There haven't been a lot of comedies on this countdown this year, so I decided to seek one out, and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person has been on my watchlist since I first saw its title earlier this year. And while it's not exactly a comedy filled with guffaws, it's definitely offbeat, and really cute.
The vampire rules are a little different in this French-Canadian story. They're bloodsuckers, for sure, and have to avoid sunlight, but they can have and raise children like human families, they just age very, very slowly. Growing fangs is a coming-of-age rite of passage, but young Sasha's haven't come in yet, and a visit to a vampire doctor show's her brain's empathy center is ignited when she see's humans harmed, not hunger, which explains her revulsion when it comes to the idea of killing for food. She relies on blood bags instead, sipping on them like they're Capri Suns.
As she eventually becomes a teen (played by Sara Montpetit), her rebellion continues, until her family forces her out of the house to live with her cousin, who promises to straighten her up. Then Sasha meets a suicidal teenager (Félix-Antoine Bénard), and she begins to rethink her stance.
It's a clever bit of storytelling, equating a vampire's awakening with a teenager's sexual awakening, and I really loved the ultimate resolution to the story. Aesthetically, the movie is borderline twee, though not in a bad way, and reminded me a bit of Wes Anderson, along with a dose of A Girl Walks Home Alone at night, especially when you compare these two scenes. In all, worth seeking out. I watched it on a Blu-ray from my library, but it is available on Mubi, and as an online rental.
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