Director Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire, The Crying Game) returns with the spooky, arty vampire flick Byzantium. Dialogue-heavy and character-driven, Byzantium stands out in 2013. At a time when many films are little more than glorified video games, Jordan's chiller relies on the emotional interactions of its cast to tell a scary, multi-layered tale of the undead.
The film derives its title from an old, largely deserted Victorian hotel that's seen better days. It's in this foggy seaside setting that lonely Noel lives. He meets Clara (Gemma Arterton), a sex worker who supports her younger, weary sister Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan), and allows them to move in. The ladies are harboring quite a secret: they're actually mother and daughter, and they've been wandering the countryside for 200 years. When Eleanor falls in love with the sexy, doomed Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), she feels compelled to reveal their secret. What happens next leads Byzantium to a startling climax.
Jordan shoots his film the way movies used to be made. He filmed on location, in an atmospheric if rundown seaside village in the UK. His actors play off one another in these very real locales. The sun never shines. The fog floats in off the rolling waves, settling on the drab, greyish buildings. The ever-present dampness in the air creates a chilly mood that pulls the viewer into the dark lives of these characters.
The cast is superb. Arterton and Ronan spar beautifully as a mother and daughter who are exhausted after centuries of wandering. There's an obvious resentment and an undeniable love between them. Arterton is particularly good as a hard-boiled woman who turns tricks and kills without a second thought. But she's no villain. Clara is a loving mom who does what she has to in order to provide for and protect her child. Jones will break your heart as the teenage, leukemia-ridden Frank. He sees the undead state as the only "cure" available to him for his fatal illness.
Slow-moving, atmospheric and surprisingly moving, Byzantium is the work of a craftsman who's in complete control of his work. As he did with Interview with the Vampire and the gender-bending Crying Game, Jordan sets the table perfectly, then lets the mood take over. His camera peers deep into the souls of the denizens of Byzantium. (Opens on Friday at Opera Plaza Cinemas.)