lachrymist:

Things I love about Queen of the Damned

Also inspired by @i-want-my-iwtv call for action, I felt the need to defend my personal love for this film, though it is a bad adaptation.

1. Jesse as a co-protagonist of the story. In the book, Jesse is just one piece of a very large puzzle, but the movie gives her almost equal development and time as Lestat. No, I don’t enjoy their forced romance, and would prefer if that had been left out. But I do love that she’s the lens through which we see Lestat’s history, and how she plays more of a forward role in the overall story. She is brave but is allowed to make mistakes, and is a powerful female character because of that. 

2. Lena Olin as Maharet. She brings the character alive with the sheer amount of grace and power she puts into her performance. Maharet feels like she is ancient, and also above the world, but not in a pretentious way. Simply that she is separate from humanity, something she slips up on by allowing Jesse to stay at the compound.

3. The design and look of the Great Family Tree. The tiny tablets with ancient writing fits far more into an old world aesthetic than whatever elementary design I had come up with in my head when I’d read the book. I love how they bleed towards the end of the movie. I love how the branches stretch out not so much like branches on a tree, but like veins and arteries, further driving home the importance of blood.

4. The concert venue being outdoors. Whenever I reread QOTD I have a vague feeling of claustrophobia with how small Cow Palace feels. The tight space lends itself to the ensuing chaos, but the outdoor concert gives more tension imo. The threat and danger of the rogue vampires can come from anywhere, and though we see them in the crowd, when they descend from above it heightens the fear that Lestat might really be in danger. 

5. The way the blood drinking mind reading is portrayed. Showing mental powers or mind anything in film is hard. It can either read too cheesy or too realistic. I like the way the film makes the mental blood connection look like a tunnel, like we are being transported along blood vessels to see what the characters are seeing, without revealing too much.

6. Aaliyah as Akasha. This is not far down on the list because of any order, simply because it’s been said by so many of us I didn’t want it to be redundant.

7. The soundtrack. Likewise with this. So many people love these songs, and I probably wouldn’t have discovered Deftones, one of my fave bands, without this soundtrack (and the very hot ‘sex’ scene over Change (In the House of Flies)). 

Listen, I know this movie isn’t a good representation of the book. I know it probably isn’t even a good movie by objective standards. But I’ve still rewatched it more than IWTV, and I still love way too much of it. Perhaps that is because it came out when I was first reading the books, so to me, it’ll always be the adaptation that I’ll associate with my fledgling VC days. 

Now I feel bad for bashing this movie! I had asked for some love for it, and this was so touching and so generous to it, and like, I hope the ppl who were involved with it had fun making it, and I hope they know that some ppl did enjoy it and do think of it affectionately.