Martin (John Amplas), a young man who looks around 20-years-old, boards a train in Indianapolis, Indiana for New York. At night, he breaks into a sleeping car and sedates a woman with a syringe full of narcotics. She struggles, but he tells her not to struggle or be upset because she wont feel pain. After a few minutes, the woman falls asleep, and Martin has sex with the unconscious woman. Afterwards, he slices her wrists with a razor blade so he can drink her blood. The woman bleeds to death in her sleep.
In the morning, the train stops in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where Martin disembarks. He is met by Tata Cuda (Lincoln Maazel) an elderly and hostile old man who claims to be his cousin from the Old World. Together, they travel by another train to the town of Braddock, a dying industrial suburb. They walk to Cuda's large house where he shows Martin his living quarters. Cuda then accuses Martin of being an 84-year-old vampire from his old country. He has taken in Martin because he is family, but tells him, "First I will save your soul. Then I shall destroy you." Martin denies being a vampire and implies that Cuda is merely his uncle rather than his cousin. Cuda then puts up strings of garlic on the doors to his and his granddaughter's room, and then holds up a small cross when Martin approaches him. Martin takes away the cross, and even takes a bite of the garlic mocking these attempts by saying bitterly, "There's no real magic... ever". Cuda tells Martin that he can come and go as he pleases. But he also warns Martin that he will kill him if he kills anyone in Braddock. He also tells Martin to stay away from his granddaughter Christine (Christine Forrest), whom arrives home from her job that evening.
Cuda introduces Christine to Martin, but also warns her to stay away from him. But Christine instead strikes up a friendship with Martin who confides in her about his vampire heritage. When Cuda later confirms Martin's claims to be a vampire, Christine, not surprisingly, refuses to believe either one. She thinks that Cuda and the other members of her family have driven Martin to insanity by making him think that he is a vampire. It is never revealed if Martin really is a vampire, or just a shy and lonely youth with troubled issues. Christine is the only person that Martin gets the courage to talk to. When Christine's boyfriend Arthur (Tom Savini) arrives at the house for dinner, Martin stops talking and backs away despite Arthur's attempt at a conversation. Christine later confides in Martin that she hopes to leave Braddock someday with Arthur, even though Martin points out that Arthur treats her badly and is both verbally and physically abusive towards her.
When Christine sees that Martin won't talk to anyone else, she buys him a phone which he installs in his room. Martin begins to repeatingly call a radio talk show where he describes what it's like to be a vampire. He becomes known on the radio as "the Count" to all the listeners. But the patronizing host (Michael Gornick) thinks he's just crazy.
Martin gets a job at Cuda's grocery store of stocking shelves, hauling boxes around, and even gets to be a delivery boy for some of the customers. One of his customers is a certain Abby Santini (Elyane Nadeau), who becomes taken in with Martin. She is a very friendly young woman who is depressed when she tells Martin that her husband is unfaithful. But Martin still does not have the nerve to talk with her, so she is happy to have someone to confide in with her life problems. Martin phones the radio show host to describe his infatuation with the housewife and senses that she wants to have sex with him. When the radio show host asks Martin if it is a sexual problem that he has involving women criticizing him during sex, Martin replies that he has never had sex with a woman who was awake.
One day, Martin travels by train to outside Braddock to look for victims. At a supermarket, he follows a young woman (Sarah Venable) home to her posh suburban house. He sees the woman's husband (Richard Rubenstein) leave for a long business trip, and Martin decides this would be the right time for more feeding. Martin returns to the house after dark and breaks in through the garage door. But it is Martin who gets the surprise when he bursts into her bedroom to find her in bed with her adulterous lover Lewis (Al Levitsky). After a vicious struggle, Martin jabs both of them with hyprodermic needles with narcotics, and waits for the drugs to take affect. He drags the unconscious body of Lewis from the house to a clump of trees across the street where he kills him by shoving a broken tree branch into his neck and drinks his blood. Martin returns to the house where he has sex with the unconscious woman. But out of compassion and pity, he decides to let her live.
Martin begins to have romantic monochrome visions of his vampire past (real or imagined), where he drained blood from a young woman and was chased through the streets of a nameless European town by a torch-lit mob.
During one Sunday at church, Cuda brings home Father Howard (George A. Romero) who asks him about the possibility of exorcism and demon possession. Father Howard calls upon the elderly Father Zulemans (Clifford Forrest, Jr.) over at Cuda's request. Together, Cuda and Zulemans confront Martin his bedroom and attempt to perform an exorcism on him. At this point, Martin remembers (another real or imaginary flashback), in the Old Country of people trying to perform an exorcism on him, and he flees them. Martin then flees from Cuda and Zuelmas as well. A little later that night, Martin terrorizes Cuda in a children's playground when he puts on a Dracula cape and puts false fangs into his mouth to pretend that he really is a vampire.
One day, Martin finally musters the courage to talk with Mrs. Santini during a routine delivery to her house where he tells her that he's aware of her attempts to seduce him and wants now to have sex with her. After having sex for the first time, Mrs. Santini becomes more depressed for she tells Martin that her husband just left her because she discovered that she cannot bear children, and that her desires towards him are based on sex and nothing else. But Martin wants to stay with her and help her move on with her life. Martin tells the radio show host about his affair with the housewife and that he no longer has the urge to attack other women.
Meanwhile, Arthur meets with Cuda and tells him that he wants Christine to leave town with him so they can get married and start a family. But Christine becomes angry at Cuda when he tells Arthur that insanity runs in their family and he shouldn't consider having children with her. Shortly afterwards, Christine packs up and leaves Braddock for New York with Arthur despite Martin telling her that Arthur is abusive towards her. But her mind is made up. Before leaving, Christine tells Martin that she really has no ill feelings towards him and just wants to make a fresh start with her life. She says goodbye to him and promises to write. But Martin knows that with an abusive and possessive man in Christine's life, she probably won't.
Depressed over losing his one true friend, Martin phones the radio show host and tells him that he's getting "shaky" and wants to go out looking for more victims. That night, Martin travels to a rough crime-ridden area of Pittsburgh and attacks two derelicts in a alley, injecting them with narcotics. He kills one of them by silting the bum's wrist and drinking his blood. Martin is about to kill the second one when a police car shows up and gives chase. Martin narrowly escapes during a long chase on foot which leads from the garbage strew streets and through a local store. Martin runs into an old warehouse where a drug deal is going down. A shootout between the two cops and the three thugs begins where all of them are killed, leaving Martin as the sole survivor who casually walks away from the carnage.
One day, Martin finds Mrs. Santini dead in her bathtub, after she had slit her writs with a razor blade. Martin anonymously calls the police to report the body and leaves. He phones the radio show host one final time to say that he really doesn't need friends or people to talk to for he is his own person. But when Cuda learns about Mrs. Santini's suicide, is mistakenly thinks Martin killed her and made it look like a suicide as he's done before. Cuda walks into Martin's room while he is asleep and kills him by hammering a wooden stake through Martin's heart.
Cuda buries Martin's body in his back garden, while over the closing credits various voices from people are heard talking to the radio show host asking the whereabouts of "the Count".
影像很美，调度有出彩的地方。故事很单薄。影像的诗意≠诗电影。
可以看成一次主旋律和艺术性还不错的尝试，但是含糊不清的主题表达，和反主流主旋律的任务片呈现，让整部影片暧昧不明，配音的尴尬让对白成为念白的存在，水平欠佳的枪战戏只能靠昏暗的树林和摇动的芦苇荡来遮羞。 不过获得天坛奖也真的是应该的，哈哈哈。装逼诗意战争学院片
虽然有很多问题，比如设计性并没有想象中那么强，有一种浓浓的“滤镜”感；全片的影像基调并没有很好统一，段落之间存在一定割裂；人物、故事太简单，空有符号没有内在联系，想往诗意那个方向做又欠火候，主题模糊表述不清；以及画面亮度过分的暗，让人看的真的很累等等。但是，在这样的大环境下做出这种主旋律+风格化美学的尝试无疑是值得鼓励的；或者也没有那么多预设，不过是一次误打误撞罢了……
失望，但为了“有选择”和“都是自己人”，补到及格分。
视听很讲究，讲究的有几分刻意，处在纪实风格和诗歌式的中间，只有个别镜头能看出来有几分水墨画的意蕴，调度有戏剧的感觉，但又不乏炫技的镜头，反而情节和人物被放在了次要位置，人物没有厚度就很难共情，虽然看到了战争的残酷，但看不到具体的人。就算是这样，在千篇一律的国产战争片中，仍值得一看。
一致反映是政府看了会觉得不太满意，被骗钱了哈哈
形式大于内容的典型，剧本太差了以致于对故事和人物几乎没留下什么印象
9.29于北京国际电影节。中国的学院派作品，太诗意了。高分辨率的黑白电影总能戳中观众的视觉神经。 无序的事物在的润泽之下变得和谐而有质感。是清澈的溪水漱过碎石，是清凉的晚风吹过芦苇荡，是氤氲的烟汽升腾于山间森林，是曳光的子弹射入士兵的胸膛。全片的光影浸透着温柔又暴力的美感。这场战争里，当交战双方用着相同的方言对话，便再没有胜利可言。
然后想想节奏也有相通之处
没想象中那么风格化，反而很接近末世求生电影的类型架构。对白皆方言，然而也都是后期由专人配音的；吴、湘方言大概能听出来，别的不好说，但我总觉得讲不同方言的人能对话挺奇怪的。显然比较出色的部分一个在开篇，从先声夺人到长镜结束，虽然抖得不行，但让我印象深刻；另一处是洪队在悲伤与高压之下，于林中陷入幻觉，草木皆兵，做出了《恐怖游轮》的既视感。总体上形式与内容割裂较大，我常觉得创作者醉心于江南风光而忘记了文本为何。头一回听说“挺进师”，作为浙江人还是挺骄傲的。
不可否认影片画面构图讲究，灰暗的影调确实有一种悲凉感。但是，画面处理后过于暗沉，人物面孔表情无法看清，身边不少朋友坦诚看完电影认不清角色；镜头之间链接不连贯，叙事较乱；能看出导演有一些想法比如小人物的故事，上级命令与同伴生死的两难选择，超现实段落等，但是确实没有讲好。
战争片中全新的视觉体验，灰阶相当赏心悦目，对话戏比较差。
2021青年导演海上影展 过于追求山水画的风格导致演员的表演丧失了很多，但这比某些脑残战争片好太多了。
导演不愧是美院出身，视听的诗化、超现实和纪实之间碰撞，调色风格像水墨画卷，又在山水中凝聚血与肉的残忍和天人交战的泥泞——最佳摄影奖实至名归。同时也看到很多前辈导演的影子，老塔、费穆、国师、吴宇森、姜文甚至是万玛才旦（当然他是监制）。导演能把这些元素融合到战争场景当中真的很妙，一开始觉得像1917，后来又发现完全不同。自有其“纯中国化诗电影”的玄机——在我看来就是：人之俗性以及人之神性。最大的短板就是剧本不行，能悟到想表达的，包括一些深层次的东西，但显然编剧笔力尚且不够，没有表现出来。整个剧作就显得形式大于内容，如果不是视听艺术的烘托，就很难体会到个中深意。
是一个好的突破和尝试，刚开始总是比较艰难和难以实现的，相信导演自己也还有很多遗憾吧，但是可以慢慢来嘛，这是个开始……（受不了点映结束之后观众发言的空话套话，搞得我好想逃离😅）
摄影和美术很有特点，故事性和人物塑造上欠了，方言也听得我有点懵了，但是，这只是开始！
失望，但为了“有选择”和“都是自己人”，补到及格分。
没有《细细的红线》的命，却得了~的病。这片像革命老基地的村里头在暑假组织了一场预算捉襟见肘的低龄儿童向的微型红色战争重演，再套了几层自以为是的滤镜。诗意战争片除了诗意还有战争，学泰伦斯·马力克拍一部哲理战争片，不要就学个形式主义的皮毛，众退役军人组成的技术团队是一部期望拥有成熟表达的战争片，连接文本和视觉的纽带。战斗是驱动战争片叙事的核心，不是整几句悬浮的话剧台词、浅摹一下杜琪峰的港式街头驳火就完事了。片尾署名首位的党史顾问也懂涉军设定和服化道？军科、军博多少战史专家，可能请美院军事社来拍都比这强。很多华语电影人只能算手工业电影人，反商业的初衷并非是表达，而是对工业文化感到莫名的恐惧。电影是因技术而形成的艺术门类，它需要擅用技术人文主义修辞的作者，非搞不懂电灯就诅咒灯火破坏了夜晚景色的土鳖。
C-，参加的某观影组织搞的活动，映后交流来了导演和男一，有一半多时间都是“哎呀我和导演老朋友了呀”“哎呀导演我是你以前的学生呀”“哎呀导演我朋友也在里面演戏好巧哇”这种浪费时间的话。竟然没有哪怕是一个人问，为什么这电影是该死的如此地暗，抹着奇怪的滤镜。为数不多值得称赞的是方言配音，故事发生于浙西南，当地人民确实是丽水那边的方言，国民党确实是宁波的方言，共产党是四川、湖南那些地方……里面的小孩“小哨子”，我们浙江这边确实是念“小叫子”的……好乱哦，大家居然能互相听得懂吗？导演说想要“诗意”，我只感受到了“单薄”。但不管怎么说，男演员还是蛮帅气的惹
其实有些镜头单看表现挺好的，但结合前后又有些突兀
Copyright © 2015-2023 All Rights Reserved
