Summary
It turns out that being cursed with beauty, money and limitless time is as listless as one hopes one has the beauty, money and time to find out for themselves one day.
The romantic notion of the vampire has been explored within an inch of its life since the modern versions were birthed in the early 19th century. One always wonders if there’s any new blood left to draw out of the dusty body of work. Yet the genre endures.
The basic concept of David Verbeek’s DEAD AND BEAUTIFUL is solid: what if bored rich people became vampires? In a massive Asian city not unlike Taipei, five super rich friends return from a camping trip with fangs and a heightened sense of power. Alternatively apprehensive and keen to try out their vampiric leanings, paranoia creeps in and they start turning on each other.
In a time when the gap between rich and everyone else is institutionalised, our cultural fascination with the ultra rich is without limits. Still, a constant stream of reality television has taught us that all the money in the world does not automatically make you interesting. In Verbeek’s film, the photography and the setup is more refined, but the net effect is the same. The difference is that Verbeek’s script seems doggedly determined to sap any of the melodrama out of this reality.
It’s kind of like watching one of those social experiments where a rich person has to fend for themselves in a supermarket but doesn’t quite understand what it’s all about. For example, in any other film the exposition would take place in a dusty library or the like. Here, they use a converted warehouse to stage a TED Talk style explanation for each other. It would be fascinating if it weren’t so tedious. It seems rich vampire douches are still just douches.
Indeed, everything in Verbeek’s film keeps us at arm’s length. The locations and photography are stunning. The opening shot of a very expensive looking vehicle sets the tone, and the various Taiwanese locales are nothing less than stunning. Drone shots, expensive apartments and clothes all serve to hammer home the opulence.
We do get minor hints at something going on beneath the surface. One of the gang is seen calling himself pathetic in a mirror. There’s a flashback to one woman’s childhood trauma that ties into a third act reveal. Verbeek at leasts tries for some kind of commentary, a heavy-handed way of saying that if you’re rich, dead and beautiful you still expect everything to be handed over to your privilege. You are a monster.
Which makes you wonder who the audience is here. The ultimate point is not lost, but boy does it take its time getting there. The twisty conclusion is likely to be telegraphed by anybody who has seen a film in the last 30 years, but the final act is where things get really interesting. Still, if nothing else it proves that watching the rich and listless is a poor substitute for being on the inside. After all, everybody hates a tourist.
DEAD AND BEAUTIFUL plays on demand 50th-anniversary edition of IFFR. The festival runs from 1 – 7 February 2021 on the IFFR.com platform. Check out the website for screening details.
2021 | Taiwan, Netherlands | DIRECTOR: David Verbeek | WRITER: David Verbeek | CAST: Gijs Blom, Aviis Zhong, Yen Tsao, Anechka Marchenko, Cheng-En Philip Juan| DISTRIBUTOR: Indie Sales, International Film Festival Rotterdam | RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1-7 February 2021 (NL)
