Byzantium

Cast of Characters:

Clara Webb - Gemma Arterton

Eleanor Webb - Saoirse Ronan

Darvell - Sam Riley

Captain Ruthven - Johnny Lee Miller

Noel - Daniel Mays

Frank - Caleb Landry Jones

Director - Neil Jordan

Screenplay - Moira Buffini

Based on the play A Vampire Story by Moira Buffini

Rated R for bloody violence, sexual content and language

      Gemma Arterton and Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan star together in Academy Award winner Neil Jordan's return to the vampire tale, Byzantium. Smart money is on this still being a better love story than Twilight.

      Byzantium weaves in and out of the present day lives and flashbacks of mother and daughter vampires, Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor Webb (Saoirse Ronan). Their story together dates back 200 years ago during the Napoleonic Wars, when young Eleanor was abandoned by her mother Clara, who has been forced into prostitution by Captain Ruthven (Johnny Lee Miller). When a chance to achieve immortality presented itself to her, Clara obviously jumped at it. Unfortunately for her, the vampire brotherhood is strictly an elite men's club. Despite those within the brotherhood, such as Darvell (Sam Riley), sparing her life, they still exclude both her and her daughter and shun them as outcasts.

      Two centuries later, Clara and Eleanor are on the run. Eleanor tends to the elderly, using her "gift" as a way to provide them peace from their discomfort. Clara manages to make ends meet for them by stripping and hooking.  While seeking refuge in a rundown coastal resort, Clara sets her sights on the lonely Noel (Daniel Mays), who has just inherited the Byzantium Hotel, a once-thriving inn that has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. Clara turns the Byzantium into a brothel where she and her daughter can quench their thirst for human blood while maintaining a low-profile. Meanwhile, Eleanor falls for Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), a hapless yet likeable young waiter who unwittingly draws out the natural storyteller in her. Amidst a string of mysterious disappearances in the town, Frank begins to realize that Eleanor's tales are much more than dark fantasy.

      Let's see. In the past five years we've had anything to do with vampires shoved down our throats - Twilight (all five films), The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Let the Right One In, Let Me In (The American remake), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Daybreakers, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. With a few exceptions (Daybreakers and the excellent Let the Right One In), most have been garbage. Byzantium is from Neil Jordan though, and if that name seems unfamiliar to you, he directed Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, one of the best vampire films of the past twenty years. Jordan, whether it's a vampire film or not, always brings a tone and mood that fits perfectly within the film, and here is no exception. Whether it's Sean Bobbitt's gorgeous cinematography, Consolata Boyle's costume design or the art direction provided by Bill Crutcher and Martin Goulding, this film keeps a hold of our attention from beginning to end. Unlike other vampire stories we've seen before, this film is more in the vein of Let the Right One In, a film that focuses on characters who just happen to be vampires rather than the vampire myth itself. At the heart of the story, we have Clara and Eleanor - both different in personality and ideology - and their troubled relationship as mother and daughter that has gone on for centuries. Writer Moira Buffini, for the most part, strips away most of the folklore elements associated with vampires. There are no wooden stakes, crucifixes, garlic, sleeping in coffins, they can walk in daylight, and they don't turn others into vampires (they're transformed through an island tomb), and although elements such as the power to lure others, only entering by way of an invite and of course feasting on human blood to survive are used, that's what I enjoyed about the film. There's a realism captured within it where most of the characters find it hard to believe that Clara and Eleanor could be vampires (there's a brilliant scene concerning this involving Eleanor and a teacher that's both chilling and humorous). Like I said, this isn't about any vampire myth. This is about characters who happen to be vampires. Like any Neil Jordan film, he manages to bring out the best in his cast. To be honest, as great as Tom Cruise is as an actor, the thought of him playing a vampire doesn't even sound appealing on paper (a casting decision that novelist Anne Rice was dead set against at first). Your mind changes once you actually have seen Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles and you most certainly have to credit director Jordan for that. Here we're treated to two terrific performances from Arterton and Ronan. Ronan gives possibly one of her best performances to date as the quiet and at times sad Eleanor, and Arterton comes alive with just the right amount of cruelty, sexiness and wicked attitude for her character. Caleb Landry Jones (probably most recognizable now as Banshee in X-Men: First Class) is also great as the shy boy who Eleanor gradually warms up to. It's a beautifully awkward relationship somewhat similar to the relationship seen between Oskar and Eli in Let the Right One In.

      If there was any gripe I had about the film, it's that the ending could've been better. It's not bad, and it certainly doesn't derail the film, but a touch up on the climax wouldn't have hurt. That being said, Arterton and Ronan are perfect together, the supporting cast behind them is equally strong, Buffini's script weaves in and out from the present to flashbacks at just the right moments without throwing the viewer off, and Neil Jordan's signature visual style injects a hauntingly beautiful feel that we don't quite see anymore in this familiar story topic. As far as the vampire tale's concerned, Hollywood certainly has been beating a dead horse and milking the cow 'til there's nothing's left. It's always great though when a little film like this comes along and breathes some originality back into the genre. I give Byzantium an A- (★★★½).