One of the best vampire movies I've ever seen. It features average-looking people (as opposed to overly-glossed "beautiful" people), and the plot is solid. Moon-obsessed Boya is suicidal because all his relationships are doomed due to his unnatural lifespan and his refusal to create a permanent companion (despite an ex's pleadings for this exactly). The backdrop is Toronto, actually Toronto as Toronto, not Toronto as Detroit or whatever. David Cronenberg plays the crime-boss, who uses a bowling alley as his place of business. While the movie in its entirety is somber, there are funny bits: Rita being caught simulating a facelift by sneering customers, Boya's accordion (not a prominent part, watch for him digging up his possessions), Earl misinterpreting Boya's friendliness as a homosexual overture (in the scene when Earl gives Boya a new shirt), Rita admitting that her bullet wound was self-inflicted... The song "Twilight Time" is used as a theme song for Boya, and upon further consideration of the lyrics, I am almost positive The Platters may have been intentionally singing about a love affair with a vampire. When I first watched this film I was concerned that the quality of it would not be constant throughout, but it is: lots of symbolism, and the notion that things come full circle--the golf ball that awakens Boya is hit by the crime-boss, who is eventually killed by Boya, who has been carrying the golf ball as a symbol of his beloved moon, and Boya went to sleep to avoid the horror of people having walked on the moon's surface. This is a fantastic film.
Review of Blood & Donuts
