The director, Simon Lewis, sets out to create an entirely visual telling of a story. The movie is almost entirely without dialogue. These are its strong points. What arises out of this is something like a ballet without ( for the most part ) dance.
At the first showing, the movie was presented with a lengthy supporting promotional piece which contains some unfortunate aspects that detract from the finished work. The interview in which Simon Lewis comments upon the Vampire genre that "I don't like vampire films they are always the same the vampire is a baddie " is most unsettling right before what is a story about vampires. The director ought really watch some more of the diverse range of vampire movies that have been made since Christopher Lee hung up his cape before making such a sweeping statement.
Undoubtedly constrained by resources, the decision to shoot on location near his base in the British city of Bristol was certainly an effective strategy. Lewis has chosen well, Bristol's amazingly named Zed Alley and its cobbled environs. Alas, he has tried to spread this one location too thinly, as the setting for multiple scenes. The constant return to this same spot contributes to the sense of the production being like a ballet, its incidents revolving about one set upon one stage. However, there is an awful lot of anguished running about by characters that never seem to be arriving anywhere other than where they started. This creates a sense that, quite literally, the story isn't going anywhere! It is a pity, because I know that city well and can say that within five hundred metres of that spot are dozens of potential locations that might have served marvellously as way points in the drama. Stations on the journey of the characters into and through their anguish. Locations every bit as Gothic and atmospheric as Zed Alley itself.
I say "drama" instead of "story" because, as in a ballet, there is very little by way of plot. Rather a network of relationships between the main characters. These mostly borrow their names from the characters in Bram Stokers Dracula. One must wonder why, if Lewis really wants to break away from the conventions of the genre? Given the intended emphasis upon a visual impact in a "larger than life" way, it is a pity that more thought was not given to the dress of the characters or indeed their make up. Mina appears to have just turned up in her day clothes and got on with the shoot. As does Harker. Any night in the real Bristol one can see couples out and about dressed up for effect. So why not this couple? The lighting in most of the shots is flat, with more of a documentary feel than the expressiveness of drama. The feel of the shots, in terms of lighting, angle and proximity ( focal length ) is monotonous. The only break in this monotony comes near the end when a potentially interesting duality is introduced, showing the characters both in the real street and simultaneously in a digitally treated "purgatory" shot on location in Wales. However, this visual metaphor is only slowly explained in terms of the characters interaction once in their "damnation" and the episode is too long, becoming again monotonous. Nor do I understand how Mina and Harker came to be redeemed and restored to Humanity at the end. Perhaps it was due to the saving grace of vampire Vivia's sacrifice of herself and her evil consort to the rising sun. Who knows. It seems this takes us beyond the limit of what can be done without dialogue.
This limitation in narrative instruction to the viewer imposed by the abrogation of dialogue is tied to a fundamental problem with the movie. If Lewis wishes to use the vampire as a device for exploring the dark side of relationships, he must make the terms of that metaphor explicit. Its all very well eschewing fangs ( if you'll pardon the pun ) and "horror" make up or effects, but in the absence of such visual cues, he will need instead some other way of distinguishing all the oral activity indulged in here from normal Saturday night snogging.
One thing stands out from the rest of this movie. That is the newly discovered talent who plays the vampire Vivia. This is Aliese Kellner Joyce. A German-Irish actress whose extreme expressiveness through bodily and facial contortion is the one thing that, in the absence of make up or other "cues" creates a sense of something super-natural in our midst. She is truly an extraordinary being contorting there before us like the tormented victim of a daemonic possession! I hope to see a lot more of this extraordinary young woman in future.
In conclusion, having written about this movie I now realise that there is a lot of potential for further sense to emerge from its initially somewhat opaque presentation. I would certainly like to see it again. This time without the troublesome preliminary documentary about its shooting.
I believe that Simon Lewis could improve this work considerably by means of some further editing of the material into a tighter package. Nonetheless, Kiss of The Moon is a brave effort which I salute wholeheartedly.
At the first showing, the movie was presented with a lengthy supporting promotional piece which contains some unfortunate aspects that detract from the finished work. The interview in which Simon Lewis comments upon the Vampire genre that "I don't like vampire films they are always the same the vampire is a baddie " is most unsettling right before what is a story about vampires. The director ought really watch some more of the diverse range of vampire movies that have been made since Christopher Lee hung up his cape before making such a sweeping statement.
Undoubtedly constrained by resources, the decision to shoot on location near his base in the British city of Bristol was certainly an effective strategy. Lewis has chosen well, Bristol's amazingly named Zed Alley and its cobbled environs. Alas, he has tried to spread this one location too thinly, as the setting for multiple scenes. The constant return to this same spot contributes to the sense of the production being like a ballet, its incidents revolving about one set upon one stage. However, there is an awful lot of anguished running about by characters that never seem to be arriving anywhere other than where they started. This creates a sense that, quite literally, the story isn't going anywhere! It is a pity, because I know that city well and can say that within five hundred metres of that spot are dozens of potential locations that might have served marvellously as way points in the drama. Stations on the journey of the characters into and through their anguish. Locations every bit as Gothic and atmospheric as Zed Alley itself.
I say "drama" instead of "story" because, as in a ballet, there is very little by way of plot. Rather a network of relationships between the main characters. These mostly borrow their names from the characters in Bram Stokers Dracula. One must wonder why, if Lewis really wants to break away from the conventions of the genre? Given the intended emphasis upon a visual impact in a "larger than life" way, it is a pity that more thought was not given to the dress of the characters or indeed their make up. Mina appears to have just turned up in her day clothes and got on with the shoot. As does Harker. Any night in the real Bristol one can see couples out and about dressed up for effect. So why not this couple? The lighting in most of the shots is flat, with more of a documentary feel than the expressiveness of drama. The feel of the shots, in terms of lighting, angle and proximity ( focal length ) is monotonous. The only break in this monotony comes near the end when a potentially interesting duality is introduced, showing the characters both in the real street and simultaneously in a digitally treated "purgatory" shot on location in Wales. However, this visual metaphor is only slowly explained in terms of the characters interaction once in their "damnation" and the episode is too long, becoming again monotonous. Nor do I understand how Mina and Harker came to be redeemed and restored to Humanity at the end. Perhaps it was due to the saving grace of vampire Vivia's sacrifice of herself and her evil consort to the rising sun. Who knows. It seems this takes us beyond the limit of what can be done without dialogue.
This limitation in narrative instruction to the viewer imposed by the abrogation of dialogue is tied to a fundamental problem with the movie. If Lewis wishes to use the vampire as a device for exploring the dark side of relationships, he must make the terms of that metaphor explicit. Its all very well eschewing fangs ( if you'll pardon the pun ) and "horror" make up or effects, but in the absence of such visual cues, he will need instead some other way of distinguishing all the oral activity indulged in here from normal Saturday night snogging.
One thing stands out from the rest of this movie. That is the newly discovered talent who plays the vampire Vivia. This is Aliese Kellner Joyce. A German-Irish actress whose extreme expressiveness through bodily and facial contortion is the one thing that, in the absence of make up or other "cues" creates a sense of something super-natural in our midst. She is truly an extraordinary being contorting there before us like the tormented victim of a daemonic possession! I hope to see a lot more of this extraordinary young woman in future.
In conclusion, having written about this movie I now realise that there is a lot of potential for further sense to emerge from its initially somewhat opaque presentation. I would certainly like to see it again. This time without the troublesome preliminary documentary about its shooting.
I believe that Simon Lewis could improve this work considerably by means of some further editing of the material into a tighter package. Nonetheless, Kiss of The Moon is a brave effort which I salute wholeheartedly.
