The Vampire Pianist

[dotinthesky]

Top July Films, a photo by myETVmedia on Flickr.

I came home from work on Hallowe'en to groups of children with their parents, walking up and down our street dressed as creatures of the night, carrying orange buckets for their sweet goodies.

I saw a neighbour come out of the corner shop and at first I thought she had made herself up to look like a zombie. Upon closer inspection, I realised she was just tired.

My boyfriend and I spent the evening watching Byzantium, a pretty decent vampire film set in a nameless location in the British Isles. It had a new twist to the genre: a mother and daughter were on the run because vampires were a brotherhood that did not allow women.

(Nobody knocked on our door.)

The 16-year-old daughter had been moping like a teenager for 200 years. She dealt with her curse by feeding off elderly people who wanted to die. She played the piano beautifully, which made me think of the pianos in St Pancras, with their signs "Play Me." There's one just by the Eurostar's arrival door: visitors from France and beyond, quite often, are greeted by some random traveler playing it as they roll their suitcases into London. It's quite a nice idea and I salute whoever came up with it.

I wish I could play the piano. I wish I could play any musical instrument actually (apart from the triangle.) I'd drop by St Pancras once in a while on my lunch break, sit at the piano and whip up a sonata.

Comments

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

I watched that film a month or so ago. I liked it, apart from the ridiculous island where they were vampirised.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I liked it too but didn't like the fake blood spewing out of the island. Also, I wanted to see the ginger boyfriend turn into a hot vampire! Must we wait for a sequel?

[sor-eye-ah.livejournal.com]

never too late to learn. my sister is a piano teacher and her oldest student would be in his 60s.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

One day, one day...

[moveslikegiallo.livejournal.com]

I really liked Byzantium. I even liked the cave of the unnamed saint and all that nonsense.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I liked it too. I liked the pace and the point of view through the mother and daughter. Even the flashbacks worked for me.

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

Me too. As a fan of vampires, faded seaside towns and remote rocky islands it was definitely relevant to my interests.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Also, it didn't pander to fandom - which was another plus for me! No muscular, naked vampires; no throwing of knives/stakes/ninja stars; no cheesy one-liner at crucial killing scenes. Definitely not an American production...

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

I've seen those pianos. They're quite good fun. I wish I had learned to play when I was young.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Same here! My parents never thought to enforce any music lessons on us. Tennis, on the other hand, which I had to play every Tuesdays, is now a sport I can't stand.