We love a hangout horror movie with transfixing vibes, don’t we (say yes, humor me)? That’s Nicky Murphy’s I Love Paris, a found-footage bloodsucker with hints of Only Lovers Left Alive, Suck, What We Do in the Shadows, and a smidge of Luca Guadagnino’s coolest streaks. It’s as much a music-industry commentary as it is a chilled-out take on vampire mythos: a conversational Eurotrash thriller with fangs. Set to a jammin’ soundtrack, Murphy and his flabbergasting multi-hyphenate star—Aminata Thiboult—explore France’s underground nightlife scene as predators hunt. The result is a comical, moody, earworm experience for the whole crew, because this one’s definitely better with bud(s).
Thiboult stars as “Paris,” a budding Parisian singer chasing her big break. After a festival denies her request to perform because she lacks social media popularity, Paris ventures out to shoot TikTok content. She hopes a viral video will help her quickly amass online followers—but instead, she goes “viral” for the wrong reason. Paris is bitten and turned into a vampire by Lutèce (Leonor Oberson), and thus an inhuman star is born. Instead of dwelling on the negatives, Paris embraces her supernatural lifestyle change and uses it to her advantage, chewing her way through the competition in more ways than one.
Murphy’s direction is surprisingly grounded, focusing on the dark humor of Paris’ whacked-out mindset. It’s indelibly intimate, because Murphy and Thiboult are responsible for 80% of the production team. Direction, sound, and camerawork are all Murphy, whose keen eye captures Paris’ midnight landscapes (the city) with impressive composition for a found-footage title (from cramped apartments to the lit-up Eiffel Tower). Thiboult co-writes the screenplay and performs original songs, as well as handles special effects makeup, props, and costume design, asserting full control over Paris’ scene-stealing qualities. The spilled blood around her lips, the swag in her style, the moxie in her pursuit of greatness—it’s all Thiboult, who Murphy clearly trusts to carry I Love Paris.
Clearly, it’s with good reason. Thiboult’s Paris is an entertaining lead from an early freestyle showcase to a hilarious closing skit that is a candy-coated cherry on I Love Paris. She’s opposite Oberson’s Lutèce most of the film, as they quickly form a mentor-mentee bestie relationship. Together, they threaten festival schedulers (Antoine Dumortier’s petrified Paul) and befriend megapop girlies (Louiza Aura’s wildcard Mimi) in a predictable navigation of vampirism evolutions. Lutèce helps Paris embrace the standard “sun bad, blood good” lore, but storytelling gets infinitely more enjoyable when they level their vamp credentials against industry cronies or link up with turned individuals hidden in plain sight. Their companionship encourages a beautiful chaos that hits dramatic patches, as Paris gets drunk on crimson juices and the limelight’s glow with equal inhibition.
If there’s something to ding, it’s the nearly 110-minute runtime. That’s not to insinuate I Love Paris runs out of breath. It’s more that, in such a chat-heavy mockumentary, we’re buried under a mountain of dialogue. Sometimes, Murphy leaves in too much banter or lingers on scenes longer than necessary. A tighter cut of I Love Paris would move at a brisker, more beneficial clip. But clearly it’s not a dealbreaker because while momentum may slow for periods, Thiboult is right there to reel us back in with a musical interlude, laughable vampire-human interaction, or a proper gush of bloody goodness.
I Love Paris brings the party with dope beats, lovable performances, and killer vibes for all the right reasons. Murphy dodges countless found-footage pitfalls to create an organic vampiric buddy-comedy that still bathes in sanguine liquids at the right moments. Thiboult is a revelation as this spunky-to-the-max icon in the making; the actress earns comparisons to powerhouses like Sasha Lane or Zoey Deutch, who can mesh with any scene partner. It’s a delightful pairing of entertainment-biz skewering and vampire parallels that keeps those themes hand in hand, always with a wink and a nod. I Love Paris ponders why it’s so hard to be alive through the eyes of the undead, charting a bittersweet symphony of heartfelt shenanigans that leaves us wanting more even as the credits roll.
Movie Score: 3.5/5