Prismark10
Writer and Director Neil Jordan won an Oscar for his screenplay for The Crying Game. He subsequently when on to direct a star studded adaptation of Interview with a Vampire starring Tom Cruise.Byzantium marks Jordan's return to the vampire genre but with less success.In this doom laden tale of women trying to fight back. Clara (Gemma Arterton) works as a stripper and as a prostitute. She is chased by a man who has been pursuing her for years. The man is after Clara and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) a young teenager in Clara's care.Both Clara and Eleanor are vampires living in the shadows, seeking blood, finding a safe place to stay, earn money and keep away from people who are after them for centuries.Eleanor has written a journal for young ill man she has befriended. The journal reveals more about her and Clara's life. How Clara was driven into prostitution as a young girl and then entered the world of vampires. Clara broke an important rule and she and Eleanor have been on the run since then.The film is earnest, dark and listless. It is gloomy like the vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive. The special effects are cheap and the low budget is clear to see.For a film with a feminist bent, Gemma Arterton seems to be in sexy lingerie for most of the movie. Both women in all of these years never seem to have bettered themselves.
mocaler
A big problem which I see in most vampire stories is that they include too many supernatural elements. Byzantium goes for a more physical approach and I like that. Some elements which could be interpreted as supernatural are actually left to interpretation by the viewer. I think that it could have done better with the means by which people become vampires. But the rest is a purely physical tale. I also like the female orientation of the tale. The story also touches on some thought provoking sociological elements.
Giggy
I saw this on live TV either the year it came out or the following year. This one moved me. Unlike any other film I have ever seen. Only negative is it left me wanting more. Masterfully filmed, written and the acting is top notch. This is a powerful story of female vampires or revenant beings who do not age. What I loved about this film is how it felt like watching two films side by side one that takes place centuries ago in the past and another in modern day. I was fascinated by the unique approach the creators chose to explain how a revenant is made.
JohnnyWeissmuller
Neil Jordan's Byzantium stars Gemma Arterton and Saorise Ronan as two-hundred year-old mother and daughter vampires who are trying to survive in an English coastal town. They're on the lam after the mother, Clara, played by Arterton, falls foul of her strip club employees and kills a mysterious man whom she is pursued by in a thrilling chase near the start of the film. On the coastal town, a series of flashbacks offer insight into the story of these two girls, telling how they became undead and revealing the source of Clara's fears and paranoia. Eleanor, her daughter, wants to tell their story and cannot contain her thoughts, so endeavours to write her experiences down on paper. When her sanity and safety is questioned by a college lecturer, danger and panic ensues along with their past catching up. This is a vampire film that establishes some of its own rules and avoids many of the known tropes of the genre. Daylight isn't a problem for these creatures, whilst, in place of fangs, a talon-like thumbnail is used to pierce the wrists of willing participants or be throttled into the necks of victims and foes. A novel approach, although the film is too self-aware on occasions, but is played entirely straight and with much style and atmosphere. Arterton is terrific here, impressing once again with an assertive, sexy performance, which plays in contrast to the soft-spoken Ronan, whose Eleanor is gentle and introspective. The primary cast is small, but also includes Jonny Lee Miller, seen in flashback as syphilitic creep, whose actions are pivotal to the story. Daniel Mays, as a grief- stricken sap, whom Clara plays on for her and Eleanor's benefit. And Caleb Landry Jones, as a young waiter whom Eleanor befriends. At times, this is an invigorating and exciting film, although it's free of genuine scares. The blood does flow thick and occasionally fast, with the emphasis on mood and the telling of an intriguing story emphasised over creating scares. Unfortunately, this is dashed by a slightly contrived and obvious climax that works, if only just. Byzantium does some new things for the vampire film, but won't be considered revolutionary or pivotal in doing so. Whilst it's unlikely to find the audience numbers of the Twilight films or more generic crowd-pleasers. But this is a worthwhile and involving film that suffers a few plot holes too many, but is largely satisfying. Especially with such fine performances by the two splendid female leads.
