Looking at ‘Kicking Blood’ Director Blaine Thurier’s IMDb page reveals a certain pattern with his movie titles.
‘Low Self-Esteem Girl’, ‘Male Fantasy’, and ‘Teen Lust’ lead Thurier’s filmography. While I, Dragon Movie Guy, have not seen any of these titles; I can see how all three of those themes work their way into ‘Kicking Blood’.
The Plot
Anna
‘Kicking Blood’s premise involves a vampire who drinks blood to survive; deciding to quit the human blood cold-turkey, and with it, her drug-like highs and addiction-like withdrawls.
Alanna Bale plays ‘Anna’, our lead vampire, living in a Canadian town seemingly in perpetual night and winter. Anna’s unique for a vampire, she holds down a steady job at the library, and makes friends with her human co-workers.
Anna’s closest friend in the world, Bernice, played by Rosemary Dunsmore, is not-so-slowly dying of a terminal disease. And, after a mutual co-worker plays a little too callously with the dying woman’s emotions, we see just how powerful Anna the vampire can be.
Robbie
Luke Bilyk plays our lead human character, ‘Robbie’, a severe alcoholic dealing with his own addiction issues. Robbie has burned every bridge, and soon finds himself sleeping on the streets in the middle of winter. This is where Robbie meets Anna.
Robbie stops a passing Anna, and asks her a question. Anna says she doesn’t have any cash, but Robbie cryptically asks her where we go when we die.
Robbie seems ready to end it all, but still has fears. Anna the Vampire, in the guise of a beautiful young woman, doesn’t play along with his attempts fishing for attention/sympathy. He would be more than an easy meal for Anna, but having just fed, Anna reluctantly strings Robbie along.
Ever the alcoholic, Robbie invites himself in for a drink. Anna reveals herself as a vampire, but instead of feeling fear, Robbie presents himself for her to bite.
Robbie does have one last request. He pours a bottle of expensive scotch down the drain and vows to never have another drink. Instead of feeding on him, Anna simply wishes him a good night.
The Good – Kicking Blood
The First Act
The plot description I’ve given only covers the first 20 minutes of the film, and could easily have been a standalone short film in it’s own right. I would even guess that’s how the script was initially pitched and sold in the first place, and then they got the funding to write and shoot the rest of the story.
The second and third acts of ‘Kicking Blood’ are nowhere near as good, but that first act is strong enough to carry us the rest of the way.
The Cast
Bale and Bilyk make for strong lead actors in this film, but the rest of the cast fills out the flick quite nicely, even when the script starts to suffer.
Ella Jonas Farlinger and Benjamin Sutherland play Anna’s vampire friends, Nina and Boris. Both play proxy for vampire society as a whole, and provide a baseline for what ‘normal’ vampire behavior should be. Farlinger and Sutherland also add gravitas to fairly weak dialogue, lines that feel like they belong on a vampire show on The CW more than a feature film.
Vinessa Antoine, Shaun Austin-Olsen, and Josh Bainbridge also play minor, but solid roles the make the most out of limited screen time. All three perfectly play imperfect humans. People that may not deserve what they have, but don’t deserve to have their lives taken.
The Cinematography
The visuals by Director Blaine Thurier and Cinematographer Jonathon Cliff are strong and purposeful.
In a film shot mostly at night and with a dark aesthetic, the images we see always have the right amount of light in the right places. We get the dark tone and night setting, but the picture feels natural and easy to see.
We also get very specific camera angles and movement, showing us the story from a specific perspective – the opposite of wide, medium, tight, and ‘we’ll find it in post.’
The Bad
Second and Third Acts
The vampire dialogue in the second and third acts takes away from the razor sharp character moments of the first act.
The actors playing Nina and Boris do an excellent job delivering subpar dialogue. The double entendres the vampires say while drawing in their prey wouldn’t fool anyone, even the drunk and drugged out characters in this film.
Farlinger and Sutherland sell the lines as well as they can and keep the film from going off the rails. But, bad dialogue is bad dialogue. It’s as if The CW called, and they want their Fall Lineup back!
The Review – Kicking Blood
Overall, the first act of ‘Kicking Blood’ jumps off the screen as a fascinating character study and a nuanced look at addiction. The way addiction is shown doesn’t become one dimensional or preachy in the story, nor does it overshadow the characters themselves that have the addictions.
The film is well cast, with strong performances given, even by supporting characters in limited scenes.
No Fangs
Interestingly, the vampires are shown sucking blood, but don’t have any visible fangs. Not sure if this was a budgetary limitation or a conscious choice, but it did add to the non-over-the-top quality of the vampires.
I wish the dialogue later in the film were stronger. As is, the quality of the first act alone is enough, but just barely.
‘Kicking Blood’ is worth your time. And, at 80 minutes long, it won’t take up much of it.
Check out ‘Kicking Blood’ at the Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF.
Additional Information
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13464274/
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Alanna Bale and Luke Bilyk star as vampire and alcoholic - BOTH trying to beat their addictions in 'Kicking Blood'.
