Almost anything and everything you can think of to do with the vampire genre has been done and done to death (no pun intended at this point) so when What We Do In The Shadows came out in 2014 it was a refreshing take on the genre. However, since then, with the exception of the television show no one has tried to anything even remotely similar to that style or ideology. That is until director Nicky Murphy, along with her co-writer and star Aminata Thiboult decided to give us a taste back of what the shadows gave us, a mockumentary vampire film that is packed with to the brim with excitement, but it does unfortunately lose a little steam mostly due to the fact that it needed a supporting cast to be present and not just an afterthought.
I Love Paris, focuses on Paris (Aminata Thiboult) as she wants to become the next big musical name, she is determined to become the next big rapper and believes she just needs her big break. She even chose her name based on the fact that she can capitalize on the free marketing with people who wear shirts that read “I *heart* Paris” so she can claim that sentiment is for her and not the city itself. It’s ingenious and hilarious, shows the business prowess of someone who wants to make it. What makes I Love Paris work, is the fact that everything Paris done is fully engaged with the audience, nothing is held back, even the wildest dumbest most horrible ideas that make her look bad are still centred and captured – nothing is off the table, and when everything changes it becomes more unhinged.
She decides to try and make a music video in the abandoned sewer in town, sneaking into the draining system through a broken fence. A voice in the background tells her to get out, and essentially to F off, she is adamant to continue shooting there and ignores her. However, when the push comes for shove more than not, she abandons the plan, but on her way out of the broken fence she cuts herself – deep, bleeding profusely. This is where Lutece/Lu (Leonor Oberson) enters the scene. First offering to help Paris, who refuses her help for obvious reasons, but then slowly stalking her throughout the city until she makes her pivotal attack. At first, just wanting to kill her and drain her of her blood, but not realizing it’s a full moan meaning she’s only transformed Paris and now Lu is responsible for teaching Paris the ropes, and Paris is intending to use her new found vampiric being to get the musical stature she’s always wanted, even if that means taking some bodies with her.
What works for I Love Paris, is how great Aminata Thiboult is both behind the pen and in front of the screen. Her on screen presence is infectious, she is unafraid to be embarrassed and look insane while also commanding every scene. Pre transformation she’s hungry and determined to make things work, post transformation she’s determined to do anything and everything in her power to get there – even if it means staying out of the sunlight. She’s hungry and driven and oddly humble, and it just translates to someone navigating a new world whether that be a career path or the living dead. Conversely, Leonor Oberson juxtaposing the constant life inside of Aminta, is excellently full of life but seemingly dull. This isn’t a dig at her performance, but the character is an outsider who doesn’t fit in – even within the vampire community – but her performance and character is so determined to make things work with Paris that she slowly starts to change but overall her performance is more akin to Colin Robinson from What We Do in the Shadows – an energy vampire.
I Love Paris is an engaging and entertaining story about ambition that takes a blood sucking turn. It is ambitious and different from nearly everything the genre has done, similar in tone and ideology to What We Do in the Shadows but Nicky Murphy and Aminata Thiboult get a little too lost on focusing on their version of Guillermo and less so on the ambition and supporting character to bring this to full fruition. There is a lot of fun to be had, but there is still some blood dripping from the script that needed to be sucked up by the hungry audience.
