Totally unrealistic.. - Byzantium (2013) Discussion

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Now that you mention it, Newstar, the lack of rain was odd for London, and also odd for a vampire movie. Rainy scenes would befit both. Do you think that showing no rain in the whole movie constitutes a major plot hole in Byzantium?

reply

[–] newstar877 11 years ago

Well, it completely ruined it for me...Mind you, i am writing this while half of Hertfordshire, where I live, is under water, flooded due to the non-stop torrential rain we've had for weeks. That *may* have influenced my post a tad...

Valhalla Rising with Mads Mikkelson, there is a film with a dark brooding atmosphere, heavy grey skies and every now and then, a bit of rain. Even First Blood: Rambo part 1 has a memorable rainy section. And dont forget Bladerunner's rain-soaked finale.

This film looked like it was trying to look grim and realistic without the cast and crew having to make too much effort or get their hair wet. Maybe they all left their umbrellas in Hollywood and just sat out the rainy days...

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

I am writing from Ottawa, where we currently enjoy 3 feet of accumulated snow on the ground. We've had no rain for months, but plenty of snow flurries.

Yes, many movies are enhanced by a rain-soaked sheen in their final scenes, or in their funeral scenes, etc. Like Blade Runner or Se7en and loads more films. Byzantium is definitely the kind of broody movie which could have benefited from a significant drizzly scene, or two.

But tell us, New, did you like Byzantium anyway?

If you're interested, my feelings about Byzantium are captured in a previous board message at:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531901/board/nest/224197998?d=225357602#2 25357602

reply

[–] newstar877 11 years ago

It was ok..despite all my moaning. Like other posters here, there were lots of plot holes, like how come after 200 years Clara still can only make a living as a prostitute; and Elenor hasn't gotten over her past in 200 years either but she is quite up to date on the philosophy and morality of voluntary euthanasia (which they could have gone into more). And there was other stuff.

But the mystery aspect and building up the story kind of worked, like you said in your review, but took too long. The vampire myth was kind of different but they could have done without the gimmicks like the red waterfalls. It kind of portrayed the brotherhood as any other secret club of power hungry misogynistic ignorant wannabes, like Freemasons, which was a nice touch (the crusades/ byzantium reference was a subtle reference to that I think). But Gemma Arterton is the main reason I watched the film, tbh, I think she's great :)

reply

[–] zzz05 11 years ago

Yeah, you'd think that hormone - fueled teenage rebellion would have somewhat resolved, given 200 years.

reply

[–] gareth-hoover 11 years ago

Well, she's perpetually sixteen, so I guess those hormones were there to stay.

reply

[–] malcolm-smith 11 years ago

Where was it actually supposed to be set? It could have been almost anywhere though filmed in Ireland and England.

At least London has fewer days rain than New York which is what a lot of Merkins always seem to forget.

Mind you if we had rain in this film then there would be comparisons with Blade Runner...

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Hi Malcolm. I thought the movie must take place in London, England, or maybe Brighton or some other English seaside town.

reply

[–] kmd11 11 years ago

It's a movie about vampires and you are upset about the totally unrealistic lack of rain?

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Hey KMD. I think Newstar is being a bit tongue-in-cheek by saying this movie was totally unrealistic since it had no rainy scenes. Byzantium had bigger probs than lack of rain, such as slow pacing, and too much vampire cliche. I think Newstar was not really too upset by the lack of rain in this movie - he was just trying to be a bit humourous.

If you read all of Newstar's posts on this board, you should understand that Newstar thought the whole movie turned out to be ok. As did I.

How did you like Byzantium yourself, KMD ?

reply

[–] arkast 11 years ago

It did rain...

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Really? There were distinct rainy scenes in this movie? Are you certain?

Because then, that would mean everything we have written on this board is based . . .

On a LIE! A fabrication? Every single bloody word written here was a waste of time? (Like this post.)

reply

[–] arkast 11 years ago

Sorry to dissapoint you mate.
It's 1 hour and 12 min. in. The scene where the boy shows up and says to Gemma Arterton that she read Eleanor's story. Then Eleanor runs and finds him at a bus stop or something. It happens only once though

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Well, I stand corrected. Thanx for pointing out this rain scene, arkast.

How did you like the movie Byzantium yourself, arkast?

reply

[–] LadyBeth10 11 years ago

Yes that was a rainy scene. Thank you. But am I to believe that Newstar's gripe is the weather? My big break was in Oliver Stone's "The Doors." We were shooting in Malibu at a gorgeous 2 story house on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. A freak fog rolled in around 2:00 that afternoon. My line was, "Look at that view. Groovy!" But you couldn't see a damn thing. It was June, sunny one minute, then so foggy the next, you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you. That's why you won't see the wedding scene in "The Doors," only the the scenes after. You can never predict the weather. Not even when you're shooting a film.

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

So Lady, do you appear at all in the finished cut of The Doors? And say a line? Or was your whole scene skipped because the fog came in?

Are you a big movie star today? Are you really Meg Ryan? Or Julia Roberts?

reply

[–] arkast 11 years ago

Wow, i'm late to answer but it's ok i guess.
To be honest spanny i didn't care about the movie at all. I found it pretty generic without any aspect of it surpassing mediocrity.
The only reason i saw it in the first place was Ronan because i think she has a lot of potential. I was kind of disappointed too by the fact that her character share a lot of similiraties with that of Violet and Daisy and Hanna.

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Thanx for answering how you felt about this movie, arkast. I respect your opinion and I can see how you felt that way. My own view of the film is close to yours.

Here is what I wrote on an earlier board about Byzantium:

"For the first 90 minutes or so, this felt like a standard vampire movie following the standard rules of vampires in the movies. All cliches, nothing that had not been done before in hundreds of vampires movies, and done better before. I thought I would learn nothing new about vampires in the whole movie. Plus the first 90 minutes seemed so slow.

Then, the screenwriter introduced the sucriants and the brotherhood and a few other original concepts that were tangential to the vampirism. Then the action scenes started and some plot revelations and Clara turned into a cool action hero and we learned exactly what Clara was protecting Eleanor from.

And I remembered that Neil Jordan knows how to make a good film. But he paced this movie too poorly and unevenly to qualify it as a great movie. I rate Byzantium at 7/10 stars."

reply

[–] arkast 11 years ago

Even though i agree with your reasoning for your rating, i think you are a little too kind. The first 90 minutes can't be saved by a quite original idea-ending. At least not for me. The pacing of the movie was really butt and although it tried to give some new things it just didn't work for me.
A good ending can save a mediocre film but it felt like the whole movie was created for that 10-15 minutes. The other 80 something was like nothing.
I gave it a harsh 4/10 and i consider myself to generally give better ratings than deserved.

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Strictly speaking, I think you are right, arkast. I think I did rate Byzantium too highly, at 7 stars. The end of the movie pumped it all up for me, and gave a hint of a better movie that Byzantium could have been. So I think I rated it too highly, based on how much I liked the ending.

I have just dropped my imdb rating to 6 stars. Now, are you happy, arkast? (Don't you dare try to make me lower my rating any more. After all, as you pointed out, it did actually rain once in Byzantium, which made the whole movie a much higher quality film after all. )

reply

[–] LadyBeth10 11 years ago

No. I considered that a sign from God. Lol! I am now a healer. But it was fun. I was a singer too. There's an album with 2 tracks of mine online. Check out MarkDavidDecker.com. I sing on the album Jawbreaker. Mark wrote the songs.

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Thanx for answering Beth. I'm sure you could have been a big star like Julia Roberts, if you had wanted, and had stuck with the movies.

I listened to the Jawbreaker songs and they are pretty good. I like your vocals on Jawbreaker and Summertime Love - pretty powerful stuff. Thanx for pointing me to this online album. (The precise link is: http://marcdaviddecker.com/music_new_pages/jawbreaker.html )

reply

[–] spanny1 11 years ago

Oh, and I'm glad you liked Byzantium Beth. I think from reading your posts on the other Byzantium boards, that you got a lot out of this movie. I didn't like the whole movie as much as you (I thought the first 90 minutes kind of dragged, for instance), but my wife and I are pleased that we watched it nevertheless.

reply

[–] fullserve 10 years ago

Bravo!!!

reply

[–] npfares 11 years ago

Dude, Buddy, Pal, calm down for a moment. For starters if you have to nitpick like you are doing then it goes to show that you are trying to find an excuse to not like a movie when it is obviously a very well done movie. Secondly, how the Hell would you know the weather, day by day, during the time period of the movie? Are you psychic? Thirdly, it's a movie, not real life. So stop trying to compare it to reality because, guess what! It isn't reality. Fourthly, you completely missed the entire point of the movie. It wasn't about the weather setting the mood. It was the entire movie that set up the mood, it included but not limited to, the weather, the music, the pain that the characters were experiencing, their inability to change for long periods of time, where the reasons for "cold, and gritty tale" that you speak of.

reply

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Littlebitsofgaming 11 years ago

It does not always rain in London, that's probably why.

And so, God came forth and proclaimed widescreen is the best.
Sony 16:9

reply

[–] Gabe1972 11 years ago

Very true regarding the lack of rain, as that would be highly unusual for the UK, but I don't believe that the lack of rain turns this into a family friendly Disney cartoon.

That's like saying that The Exorcist is a Saturday Morning Cartoon because, when measured against today's films, it has no gore.

Would rain have made it gloomier? Perhaps, but not necessarily, but it is still surely an intelligent, adult oriented vampire flick.

The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?

reply

[–] nordic-winds1969 11 years ago

Hello Newstar!

I am late in the game with the posting here but I just watched the movie last night. You point out an interesting key point to the movie, no rain and really no fog.

That all of a sudden takes some of my "that was an interesting twist" away from the movie. I honestly liked it. It was a different view and I did not mind the brooding 200 year old teenager because I sort of compared her to Louis in The Vampire Lastat (sp?). He was always complaining and brooding about his afterlife.

I did not get this movie as too much as an upbeat movie though. They focused on what it would be like if woman were to be "allowed" to be a vampire. One was unable to change and hated men, on a whole, because of the way her before-life had turned out. So to stay in that profession, it made a strange sort of sense. I know you did not comment on that but I am making that statement.

As for our teen, she valued life. She did not want to take the life of someone who was not ready to leave. That shows the more compassionate side that would be noted as a woman's trait in the eyes of some. Being as this was supposed to be a Brotherhood, it was a twist.

Unfortunately, details, such as the weather, can really mess up a movie, especially if you are from that area and are experiencing the full down pour! I am in sunny, overly dry, California. Seriously, we would love some of the rain everyone else has been suffering. I do not mean that rudely. It sprinkled the other day and I stood outside and just took it all in...sad really.

I am sorry the weather ruined the movie, or so it seemed. I love all things vampire and am usually very critical of any changes from what I have read up on. I should have been upset that they could be in the daylight and there was the lack of fangs, although, I think that is more Hollywood and a few other details. But it was different and it did not make them sparkle! Even though I liked Twilight, I hated some of the changes they made on the vampires there too.

Anyhow, Have a good week!

reply

[–] phantomF-12 11 years ago

What do you mean it didn't rain once?

There were raindrops on the window when she (Eleonor) looked out at the Pier from the Hotel window.

And it was raining when Frank came to the Hotel after reading her story and when they then stood under that Bus-stop shelter.

reply