My Vampire Weekend
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jaydk was supposed to visit this weekend for the purpose of drinking red wine and watching the ends of Robin Hood and Torchwood (you understand why the wine would be a necessity). Alas, the MTA thwarted our plans: the L train wasn’t running and jaydk didn’t want to deal with fighting to get on a sweltering, overcrowded, unbelievably slow shuttle bus. So we’ll save the bad TV for next weekend.
Dear MTA: I fucking hate you.
So, I stayed home and had a bit of a vampire-themed weekend. Netflix isn’t worth it when you keep the movies around for months, so I finally forced myself to watch The Hunger. This movie wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be based on the abominable reviews. It’s visually stunning, just gorgeous. The reviews complain that it’s “style over substance,” but film is a visual medium and isn’t the ability to create such incredible images something to be lauded? Yes, it doesn’t lead you by the hand narratively (there are very few words in this film at all), but you can piece together the meaning based on the images. And you end up with something a lot more ambiguous and impressionistic when most of the meaning comes from images; it slips past the verbal part of your brain and gets into your subconscious in a way that’s more similar to music than to your typical movie. I wasn’t surprised to hear Tony Scott on the commentary saying that he was inspired by Nicolas Roeg.
I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this before; I think this must be one of the most “gothic” movies ever. It opens with Bauhaus performing “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”! I thought the plot and characters made perfect sense until the end, which was apparently tacked on in hopes of a sequel. But before that, it was about the horrors of age and how far people are willing to go to avoid it, about love and betrayal and whether some fates are worse than death. Until the end undercut it, the interesting part was the contrast of Bowie’s character, who was willing to do anything including kill someone he cared for to live forever, and the fact that Susan Sarandon’s character preferred death to immortality if immortality came with the need to kill. And the contrast of Bowie killing the little girl with Catherine Deneuve giving her lovers immortality, claiming to care for them (and apparently believing it herself) but knowing that the cost for them will be an eternity as a rotting corpse in a box.
Apparently most of the press for this movie centered around the ~OMG SHOCKING~ lesbian sex scene, which is actually like five minutes long and not explicit at all. People are weird. I guess it would’ve been a big deal in 1983? This was an incredibly beautiful film full of incredibly beautiful people, though, which is really the main pleasure of watching it. It’s so stylish and atmospheric, and all three leads are stunning in unique and odd ways. Bowie’s not in it enough, but he’s lovely until he gets covered in age makeup (and he does a great job acting the aging process through body language). Catherine Deneuve has this wonderfully icy quality with a kind of longing need underneath, and Susan Sarandon is the kind of strong, competent, beautiful person that you could believe a several-thousand-year-old vampire would be drawn to.
So, yeah. Don’t watch this movie for the plot, just enjoy the pretty and you won’t be disappointed.
Then I watched the first two episodes of True Blood, which… wait, people said The Hunger was just an excuse for softcore porn? ‘Cause… yeah. But to be fair, True Blood wasn’t awful or anything. Anna Paquin is immensely talented, several of the characters seem like they could be interesting (I’m initially drawn to Tara and Lafayette), the setting is incredibly well-done and intriguing, and the opening credits are awesome. It didn’t blow me away, though, and in particular I can’t figure out why everyone seems to thinks Bill, the vampire, is supposed to be hot. That guy is hideous. So far none of the characters are standing out as the type of OTC that would make me fannish, but I’ll give it until the end of the first season to hook me.
Tags: david bowie, movie reviews, true blood
10 Responses to “My Vampire Weekend”
cindergal on July 13, 2009 1:30 pm | Link
I’m glad you liked The Hunger. As I mentioned before, I had a similar reaction - worth it for the atmosphere and visually stunning, but not big on the plotty.
As for True Blood, no one I know thinks Bill is hot, really, so you’re not alone. I enjoy his character, though Sam is my favorite. Tara and Lafayette are both awesome and only become more so as the season goes on. I wonder what you will think of Eric…
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rusty-halo on July 13, 2009 2:50 pm | Link
I enjoyed The Man Who Fell to Earth a lot more than The Hunger. They’re both very similar in that they’re driven by visuals and create their meaning through atmosphere, mood, and style rather than words. But it’s clear that a lot of thought went into the layers of meaning in Man Who Fell to Earth even if they’re not literally spelled out, whereas The Hunger really doesn’t go very deep once you get past the shiny surface.
But, man, what a gorgeous film.
Who’s Eric? Is he in the first season?
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cindergal on July 13, 2009 2:59 pm | Link
Eric shows up later in Season 1, yes. He’s the vampire “sheriff” in Louisiana. He does not have Bill’s issues with being a vampire. ;-)
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chase820 on July 13, 2009 2:29 pm | Link
I thought you might enjoy The Hunger. I haven’t seen it in years but I remember liking it. Plot aside, the sheer beauty of the three leads is enough to carry you through.
I’m quite fond of Eric on True Blood. I don’t see the appeal of Bill, either.
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rusty-halo on July 13, 2009 3:51 pm | Link
the sheer beauty of the three leads is enough to carry you through.
Totally.
Strangely enough, I tend to forget that David Bowie is so pretty as I’m listening to his music and focusing on the artistry and ideas. Then I put on one of his films or videos and guh. I go from contemplating the meaning of his art to imagining what era I’d visit him in if I had a TARDIS. :P
I’ll give True Blood until the end of the season. I’m already pretty sure it’s not something I’ll get fannish about, though. But you never know.
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Paratti on July 13, 2009 6:39 pm | Link
I loved The Hunger when it came out and I think it’s held up pretty well.
True Blood gets better as series one goes on, though I didn’t find Eric interesting until S2.
Tara and Lafayette are great.
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rusty-halo on July 13, 2009 10:59 pm | Link
Do you think S2 is significantly better than S1? If I’m not hooked with S1, is there any point in continuing to S2?
I think The Hunger must look better now than it did then. All the reviews I read from that era criticize it for being “trendy,” but now it just looks classy and gothic and gorgeous!
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Paratti on July 14, 2009 9:24 am | Link
I do think S2 is better. Not least that its funnier and the characters are snarkier but I’m also enjoying its approach to sex.
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Lisa on July 13, 2009 8:03 pm | Link
Beats me why Bill on True Blood is supposed to be hot. He’s occasionally funny (at his own expense) but not really all that hot to me. Frankly, I don’t give much of a flip about the Bill/Sookie twu wuv.
Lafayette on the other hand is all kinds of awesom.
I don’t know that I’d call True Blood “good” but I do find it to be enteretaining.
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rusty-halo on July 13, 2009 11:02 pm | Link
Yeah, twu wuv is definitely NOT my kind of story! Hopefully there’ll be something else to draw me in… though after BtVS and AtS I have sworn off shows in which my favorite character isn’t the lead. So I don’t think this has any chance of being my Next Big Fandom or anything.
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