The opening of this was quite amazing. Some great imagery, great acting choices, interesting tone. Thought it was going to become a vampire allegory ala The Addiction, but with a more modern slant. A tribute to what you can do on a micro budget.
Then upon the introduction of the second titular character every scene becomes monologues of characters talking about far more interesting things than what they had the budget to film and how those things informed who they are, breaking a primary rule of filmmaking, show don't tell. We don't need to know what a character will do if we never see them act and their actions have nothing to do with the movie. That's just a writer sacrificing story and characters for the sake of world building.
Which is dumb, because the world they built was rife with cliche after cliche. The smaller more interesting story of Theresa seemed on the verge of saying something original about the modern world with its juxtaposition of horror imagery, graphic nudity, and disassociated longing for something else.
Ariella Hope is good though. In the first half she is in fact quite excellent. You feel her desire, her pain. You care even though she's just been introduced. She conveys empathy as naturally as Jake Gyllenhaal. Then later she tries her hardest to make it seem like every new character that comes in and talks for ten minutes is providing something relevant to her journey, even if they don't. Not even remotely. You believe her conflict even though it all just centers around someone she met that day. She has a lot of talent and I really wish they had used that ability to tell the story I thought they were going for: vampirism as a metaphor for mistaking sex as intimacy, the dangers of projection, confusing longing for a connection.
Instead, they talked for an hour and a half about a world they never showed us for a bunch of sequels they aren't likely to make, starring all the characters I didn't care about.
Then upon the introduction of the second titular character every scene becomes monologues of characters talking about far more interesting things than what they had the budget to film and how those things informed who they are, breaking a primary rule of filmmaking, show don't tell. We don't need to know what a character will do if we never see them act and their actions have nothing to do with the movie. That's just a writer sacrificing story and characters for the sake of world building.
Which is dumb, because the world they built was rife with cliche after cliche. The smaller more interesting story of Theresa seemed on the verge of saying something original about the modern world with its juxtaposition of horror imagery, graphic nudity, and disassociated longing for something else.
Ariella Hope is good though. In the first half she is in fact quite excellent. You feel her desire, her pain. You care even though she's just been introduced. She conveys empathy as naturally as Jake Gyllenhaal. Then later she tries her hardest to make it seem like every new character that comes in and talks for ten minutes is providing something relevant to her journey, even if they don't. Not even remotely. You believe her conflict even though it all just centers around someone she met that day. She has a lot of talent and I really wish they had used that ability to tell the story I thought they were going for: vampirism as a metaphor for mistaking sex as intimacy, the dangers of projection, confusing longing for a connection.
Instead, they talked for an hour and a half about a world they never showed us for a bunch of sequels they aren't likely to make, starring all the characters I didn't care about.