Former sex film director Takahisa Zeze tries his hand at genre fusion with Moon Child, an unlikely mixture of vampire tale, yakuza gangter opus and male-bonding drama. Starring Bishonen pop stars Hyde and Gackt, this ultimately impotent experiment chronicles the lives of these two childhood friends as they ascend the ranks of the criminal underworld. Kei's skills as a vampire allow him to excel at gunplay, and the bond between he and Sho forms the crux of the film. Over time their relationship becomes strained, especially when they both begin to fall for the same woman.

Though brimming with potential, Moon Child is a film in conceptual turmoil. Its vampire angle is thin and underplayed, the yakuza bits are woefully insipid, and there are far better depictions of male bonding out there, though the homoerotic undertones may appeal to those in search of something truly novel. The film is intolerably long at 119 minutes; it meanders through a series of drawn-out exposition scenes and tepid action setpieces, neither of which are particularly inspired or entertaining. Nearly half the film could be trimmed without seriously affecting the storyline.

The film is ambitious if nothing else, and you have to admire Zeze's chutzpah in trying to tie such disparate concepts together. He brings a stylish sensability to the proceedings that keep things mildly interesting at times, but ultimately there is very little here that hasn't been done before in much more convincing fashion. It might be tolerable with a shorter running time, but it drags on far too long in the throes of genre confusion to warrant a recommendation. Skip it.

Thumbs Down. Moon Child languishes through a dull identity crisis in spite of some intriguing ideas.