This movie is a completely different take on the whole vampire mythology and more or less plays as a companion piece to Jordan's Interview with a Vampire. Where as that movie focused on two men as the leads this movie has two women as the leads, and I feel that connection with the movies is sound considering they shared the same director. The movies explore similar themes but also in wildly different ways, which is one of the things that makes this movie so interesting. I would also say this movie plays as a more independent and arty version of Interview with a Vampire and heralds back to Jordan's movie The Company of Wolves.
These are the types of vampire movies I like where the weight of being over a hundred years old is really felt on the characters and not just some passing line of dialogue mentioned in the teenage romance vampire stories that are dominating everything, to simply set up the fact they are different because you know being a vampire and living off of blood isn't different enough. That is one of the themes explored in this movie: the passage of time and the burden of memory and knowledge that carries on with each ticking of the clock and passing of the years. I will say the first forty-five minutes to an hour of this movie felt too much like an independent or arty movie as nothing seemed explored nor were answers forth coming but the last part of the movie really took and flew when answers and revelations finally started to come to light. This really helped flesh out the characters and make them shine which is the whole point of telling stories: make the characters interesting and you can do about anything with the story. The characters in this movie are interesting as it plays around with other themes of societal structure based on class pertaining to the nature versus nurture argument. This aspect of the movie I really liked and how they explored these themes is one of the best things about this movie.
It's not often you get a vampire movie with two female leads where sexuality isn't the focal point of their character. Even though one of the character's livelihood is based around sex it isn't something that drives her as her life makes up one the themes of nature versus nurture. Her daughter makes up the other part of the nature versus nurture argument and it is carried out with such grace that I was simply amazed it was an actual vampire movie. These aren't your normal vampires as their origin becomes explained later and there's just enough back story to everything not fully explored that a sequel would be a welcome addition to the mythological groundwork set forth here. The world created for these vampires is intriguing and genuinely original.
Acting wise I think Saoirse Ronan was simply amazing at conveying the weight of being over a hundred years old while in the body of a teenager and the conflict she battled of balancing the knowledge with appearance.
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