Byzantium

Director Neil Jordan, who made Interview With A Vampire nearly 20 years ago, is back in the genre with Byzantium, a coming-of-age story about a 16 year-old girl, who is actually 200.

 

Saoirse Ronan plays Eleanor, an insular succreant or bloodsucker, who is forced to move from place to place because her succreant mother Clara, played by Gemma Arterton, works as a hooker, who likes to feed on her clients.   They are, also, being pursued by a cabal of male succreants, who are not happy with their being the only two females of the species and want to get rid of them.

 

They take refuge in a seaside town, living in a rundown hotel named Byzantium where most of the story evolves.

 

I’ve already mentioned in my review of The Host that Saoirse is the finest actress under 20 and, here, she, again, proves it.  Ronan expresses with looks more than most can express with the best of lines.

I believe this film has distribution through IFC, so I expect it will be out this summer or fall and it is well worth seeing.  Written by Moira Buffini, it is a unique take on the vampire genre.

 

I give Byzantium a 3+ out of 5.