Twilight Is A Treat (Twilight [2008] (DVD))

Member Name: venice105

Product:	Twilight [2008] (DVD)
Date:	13/01/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Complete guilty pleasure romance

Disadvantages: Potential embarassment at watching a "teen" film

I went to see Twilight at the cinema recently, head hung low at the shame of it all. Twilight, you see, is a teenage romance novel about vampires and apparently, abstinence, that has taken America by storm, which has now been turned into a film. I am American, I am not, however, a teenager. Not by a long shot. I blame Facebook. Were I not forced into Facebook by long distance pals, I probably wouldn't have bothered with this Twilight malarkey. I was confronted with a quiz on facebook entitled "Who is your Twilight guy?" Well of course I then had to know, this kind of thing is of vital importance in the land of superpokes and such like. Apparently my Twilight guy would have to be Edward, THE guy in Twilight as far as I could tell. The hot swoony vampire played by the guy who plays Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter. Who when you first look at him is sort of freakish looking but is one of those actors who are actually much more toothsome on screen. So to speak.

Thus a girlie film date was arranged with a friend who likes to subject herself to these embarrassingly age inappropriate films with me. I must admit I thought I was setting myself up for a fall. A couple of reviews I had read described the thing as hokum only a teenage fangirl would sit through. I envisioned myself cringing through the tedium of it all. I, after all, am a sophisticated woman of a certain age. Ahem.

As the film opens, the heroine,Bella Swan (how poetic can you get?), is shown leaving her home in Phoenix, Arizona. Her Mom is a bit of a hippy and needs to follow her step dad around the country with his minor league baseball team. Bella has to go and live with her Dad, a local policeman, in a rural town in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington called Forks. It is a small town and has the whiff of hicksville about it. It is, however, lushly photographed, and the green forestry of the area is beautiful and dreamily shot (not sure how much CGI they used). So anyway, it's all a bit misty and gloomy.

Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) seems a bit bemused, slightly awkward with her Dad as they don't see each other very often, but generally not a teenage brat as she feigns to be happy with the room he has decorated for her. The whole opening is very low key and muted, and pleasantly jarring to film goers used to more brassy direction. It felt more like an "indie" as opposed to a big film for teenagers - this could be partly due to its fairly modest (by Hollyweird standards) budget.

Bella begins school and, while the other kids are definitely more extroverted than she is, they have the immediate curiosity about the new kid in a small town and seem eager to befriend her. She seems happy enough to go with the flow but is seemingly still a bit socially awkward - I say this because she cannot help gravitating towards the obvious gang of vampires who pose as teenagers at her school. This won't be a spoiler, I promise you, because it truly is completely obvious even without any knowledge of the film beforehand. The Cullens are explained as a group of adopted kids who are also romantically paired, save Edward. They are extra pale and extra good looking and everyone thinks they're cool despite themselves.

Bella is immediately drawn to Edward, well one couldn't blame her as Robert Pattinson combines James Dean, Marlon Brando and every other brooding creature you could imagine in this role....swoon alert! He really does make the film, I must admit.
So anyhoo, Bella's attraction to Edward is seemingly not mutual, he seems revolted by her and cannot bear to sit beside her in biology lab. She is hurt and confused as seemingly every other boy in the school is hot to trot for her. The actress playing her is pretty but in a quirky way, I guess they wanted to have some slight romantic competition. She turns down other, more forthcoming boys in favour of the elusive staring contests she shares with Edward. It sounds quite hokey, but is executed with decent tension and teenage longing.

She is fascinated by the unusual Edward and his unexplained absences from school. Eventually they meet again and he is a bit friendlier, explaining himself and discussing things with her in a direct and mature way the other teenage boys cannot. Bella develops a crush, and even imagines she sees Edward by her bedside at night (or does she? Dah da duh!). Edward tries to keep her at a distance but alas, desire wins out and the closer they become the more she realises he is not like the other boys.

This film is in essence a very old fashioned love story, some critics have said too old fashioned in the way that Edward saves Bella in dramatic and swoon worthy fashion on several occasions. What I simply love about it is that it is what it is, a romance. A modern Gothic one set amongst teenagers and yes vampires, containing the obvious pitfalls and obstacles such a thing incurs. It does not try too hard to be funny or subversive or hip. It is at times borderline leaden with its own seriousness, and yet it is done with such conviction and gorgeous film making style that I could not help but be swept away by it. The soundtrack is perfect, giving certain scenes an unabashed eighties film feel. When Bella and Edward first arrive at school as a couple, the soundtrack swells and it has this genuine teen poignancy a la Pretty in Pink or more recently, Donnie Darko. It handles the adult themes in an entirely awkward, age appropriate way for the characters. No precocious, Juno-esque dialogue here, thanks very much.

Before this film I had to cringe through a trailer of the new Kate Hudson/Anne Hathaway "girlie" film, and it looked truly dreadful. I yawned and spat my way through 27 Dresses recently - I am so done with dire romantic comedies that lack either. This film,thankfully, does not apologise or subvert itself at every turn, it does what it says on the tin.

While perhaps clichéd at times, is just so guiltily, sweetly enjoyable. It allows the audience to feel no shame in romance, its conviction and belief for me were completely its strengths. There are very few surprises, even fewer truly scary vampire bits (to be fair there is a subplot of "bad" vampires stalking Bella but it is really little more than another reason for Edward to come to the rescue). Yet because of the committed storytelling and acting, particularly by the two leads, it is easy to get swept away in it and to care what becomes of the two young lovers. Or not as it were - for here's the rub - these two cannot consummate their love as it could well end in tears. Edward may be a "good" vampire but he is,er, still hungry for Bella's blood.

If it all sounds a bit much, well, it does have a few light moments. It's not a comedy by any means but Bella's friends and relationship with her father are done with a light and low key touch. She and Edward share a believable chemistry that, while not ground breaking, does come across as sincere and unfolds like an awkward teen romance should. His family's attempts to welcome the "foreign" human girlfriend into their home are mildly amusing and the film does do away with certain vampire folklore while holding on to other stalwarts, giving the whole vampire thing a slightly more modern feel.

I did get the sense that much was left out from the book as these things always are (now must commence embarrassing book store purchases!). Bella's particular intense attraction for Edward is hinted at having something physical (a rare blood type?!) that proves she is irresistible to other, less wholesome vampires as well - a further allegory for virginity, perhaps? I don't feel this was heavy handed, perhaps it was more so in the book. Needless to say mortal danger is incurred and it does seem there is more trouble to come for the star crossed lovers in the next instalment. There are hints of other supernatural elements to come in the Native American characters as well (let's just say New Moon, the title of the next book, might be a hint).

Overall I came away very satisfied and happy, this film has a slow, steady plot arch that while not containing many surprises, still manages to please and entertain. Edward is a total teen dreamboat, yet Pattinson also conveys the maturity of his character's "true" age well. Kristen Stewart is a very capable and empathetic young actress, showing surprising strengths in her character towards the end. She is quite a muted character but I quite liked this, she felt more like a real teenager than most filmic depictions.

The direction is not groundbreaking but I enjoyed the focus on slow storytelling, letting the characters reveal themselves in an unforced way. The special effects were fine, I have read some think they were cheap but I didn't go to this to see an action film and I certainly didn't notice any obvious gaffes, although I don't sit through films looking for these things either!

The film portrays the American Northwest's forests as gloomy and gorgeous all at once. It even had undertones of Twin Peaks for me at times with its intense focus on the beauty of the natural world, particularly when Edward and Bella do a little tree climbing. The greenery and rain create a very surreal, dreamlike environment. I am happy I saw this without the preconceptions of the book, and from my perspective it is a purely enjoyable piece of romantic escapism to be indulged in unashamedly. If you're willing to check your cynicism at the door, it is far and away the most enjoyable film I have seen in a long time.

Summary: Enthralling vampire love story that is more sweet than scary