| Review:
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A densely erotic, twisted take on teen screen romance,
Twilight zones out beneath the crushing weight of underage
lust intensified and complicated by the excruciating abstention
here of unorthodox vampire appetites. And rebel teen angst
maven moviemmaker Catherine Hardwicke (Lords Of Dogtown,
Thirteen) weaves yet another credible tale of consuming
pubescent passions that has stirred a kind of Beatlemania
girl feeding frenzy of its own, at the mere sight of neo-Brandoesque
Robert Pattinson. And while not exactly The Man Who Came
For Dinner, Twilight conjures a defiant inter-species dating
fantasy that might just as well be termed Close Encounters
of the Thirst Kind.***
Based on the insanely popular young adult novel by
Stephenie Meyer, Twilight plays out conveniently in the
fog-shrouded rural woodlands of the rainy state of Washington,
where local vampires can apparently roam free at all hours
of the day since the punishing sun rarely shines. Bella
(Kristen Stewart) is a moody teen loner who relocates from
Mom's home in Arizona to the town of Forks (a particular
implement hardly necessary for undead dining), to live with
her police officer divorced dad (Billy Burke).***
When Bella shows up for her first day at school, she's
instantly and mutually attracted to a strangely handsome
boy (Robert Pattinson) in a mad crush at first sight encounter.
Edward is part of the peculiar, wild-eyed outcast Cullen
clan of matriculated sibling foster kids who occupy a separate
nook of the school cafeteria, and seem to be shockingly
dating each other. Infatuation soon turns to obsession,
and eventually Bella figures out that Edward is a descendant
of the undead, something that's a whole lot faster to deduce
these days what with the Internet, when one can simply google
a vampire to out him.***
There's a deliriously mystical and forbidden tension
- part creeping out and part turn-on for Bella - between
these unrequited lovebirds, where sex and death have never
been quite so dangerously and libidinously intertwined up
on the screen. Tossed in for good measure is a political
undercurrent, connecting the local vampires to white metaphorical
and otherwise bloodsucker interlopers who did the indigenous
Indians dirty centuries ago, and are still conjuring dread
in local lore. As such, Edward suffers the subconscious
torment of a guilt by association accidental Euro-imperialist,
intriguing in the context that vampire legend originated
with European peasants to deal with their fear and loathing
of the exploiting, overbearing landed gentry.***
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Final Words:
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Cool humor also mingles with
the agony and ecstasy of hormonally charged frustrated desires,
as a possessive, clairvoyant Edward fumes while reading dirty
male minds that are eying Bella, or jokes about immortals
having no need to fasten their seat belts, and adheres to
a strictly vegetarian 'special diet' to get in touch with
his long lost inner human. Action sequences are less novel
than the emotional journey, though time out for a game of
high speed, airborne vampire baseball makes for an incredibly
dazzling spectator sport for viewers. In any case, Twilight
magnificently redefines both the vampire and teen genres.
While one wonders if that inadvertently seductive human snack
called Bella teases in more ways than one, with a name likely
more than coincidentally, playfully linked to that vampire
of vampires, Lugosi. |
