Don’t read too much about Byzantium, just see it unless you cannot tolerate sexual or violent situations. First, movies rarely succeed at telling a story within a story with shifting narrators and time periods, but this one did. Even though I could see where it was heading, it was still unique enough to hold my attention. The lights were off, and there was no multitasking. Second, the acting is phenomenal. Slightly off topic, but I think that Daniel Craig is kind of like the sun-you don’t notice that he is surrounded by really amazing & gorgeous actors because he is so outstanding. Gemma Arterton didn’t even hit my radar in Quantum of Solace, but she is an almost Jennifer Lawrence-esque force of nature as Clara-think Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner & the final lines of Roy Batty. “I had eyes that cut through lies, I had lungs that breathed eternity. Felt I’d lived my whole wretched life just to prepare me for that moment.” There are some actors from Hanna that are featured much better in Byzantium-Saoirse Ronan redeemed herself, but I do not have unbridled faith in her yet like I do with Chloe Moretz. Jonny Lee Miller was transformative-didn’t recognize him at all. And just when I began to bemoan that British actors get all the jobs, Caleb Landry Jones, a young, upcoming American actor, acts with a natural maturity that belies his years. Finally, this movie has gorgeous imagery-sumptuous & achingly beautiful. This movie should have done better, but I think that it got hurt because people didn’t know how to pigeon-hole it & dismissed it when they heard two facts about Byzantium: two female leads and vampires. No, it isn’t horror, but there are vampires. It was directed by Neil Jordan, and these are not Hollywood vamps. A rather unique take on the legend that apparently has Irish origins and provides the viewer a lush opportunity to revel in the beauty of the landscape as much as the transformation. A lot of people dismissed the film as all men are bad/all women are victims. I generally hate those movies, and Byzantium is nothing like that-there are plenty of good male characters-even nurturing ones, but they aren’t the main focus. The two women are the focus, and yes, they get victimized at different points, but they aren’t defined by it. It is part of their story. Byzantium is a powerful drama about breaking destructive cycles and finding one’s voice. Of course, the film shows that by showing women embracing their power by owning/rejecting the negative labels given to them or transgressing an explicitly patriarchal opposition, but women are not the only narrators in this film. One of the final scenes with Clara and Darvell even explicitly says that-live your life! A must see!