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".
总之就是完全没怎么感觉到男主有多爱电影，这方面男二的塑造都比男主好一些。比较失望，之前看海报以为是《浅草小子》那种片子，结果被骗了
☆：3- 你看松竹这艘大船它又平又稳（唯一喜欢的地方是向mini theater文化致意）
BJIFF. 迷影梗玩得老练，崩坏的现代戏靠动人的年代戏弥补，单纯质朴的情怀大幅提升三星片子的观感，就连男主的人设都不显得那么让人厌恶，还有与当下疫情的挂钩，这些都让电影本身显得那么珍贵而重要。永野芽郁哭戏值得一看。电影是我的避风港，只要它在，我就在。热爱电影的人，电影之神一定会眷顾你的。
山田洋次又再次販賣電影情懷，這次真的無法共情，老爺子的電影跟其實降旗康男一樣的毛病，故事及角色都非常扁平，只有死板隱忍的男人女人，論電影情懷就是僅為了心愛的女人就放棄電影院不然就是寫賭博擺爛讓人無法共情的男人，不如看前者《抓著彩虹的男人》就夠了(･_･;
看来，在男性创作者中最与他们惺惺相惜的未必是女友，而是好友。
真是个好故事啊。前半段看得太难受，今昔往昔，那么意气风发的青春，珍珠变成了死鱼目，正如深夜举杯，全是梦碎的声音。幸好最后满满温情，却又不突兀。双女主都太好看了，昭和美人风范。
囧子随着年龄增长演起风情美女越来越得心应手了
要拍巴斯特·基顿式的金点子（其实被伍迪·艾伦拍成了《开罗紫玫瑰》），不要陈腐的推拉长镜头——不知道这其中有几分是山田本人在副导演时期的执着，也实在想不到还有哪个导演比他更适合、也更有资格给松竹百年献礼。其实感觉山田近几年（乃至大半个电影生涯）拍的都是同一部电影，新作也即是把《电影天地》和《家族之苦》做了嫁接，其实“电影拯救人生”的主题稍有些生硬了（回避了家庭中长久存在的问题），电影之神的降临也并不赐福于女性。喜欢的还是过去的部分，片场涌现许多生动的细节，把北川景子拍出了一种昭和女优的优雅气质。新冠疫情下的电影院困境，也还是第一次在电影里看到如此直给的呼吁，而这出自一个几近鲐背之年的导演，对电影的拳拳之心天地可鉴。人物有没有生命力，故事有没有真情感，无论什么年代的观众，都可以一眼洞穿的。
可无奈我是个十足的昭和控，把时间倒回，还用这种熟悉的诙谐琐碎的处理方式，让人数次泪目。
我記得我有被感動到眼眶濕了一下 但我竟忘了是哪裏 /_\ （對不起） 就 比我老闆們講的好看⋯年紀大了被感動到了⋯ 電影之神請保佑我們
3.5 /忙到忘记mark了。因为入场前被二位友人预告了这次不是那么好，片前还有爷爷访问，说疫情拍得好艰难，于是观影过程里我反而产生了一种“还行嘛，也没很不好呀，爷爷没事的！不是还行的嘛！”这样的心情哈哈。 现代部分问题比较大，年代部分好很多，看苏打和永野芽郁两个人我就已经得到快乐了！永野芽郁太可爱了！！！然后就是我不太喜欢泽田研二的表演，很难共情。/ 爷爷长命百岁！
其实就是基顿的《福尔摩斯二世》的创意，其实也已经有实现这个想法的电影，伍迪艾伦的《开罗紫玫瑰》就是，所以当我看到在2020年代这样的剧本获奖的处理时，其实是太理想化的。展现了一些疫情下影院的困境。但没有太多新的元素。
我能活这么久多亏有你，这是献给你的勋章，为了你选择的爱情，为了我选择的你。
看完問自己，如果這不是山田洋次的作品，我是不是依然會這麼失望？雖然因為山田洋次而多了期待，但是，還是會失望吧，即便把電影寫進了片名而我卻沒法感受到對電影熱烈的愛，反而因為對夢想的輕易放棄而更讓人難以諒解，即便加入了疫情元素卻還是讓現在部分故事增加了現實感，兩批演員分別飾演同一角色的老年和青年，可惜表演上卻沒有統一，更加加劇了電影的分裂感。山田洋次已經90歲了，他真的老了，也許我應該諒解他的力不從心吧。#BJIFF2021#
3.5吧。另一個版本的《一秒鐘》，山田洋次對小津原節子是真愛。合著男主劇本這不就是《開羅紫玫瑰》嘛，放當下時空還得獎了，我一直以為是外孫編出來騙他的...情節雖然爛俗,但是真正的電影之神不就是多層銀幕後面，九十歲還在拍片的導演自己麼？
熱淚盈眶。懷念在美國和日本時去的那些art house cinema。
用一个败者的庶民故事给松竹贺寿倒也颇为合适。毕竟胶片浓郁深沉的色彩、放映机的金属光泽，以及片场的氤氲，就是神迹之光啊。另外菅田将晖被摄影师击败那场，更像是来自山田本人处女作被森田俊保掌控的回忆。
囧子随着年龄增长演起风情美女越来越得心应手了
这样的故事，也许放在80年代拍还有些意思，搞成寅次郎系列的一集，能出味道，现在拍，晚了，导演老了，演员、社会氛围也不对，勉为其难，乏善可陈。跟《默片解说员》一样，服化道、演员都透着一股塑料味的廉价气息，整体有些轻浮，显得假，比起80年代的《蒲田进行曲》《映画女优》《电影天地》等片，真差远了。
洋次郎演技挺可爱的，也没想到北川景子竟然也能有“小津”味。整体年轻和老年的人物性格有点割裂，苏打不像是浪子的模样，几处铺垫和转折也略生硬。看到结尾虽然有些感动但还是忍不住吐槽：既然认为自己妻子不幸福但还是一直拖累对方，只是在获奖感言才表达出真心话？以及曾经拥有导演梦想的年轻人在高龄获得剧本奖后才有才华被认可的感觉？也许这是导演写给电影的一封情书吧，没有理想的人不伤心。
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