Manhattan Undying Film Review

“Manhattan Undying”

Hope Salloum

5/19/2016

Manhattan Undying, in my opinion, is a very disappointing film. This “drama” was mistakenly labeled. A better label could have been  “wretched excess.” This film will however, despite the terrible quality, keep you slightly intrigued with its metaphors and hidden agendas.

The main character Max is a painter struggling with his addiction, and also a high-risks case of lung cancer. Max uses his art as means of letting out some of his anger as well as staying in denial. He meets a young woman, a vampire, named Vivian. She is a killer on the loose with the one goal of seeing her physical self for the first time. Their paths cross when they realize they need each other. She has an addiction to blood, while his addiction, as the movie progresses, becomes her.

While all of this is happening, detective Bradimore is on the case of Vivian’s murder victims. The only thing that makes this film interesting in the slightest is the story plot within the story. Through this film, you start to realize that Max is actually Vivian. This is why he cannot paint without her as his muse, and why she doesn’t come back until Max opens himself up to her. When investigating, Max is constantly questioned, but Vivian is “never found.” The police sketch of the victim is a combination of Vivian and Max’s face, implying that they are one person. But the real kicker is the ending.

Vivian almost kills Max and tells him that he needs to love himself before he can truly open up and be free from his addiction. He then proceeds to finally paint this huge portrait of Vivian so she can finally see herself. Immediately after, he sleeps with, or finally “loves” Vivian/ himself. Only after this can he finally die. When the painting of her is presented, the film does not show the actual portrait, but instead zooms in on a self-portrait of Max. This, once again, hinted at the fact that Max and Vivian are one. After the reveal of the portrait, Vivian also dies.

The main issue with this film is that without this theory, it is incredibly boring and confusing. This theory is not one that is thought of immediately. It is not easily seen, clearly portrayed, or supported strongly. The fact that they brought one random vampire into a world that had no traces of vampires was weak. They did however keep the “vampire brand” consistent. Typical things like drinking a vampire’s blood to become a vampire, staying away from the sun, and super speed. Another problem seemed to be communicating the story correctly. In one scene, the detective is about to arrest Vivian, but then he ends up kissing her. Now I’m sure this was because she “hypnotized” him or something along those lines, but nothing was clear.

One thing I did not find incredibly terrible was some of the acting. The main characters Max and Vivian did a great job portraying their own individual roles. Everyone else, sadly, did not reach any sort of level of acceptable acting. The fact that I cannot remember more than three characters is troubling. The performances by the two main characters were very good, but only separately. When they interacted with each other, it was very flat. I did not feel any sort of emotion whether it was anger or love. Separately, however, they truly showed their real characters’ struggles. Max had internal issues that were clearly shown in every action or activity that he was placed in. Vivian kept a cold and lifeless outside physical appearance, but still did a great job with showing her internal struggles as well.

One last issue with this film was the cinematography. It was incredibly hard to watch due to the lack of color and the emphasis on dark areas. The gradient and hues were too dark and not aesthetically pleasing. I honestly felt like this films’ goal was to make me fall asleep.

Overall, this is not a film that I would recommend to anyone. The most interesting aspect of the film is the theories that you may or may not pick up on. Other than that, there is no real reason to watch it. It does not fit well into its genre, and it is very confusing. This film is not worth the time or the patience.

Writer: Matt Deller

Director: Babak Payami

Main Cast: Sarah Roemer, Luke Grimes, and Christopher Jacot

Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes