Byzantium). Elanor has fallen for a young waiter named Frank (Jones) and has begun exposing her and her mother's secrets to him, through (what he thinks) is a beautiful fictional story.

The movie looks good and Arterton (like always) is gorgeous in it. She makes a great femme fatale vampire and Ronan is decently cast as her sheltered daughter. Jordan's directing is fitting and the story is interesting, if you like vampire movies (although I didn't like it that these vampires can survive in the sun). It's nice to see a vampire movie about a mother and daughter for a change and the romance and male characters are pretty minimal. It's also interesting to see sympathetic vampires, in a film, that still kill and prey on innocent people. Very flawed heroes to say the least. It's nowhere near as classic as Jordan's 'INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE' but it's still a decent vampire flick.

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Byzantium is more a study of being human than being vampire and holds the attention easily with strong lead performances. At the center is actually a mother daughter relationship, a question of nature versus nurture and survival. As well as all the vices of humankind thrown in for good measure. In this movie the vampires are all human, albeit changed and remain human, albeit enhanced but at a cost and within the shadows of normal living. Life and death of course are issues and living,if we could live forever would we rise above what we are? Questions within. Really enjoyed this and good to see Saiorse Ronan back on form after that terrible Alien outing. Gemma Arterton also puts in a great performance. This is billed as a vampire movie however I'd recommend it to anyone as although the elements are there its very far from what you'd expect of a movie of that genre.

Eleanor Webb (Saoirse Ronan) writes her life story in her journal and then discards the pages. She tells an elderly man about Clara (Gemma Arterton). Clara works at a strip club and is chased by Werner. She would cut his head off. Meanwhile Eleanor kills the old man by sucking out all his blood. Eleanor finds Clara with the dead body and they have to go on the run. They escape to a coastal town and finds lonely Noel (Daniel Mays) who lets them stay at his deserted hotel Byzantium. She has a certain hold on men. Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) befriends the piano playing Eleanor. Clara is Eleanor's mother born some 200 years ago who was turned into a prostitute by Captain Ruthven (Jonny Lee Miller).

Director Neil Jordan brings a sense of emotional suffering into the vampire genre more than any of the young adult fare. It's much more of a character study and their internal struggles. There is sex but there is no sexiness to the story. It is about emotional pain. There is some blood splattering. This is mostly a depressed, moody, brutal take on the vampire. The start is a bit slow. It wallows in its moodiness too much. I like it to be more brutal physically to make its emotional brutality come out more. It would help to see Eleanor suffer as she sucks out blood. It would also help to show the bloodthirsty Clara a little sooner. She's a wild and crazy character. The build is a little too slow. Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton are both terrific. Gemma does some of her best work. This movie has such a great mother daughter conflict.