X
- 2013
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 58 m
- 2013
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 58 m
Summary A mother and daughter vampire duo settle in a small seaside town where the daughter strikes up a relationship with a sick boy.
Directed By: Neil Jordan
Written By: Moira Buffini
- 2013
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 58 m
- 2013
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 58 m
Byzantium
66
7.0
Where to Watch
Summary A mother and daughter vampire duo settle in a small seaside town where the daughter strikes up a relationship with a sick boy.
Directed By: Neil Jordan
Written By: Moira Buffini
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
66
74% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
22% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
4% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
66
74% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
22% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
4% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Again and again, as the story shifts between women, times and moods, Mr. Jordan adds a punctuating flourish...that exquisitely illustrates the once-upon-a-time mood.
Byzantium isn't Jordan's first movie about bloodsuckers—that would be 1994's Interview with the Vampire—but it's the right vampire movie for today, poetic and elegant in an artfully tattered way.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 88 User Ratings
7.0
61% Positive
54 Ratings
54 Ratings
33% Mixed
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
6% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 88 User Ratings
7.0
61% Positive
54 Ratings
54 Ratings
33% Mixed
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
6% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
Unless you're looking for a fantasy romance like Twilight, Byzantium is a must-watch for those who want to see a different, well thought out take on the genre.
Whilst this film is rather slow paced, I feel that only enhanced the telling of the story we aren't told everything in one go, and as a result I became more invested in the characters and their stories.
Overall a good story beautifully told.
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While it flirts with the ridiculous, the film manages to maintain a certain gravitas as its many stories unfold.
Byzantium's appeal is not so much its bite, which could use some refining, but the emotional journey its undead take. In Jordan's hands, the vampires are so very human.
Forlorn depictions of love and death may dignify Neil Jordan's film, but narrative withholding ultimately drives a stake into its unmistakable heart.
Jordan’s apparent resolve to make an anti-Twilight unfortunately results in a movie that, if not for a fistful of moments of shock, style and excess, would be as drained of colour and tension as Ronan’s victims are of hemoglobin.
Neil Jordan’s Byzantium dares to rework “Twilight” with twice the teen moping and Robert Pattinson replaced by a guy with the sexual magnetism of a sickly Ron Weasley.
This is a fairly atmospheric watch, with a solid performance by Saoirse Ronan. Its somewhat dark and fairly sinister in tone I suppose, although it does feel like the whole vampire category of horror/thriller film has been, pardon the pun, done to death by now, so in that sort of a sense its fairly predictable. I liked the use of music in it and I suppose it didn't feel as tacky as some of the similar films aimed at teens do (like Twilight etc.). The cast is good and it was interesting to see in terms of it being set in Britain, rather than the US, for a change but I can't say I found it entirely engrossing or anything like that. Its ok and I liked that Tom Hollander (who plays Rev in the BBC sitcom of the same name) is in it but its not a great watch, so I wouldn't expressly recommend it as such, no.
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A mother and daughter, who happen to be vampires, struggle to maintain anonymity while also struggling with the perils of being a vampire and falling in love. There are a lot of flashbacks to relate the story of the creation of Clara (Gemma Arterton) and her subsequent creation of Eleanor (Saorise Ronan). Eleanor struggles with identity and new love, while Clara struggles with parenting a rebellious teenager and keeping them safe from a looming secret.
It's a beautifully dark and brooding film, which comes as no surprise with Neil Jordan (Interview with a Vampire) at the helm. But where Interview was rich and developed, with drama and tension in the relationships it simmered up over its meandering course, Byzantium is flat, lifeless, and thin for most of its two hour running time, picking up speed and becoming interesting JUST before the credits roll.
Despite good casting, good performances, excellent cinematography, and a cool vampire mythos, there just isn't enough story here to drive a movie. If you're really into vampires you might dig it. Otherwise, you'll be fine without.
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A vampire mother and daughter escape to a seaside village, where they struggle to continue their anonymous existence. While mom (Gemma Atherton) establishes a brothel to make money, the daughter (Saoirse Ronan) expresses her desire to tell the truth with lots of flashbacks into their "making." This is not an effects-laden horror flic. They don't have any superhuman powers or even fangs. It's a somber drama that takes it's time, but in the hands of director Neil Jordan (The Borgias,The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) it develops into a compelling climax.
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Production Company
Number 9 Films,
Parallel Film Productions,
Demarest Films,
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board,
Lipsync Productions,
Comptom Investments,
The Government of Ireland,
BFI Film Fund,
MEDIA Programme of the European Union
Release Date Jun 28, 2013
Duration 1 h 58 m
Rating R
Awards
Irish Film and Television Awards
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
• 3 Nominations
Irina Palm d'Or
• 2 Nominations
