♥
+ Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year
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| Tom Cruise's navy-blue eye stands out on this otherwise sickly colored poster for Neil Jordan's Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles |
The mysterious vampire Louis in the present day of 1994 gives an interview, - for no reason that we are explained, - to a reporter, describing his centuries long life as a vampire in strange prose-style.
Brad Pitt (Ocean's Thirteen (2007)) is that vampire, whose story is told mostly through his own abundant, disengaging narration. Interview has a lot of narration, - and I mean A LOT. It is an adaptation of Anne Rice's (Merrick (2000)) debut novel, Interview with the Vampire (1976), written by Rice herself and directed by Neil Jordan (Michael Collins (1996)).
Pitt is, when his tale begins, a rich man in late 18th century France, where he is attacked by an older vampire, Tom Cruise (Magnolia (2000)), which then also turns him into one. The two afterwards stick together, for unclear reasons, because Cruise is a very indulgent, confident vampire, while Pitt is a young vampire very much in conflict with his murderous desires. Something keeps them together, and it seems to be a carnal attraction: The sexual tension between the two is palpable in the intense glances that circle back and forth between them, from Pitt's pouty lips and as tongue-whirls are exchanged into the air. - But the attraction never escapes the drily platonic and incredibly tame throughout the film, which makes it hard to take for me.
Later, Kirsten Dunst (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)) comes into play, as Cruise also makes her a vampire, although she is just a girl. Later still, (this is a powerfully long film), Pitt is courted by Antonio Banderas (Shrek the Third (2007)), who is also an attractive homosexual vampire, - but again nothing comes of it. SPOILER And in the end, Pitt's unabashed flirting with his interviewer in the film's framing present plane, who is played by Christian Slater (The Power of Few (2013)), also never amounts to anything.
The homoerotic angle on vampires is Rice's own invention: Its unflattering if implicit rationale is clear; vampires prey on their own kind (people), and homosexuals 'prey' on their own kind (gender) = Gays are vampires!
Whether Rice or someone close to her was ever left enraged by a partner who turned out to be gay or fosters some other resistance towards homosexuality, I don't know, but the derogatory or homophobic light which is cast over 'the forbidden love' in Interview seems obvious from my seat. I would be inclined to forgive all of this, if the absurdly male-dominated film just had the balls to throw in a single sex scene or two with members of its impressive star cast of gay vampires. - But no, despite its epic length Interview holds nothing of the kind.
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| Pitt and Cruise won the Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple; I would rather have coined them Most Inactive Screen Couple |
Interview really reanimates the European snob in me. The film is just of such poor, poor taste all-around: The dialog and endless narration is terribly pompous, solemn, and pathetic in its attempts to be poetic. The intermittently gushing blood flows seem vulgar and disgusting in connection with these long rambles.
All of the characters of Interview, except for Dunst's, are enormously self-important, and the single heart I give the film is for her, who gives an impressively fierce performance, but is only credited far after all the male names, in smaller print, although her part in the movie is substantial, and she acts better than most every one of the others.
The dramatic framing structure of the interview is another large issue, as it makes everything inside the tale seem comfy, still and boring. The device never comes to life; nothing too important ever really happens in the present plan of Interview, and it remains dramatically unclear, why it is there at all.
The movie's ending doesn't make sense to me, and it is even showered with an atrocious Guns N' Roses cover of The Rolling Stones's classic rock masterpiece Sympathy for the Devil (1968), which brings back the shamelessness and widespread poor taste of the 1990s.
Interview's visual style depends severely on one color: Red. Everything else is fatigued shades of mildew, grey, white, and desaturated blues, rouges and greens. It is very tiring to look at; very inhibited and ugly. Amazingly, the film was still Oscar-nominated for its art direction and score.
A precursor of the Twilight Saga-franchise (2008; 2009; 2010; 2011; 2012), Interview is an awful movie, an escapade of egos, and Hollywood at its least original, bold and creative, a true turkey.
For a vampire flick recommendation in its place, go back to Tony Scott's masterpiece The Hunger (1983), which is striking in just about all the ways that Interview isn't.
Related post:
Neil Jordan: The Brave One (2007) - Acting in the afterwake of random, deadly violence
1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 223.6 mil. $
= Big hit (3.72 times the cost)
[Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles premiered 9 November (Westwood, Los Angeles) and runs 122 minutes. Rice originally wanted Alain Delon (The Gang/Le Gang (1977)) to play Lestat, later Julian Sands (All Things to All Men (2013)), and objected to Cruise's casting in the part until she saw his performance. She also suggested changing Louis' sex and having Cher (Mermaids (1991)) play the part to curtail perceived Hollywood homophobia. River Phoenix (Surviving (1985), TV movie) was to play the reporter but passed away 4 weeks before filming from an overdose. Slater took the part and donated his pay to Phoenix's favorite charity. Cruise was paid a record 10 mil. $ plus a percentage of the profits. Shooting took place Louisiana, including New Orleans, in San Francisco, California, in England, including London, and in Paris, France from October 1993 - March 1994. Pitt has since revealed that he was so 'miserable' during the 6-month mainly night shoot with a character that left him to 'just sit and watch' that he tried to buy himself out of the part and had a depression because of it. The film opened #1 to a 36.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent 3 more weeks in the top 5 (#3-#3-#2) and grossed 105.2 mil. $ (47 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to much better than this review. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, lost to The Madness of King George, and Best Score (Elliot Goldenthal (Cobb (1995))), lost to Hans Zimmer (Moonlighting (1982)) for The Lion King. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, won 2/4 BAFTA noms and other honors. The third book in Rice's vampire series was adapted as Queen of the Damned (2002) and flopped. The fourth book was almost made into a movie around 2012. In 2016 Rice regained the rights to the books and has designs for a TV-series called The Vampire Lestat. Jordan returned with Michael Collins (1996). Cruise returned in Mission: Impossible (1996). Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles is fresh at 62 % with a 5.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles?
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