I came across this 2020 short film by Noboru Suzuki online and, unfortunately, that source is long gone. This is a shame as this is such a well-done film that tells quite a story in its 13 minutes run time.
Set in a diner, the camera looks around the late-night patrons until an old lady (Mayumi Amano) approaches a table where a man (Shinsuke Kato) sits. She tells him that she is a vampire and he chokes on his coffee.
She asks him how old he thinks she is – 80, he responds, but she counters that with 466 (later she says she was turned at 83). He gets up to leave but she seems to cry in pain, citing her knee. He stays and suggests he came on behalf of her son – and it becomes readily obvious that he is a con man and, as part of a gang, they are trying to extract money from her.
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| Mayumi Amano as the lady |
She kind of ignores that – when he points to a package she has brought and suggests it is money, she says it is potato soup. She was turned by Sebastian – a European who came to Japan on a Chinese ship (and looked like George Clooney) – who bit her due to a case of mistaken identity when drunk. She seems to be drinking tomato juice, but the dialogue suggests it is sweet potato sake. However, she says that she drinks blood by adding rabbit’s blood to it. She also says that modern human blood is horrible due to the additives we consume. She reveals a burn, saying a neon light did it (which was an interesting addition to the light sensitivity trope) and also claims she can summon allies (animals).
But can she really be a vampire? And does he have secrets, unknown even to himself? It’s a great short, beautifully shot with a fantastic performance by Mayumi Amano and deserves a wide audience.
The imdb page is here.
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