Heart-wrenching sadness, beautiful film making.. If your idea of vampire films involves buckets of blood, fast-paced action, a ton of ultra-violence, a fair bit of sex, then more blood, this film will not be for you. You will be bored stiff, and will find little satisfying in this film.
However, for those people who can appreciate something more than that, and value the more subtle approaches to filmaking, then this is definitely worth a look.
This is an art-house style movie, with a good, and suitably heart-wrenching story, directed, filmed and lit in a stunningly beautiful, and thoughtful way.
Acting is superb throughout, but its the sets, the lighting, and the film work itself that make this film shine. And it does. I didn't find it boring, or even particularly slow paced. I had enormous empathy for the situations of both main characters, and was pleased that the ending avoided all the cinematic clichés of the past 50 years.
You could view it as depressing, and in many ways it is, but I don't mind that in a film. If I want inane one-liners, and throw-away vampire entertainment, I'll watch Buffy, or Blade. If I want something a bit more intelligent, thought-provoking, and different, then this is it.
I happily award this film 10 / 10 - I haven't enjoyed a film as much as I did this one for quite some time. i will be buying it on DVD.