The Romantic Agony

An excursion into an area of Tolkien-type fantasy, centering on a seemingly immortal old man's wanderings through time, taking in episodes historical and modern. Its obvious low budget is compensated by some pleasantly autumnal photography, and by Morricone's score. But its myth-weaving trendiness at times becomes excessively cute, with embarrassing episodes (like a nocturnal rite around a phallic totem, detachedly observed by the old man) jarring against others handled with some delicacy (like those involving a ghost unable to frighten anyone any more, and a lady vampire now living on bottled plasma from the blood bank).