Byzantium

Seventeen years after adapting Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, Irish-born filmmaker Neil Jordan once again ventures into the gothic melodrama genre. Two mysterious women, Clara Webb (Gemma Arterton) and her demure daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan), seek sanctuary in a rundown British seaside resort, where morose Noel (Daniel Mays) allows them to stay in his dilapidated Byzantium Hotel—which Clara quickly transforms into a makeshift brothel. When quiet, introspective Eleanor befriends pale, terminally ill Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), she shares the women's haunting secret: namely, that they were born 200 years ago and survive on human blood. Using her retractable, pointed thumbnail (as opposed to fangs), Eleanor prefers the blood of the elderly, who welcome her with relief and gratitude. Meanwhile, brusque, uneducated Clara is determined to maintain a bond of silence, since mysterious pursuers from a male brotherhood of vampires are after the pair. When the townspeople start to die, Clara and Eleanor's immortal past finally catches up with them. Based on Moira Buffini's 2008 play A Vampire's Story, this lushly photographed adaptation stresses moody, romantic imagery over stark horror while telling a convoluted story-within-a-story that dates back to the Napoleonic Wars, when Clara was forced into prostitution by a Navy captain (Jonny Lee Miller) and Eleanor was placed in an orphanage. Although uneven, this minor work from a major director should be considered a strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include cast and crew interviews (77 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a beautiful but flawed film.] (S. Granger)