This one was Scott’s first film and it’s really
interesting. There’s this vampire named
Miriam (Catherine Deneuve (Repulsion))
who has a lover, also a vampire, named John (David Bowie (music shit)). They’ve been together for hundreds of years
but suddenly John ages decades in a single day.
Miriam puts him away in a box (coffin?) because he’s gotten to the point
where he can’t really move much but he’s still alive. In order to get a new companion Miriam goes
after Sarah (Susan Sarandon (The Client,
White Palace)), a doctor specializing in accelerated aging.
So we’re really at a transition point here and for most of
the movie I thought it was an odd yet fascinating position to tell this story
from. Usually with these vampire flicks
one blood sucker turns someone at the beginning (Interview with the Vampire) or attempts to put the bite on their
target at the end (Dracula) so we
have a whole picture with these characters.
Here the second most important role gets switched half way through. But it’s not disappointing or awkward. Instead it comes off refreshing.
However the story isn’t exactly the most important thing
with this one. I know that sounds pretty
fucking stupid but just hang on a sec.
This is a mood piece. The
cinematography is some of the best I’ve seen and it was done by Stephen Goldblatt who did Lethal
Weapon 1 & 2, Young Sherlock Holmes, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin
and Striptease. Jesus, that’s a resume. But of course it’s all under the direction of
Tony Scott. He definitely took some
heavy influence from his brother Ridley.
There are tons of shadows, creative lighting, plenty of smoke and haze,
dull blue and black colors with splashes of bright red thrown in for wonderful
effect, great imposing and also personal camera work. Scarves, birds, cages and other shit are put
directly in front of the camera layering your view and there are good
performances all around from the cast.
Scott and Goldblatt paint a beautiful picture for us to look at.
And also the editing is fucking crazy. The first ten minutes or so are especially
off the wall. Almost Terrence Malick-y. It’s more about a feeling and how the images
add up as a whole than one particular shot and I dig that.
The music and sound design is yet another awesome feature of
this movie. The song played at the
beginning, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus, is the perfect way to set this thing
up. It’s washed out, punkish and pretty gothy. The rest of the soundtrack is either
classical or sound effects and it all works surprisingly incredibly well.
I don’t want to leave out the makeup effects either or “make
up illusions” as it says in the credits.
Holy shit do they look good. They
nailed the aging Bowie and rotting corpses.
Miriam with her pale complexion, vivid red lips and gold blonde hair is
treated with just as much care.
The ending was really great too. This is where those make up effects blossom
fully into damn creepy imagery. It was
totally not what I expected and badass.
Well except for the very last scene which the studio forced Scott to put
in but the rest of the picture was so good that I can overlook it.
I liked this one a lot but this is definitely not for
everyone. In fact there’s a good chance
that a whole bunch of you won’t be into it.
It’s slow and extremely moody.
Pretentious? I would say yes except
that it’s Tony fucking Scott. The man went
on to do Top Gun after this and Beverly Hills Cop II. This is one of his best in my opinion and
unlike anything else he would ever do in the rest of his career. I never would’ve pegged him as such an arty
fuckin’ guy but he created something special with this piece.
I’ll miss you man and take a moment of silence to pour one
on the curb. You were a good one.
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