Portis_Charles

Far too much melancholy into this for my liking. It's everywhere, music, pace, faces. The filmmaking gets numb from it. Of course, the acting is great. And the last shot is fantastic. But I had to run down to it with the finger on the advance button to not be contaminated by the melancholy. Not for me.

The project, blending segregated South, music, religion, and vampirism, is in itself a very good idea. The problem is that some of these elements are poorly used. The vampiric aspect of the film is completely unconvincing and seems artificially tacked on as a convenient plot device. Probably too busy with building his heavy-handed racial metaphor, Coogler neglects the strangeness of the moment. Annie, who apparently knows the genre very well, quickly announces what's going on and throws garlic at them. "It ain't your brother," she tells Smoke, which doesn't prevent a melodramatic scene between the two brothers shortly after. What remains is a magnificently rich soundtrack and some beautiful visuals here and there.