Sacred Blood

For Natia, firing bullets at her sister's head and narrowly missing is all in a days work. After taking over the family business, her sharp shooting act is the only thing keeping the declining Orbeliani Circus afloat. When a stranger and his dog drifts into her home town of Batumi, Georgia from the Black Sea, peddling his own act, Natia wonders if a change of fortune is finally on the horizon. As the circus's prospects begin to rise so do suspicions that the stranger is not who he seems. A fateful interaction forces changes upon Natia and she must leave her family to protect them from what she is becoming. Soon, she is traveling to a different city-by-the-bay, San Francisco, where confrontation and opportunity release a violent darkness rooting within her. Fighting against her loneliness and the rules of this new world, she is befriended by a troubled young artist with an innocent soul. Will this tenuous love lead her out of the darkness? Or, are they merely two halves of broken whole?

**_Freestyle indie about a cursed woman from Eastern Europe in San Francisco_** Cowriter & director Christopher Coppola (Nicolas Cage’s older brother) knows how to make a conventional vampire flick in the modern day in light of his very first film from the late ’80s, “Dracula’s Widow.” This is more in the vein of the maudlin “Byzantium” from three years prior, except on an indie budget. While “Byzantium” is technically the superior film since it had way more money in which to work, this one has more meat on its bones and is therefore more interesting, at least to me. There are about six main characters, and Coppola wisely allows them to breathe, fleshing ’em all out. I’m talking about Natia (Anna Luca Biani), Lilly (Bai Ling), Luke (Bailey Coppola), Alexander (Konstantin Kryukov), Detective Brennan (Michael Madsen) and Ruthven (Rob Nilsson). Bailey Coppola, by the way, looks a LOT like Nicolas Cage in the early ’80s. Anna Luca Biani is effective as the protagonist, especially due to her melancholy expressions; similar to Emily Perkins in “Ginger Snaps,” just prettier. Yet it’s Natalia Diasamibze who shines on the beauty front as Dedika, although her role is relatively brief. The problem a lot of people might have with this film is the (presumably) experimental freestyle approach, which is exacerbated by sometimes barely discernable dialogues (so be sure to use the subtitles). Another issue is the lack of title cards to cue the viewer of a switch to another place & time, in particular the early shift from San Francisco to a circus in Eastern Europe weeks earlier and the family who runs it. After all, why make the viewer work so hard? Nevertheless, I respect Coppola for respecting the intelligence of the viewer to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I can see these issues prompting some viewers to run away screaming and not give the movie the chance it deserves. That said, I actually think it’s more interesting compared to “Byzantium.” It’s just very low budget by comparison and should’ve been tweaked to make it more viewer friendly. It runs about 1h 36m and was shot in San Francisco and Batumi, the Republic of Georgia, which is located on the far west coast of the Black Sea. GRADE: B-