Byzantium (2012)

My first thought of the film "Byzantium" was, “Oh here we go again! Another vampire movie!” But upon watching “Byzantium”, I realised that I had a bit of a stereotypical view on what vampire movies are. "Byzantium" was a vampire film like none I have ever seen. It has a lot of blood and gore in it, which matches other many other vampire films, e.g. Let Me In, and has a really good story line to it. The film, directed by Neill Jordan, has an interesting story about a mother/daughter relationship, with an obvious twist. They are vampires. It tells the story of Eleanor Webb, played by actress Saoirse Ronan, and her mother Clara, played by Gemma Arterton, whose last name we can guess is also Webb, although we never get told this, and we find out that Eleanor and her mother have moved all over the place, which we learn from her monologue whilst writing down the story of her life, which we get to listen to later on in the film. The cinematography used in the film is very effective at showing the characters emotions and the way Eleanor and Clara react to the people around them. It is also different from other vampire films as we get to see the deaths of Eleanor and Clara’s victims, rather than see them walk towards the victim and then cut to another scene, which is what usually happens in vampire movies. Although, as stated, the camera shows us the deaths of the victim’s there is one scene where we do not see the death of a victim, but we know that the obvious has happened, in which Eleanor, after visiting Frank in hospital, has a craving for blood, and decides to fill her thirst with blood from an elderly patient in the hospital. We see the old woman and Eleanor in the hospital room, through the frosted glass window, and then the see cuts away and we know that the old woman is now dead and that Eleanor’s thirst is now satiated. This use of cinematography and editing is very effective at making us wonder how she killed and drained the old woman off blood which is a good part of the film, because it gives us, the audience, a chance to imagine our own ways as to how she died. I also think that the sound and the composition of the music in "Byzantium", also helps to show to the audience that this is a vampire film and is used effectively all throughout the film. One scene that is very memorable for its sound has to be the scene in which Clara enters the shrine, in which she becomes a vampire. The moment she enters the shrine, a huge flock of bats erupt from the ground and fly out of a hole in the roof of the chamber. This, in my opinion is one of the best and also well done scenes in the film, as when you first watch the film, the bats suddenly flying upwards has a sort of jump scare quality to it, as you are not expecting it to happen. It also helps give the scene some suspense, as you know something is about to happen, but you don’t exactly know what. In 2014, the film won multiple awards including an award for best actress, and the Irish Film and Television Awards gave it an award for best director, and best lead actress and it was also nominated for best film by the IFTA. Personally, I believe that these awards are well deserved as both the acting and the directing for this film was very effective and helped to show the story to the audience and made the film very interesting to watch. Rotten Tomatoes, a film review website, gave it a score of 62%, based on 102 reviews written, and stated “Director Neil Jordan remains as expert as ever when it comes to setting a chilling mood, but "Byzantium" struggles to match its creepily alluring atmosphere with a suitably compelling story.” In my opinion, I believe that the moral message of the film, is that no matter how big a secret you have, you can never keep it hidden, and that it will, in some way, shape or form, be told to the world, or in this case, the neighbouring seaside resort, and I think it also shows the struggle of bringing up a child as a single mother, whilst hiding a dark secret that cannot be shared. I believe that it is one of the best vampire films I have seen, to date, but if there is one thing that really confused me was the scenes in which the “vampires to be” enter the shrine and then they see the vampire version of themselves and says “This is the end” etc. It begs the question, “How are do they become a vampire? How can they see themselves?” and I think this is a good part of the film, but it also gives the film a big plot hole as you want to know how they become immortal. Overall, I feel that this is a fantastic vampire movie and I would definitely watch this film again and if I were to give anyone advice on what film to watch, I would definitely recommend "Byzantium".