The Transfiguration (2016)

The writer-director was obviously heavily influenced by the Swedish film Let the Right One In. The story is reversed this time around with a boy as vampire and girl as best friend. The girl seems much more mature and years older than the boy. The Swedish movie is far superior to this one. The kids are fine but the boy sleepwalks through the film. I would recommend the Swedish import and even the American remake with Chloe Grace Moretz. It is one of the few remakes that actually works. The Transfiguration is a pale imitation.

This is not a vampire movie. This is a movie about a troubled young man with homicidal tendencies and delusions of being a vampire, either because of mental illness or as a way to understand himself as something more than just being a murderer. It is quite clear that Milo has led a troubled life of solitude and lack of love--mother kills herself, dad is not around, and his only other family, the brother, sits detached from reality always watching TV as his escape from the pain they have both endured (pay attention to the limited roles adults play in this movie and how even when an adult is present on screen you don't really see their faces.) When he finally finds love with Sofie, he has to acknowledge the truth of what he is: a violent killer. Instead of destroying the one pure thing he has, his relationship with her, he chooses instead to save her and to destroy himself (his ultimate plan.) This is what the title, The Transfiguration, refers to since a transfiguration (in biblical terms) is a complete change to a more spiritual and pure form. Milo thus, changes from a savage, remorseless killer to a compassionate, selfless savior. It really is a psychological film that centers around characters, not action. Bear that in mind, and you won't fall into the "this movie moves too slowly" trap.That being said, the blood sucking scenes are truly disturbing because they are indeed very "realistic" (main point director/writer is trying to convey by having Milo obsess about liking vampire movies to be realistic.) There is no fantasy in this movie, no mythical supernatural monster, just a real-life sick human boy killing and sucking the blood out of his murder vicitims and that is truly horrifying because it is rooted in reality.

I have been waiting to see this movie for a few months now. It just recently got released to DVD so I picked it up. I'm a very tough movie critic, especially when it comes to horror films and even more specific: vampire films.We have seen the extreme violent and evil natured vampires, and then there are the ones with some empathy and humane features. This film is the latter of the two.The film isn't based mostly around the sole plot of the vampire, but more around the "vampire's" surroundings, interactions, thought processes, and interests. A select few will really resonate with this movie. If you were ever the different kid at school, it's almost a trip down memory lane. Milo is a selective talker and generally unafraid of bullies, whether at school or around his housing project, and takes it with stride. "It is what it is," he says to the other main character Sophie. Sophie is a bit of a polar opposite of Milo. She is more of an extrovert and not afraid to make the first move. Of course, this creates some friction between the two but that eventually will develop into what I think the movie is honestly about.This movie isn't centered around his vampiric tendencies: whether they are real or not is for you to decide. It strives more for two people who don't feel they belong or exist in this world. One feeling that way towards the beginning and shifting to the other towards the end. The movie doesn't flesh out much of Milo's background or Sophie's, but I think that's the point. It would have been less interesting if you knew more about either. This isn't one of the best movies I've seen all year, but it has been this week's best by far.The movie centers around the human condition more than anything, and how people learn to cope with it, or sacrifice to make something larger than themselves be improved or saved.Don't get me wrong, this film is definitely a slice of life dealing with vampire elements, but it's also about two confused individuals trying to figure out things together. I liked the ending personally, it jumped into a moment of Milo's life and jumped out of it with two people's lives changed for the better or worse. It's completely up to you. This won't scare you, it's more of a drama/crime/mystery. But I loved it. I would honestly give it a solid 6 out of 10, which means I thoroughly enjoyed and will probably show it to someone or watch again myself. It was a very blood sucking satisfying but, "realistic," as Milo says so much during the movie, reality. It is a more toned down Let the Right One In, but I would say it leans towards that type. So it's up to you if you are interested in a semi complex layered story that has to do with vampire elements.I would rate it 6 out of 10, but I went with a 7 so it hopefully secures the solid 6 it deserves.

Seen at he IMAGINE film festival 2017 in Amsterdam. The story flows all the time and keeps your interest, but overall the dramatic developments are minimal, and the atmosphere embedding the two main topics, violence and social commentary, does not provide for anything new that we haven't seen already in many other movies.The only novel element is that Milo is a vampire, this time not someone who has to avoid daylight, and he also does not sleep in a coffin. Milo lives a more or less normal life with his older brother, who has apparently nothing more to do than watching TV all day long. Milo marks days on a calendar that he has to go "hunting". We saw a handwritten book with rules of engagement, e.g. that the victim must come instead of chasing him, but that was only a small fragment of a heavy stack of paper. We also see him several times bite randomly chosen victims, after which he is always somewhat nauseas, seemingly inherent in the process. How he became a vampire, is left in the dark (no pun intended), and what we see of his brother does suggest that is not something that runs in the family.We see less of Sophie, not even her house from the inside, when she e.g. lets Milo wait for her door when she has to pick up something, very different from her having access to Milo's house and even stays in his room for a few days. Not clear what it all means, if anything. Both walk outside the house like a couple, e.g. holding hands, but there is no sex involved as far as we see, despite of sleeping in the same bed and kissing each other frequently.All in all, if it really was the intention of the film makers to leave us confused, just as confused as both main protagonists are with respect to the world around them, this movie is a success however without a silver lining. It does not make us any wiser through the added elements of social commentary nor does it about violence or NYC's atmosphere, being important topics as suggested by the movie's website but I missed all of it.