TWILIGHT
"B+" Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight" reflects all the wondrous awkwardness and charm of teenage angst. It is innocent, beguiling, stumbling and romantic. It makes you long for the days when most of us suppressed desires to become teenage vampires!

For those of you who are clueless concerning the plot of the "Twilight" books series, it follows the tale of a group of young vampires and their relationship with the local populace. To the extent anyone would dismiss such a premise as lightweight fluff reflects to a great extent how out of touch one is with today's youth.

Kristen Stewart, who stood out as the earthy waif in Sean Penn's memorable "Into the Wild" (2007), plays Bella Swan, a young girl who leaves Phoenix to live with her divorced father in the State of Washington when her mother decides to relocate with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. Her father (Billy Burke), a small town sheriff, is as excited to have her back as he is incapable of emotionally showing it.

Arriving at her new school, she is instantly mesmerized by a fellow student, Edward Cullen, played with understated ferocity by the incredibly good-looking Robert Pattinson. Pattinson and Stewart begin an exotic social dance around one another, which culminates in a pivotal scene where he saves her from certain death in a car crash that clearly demonstrates that he is anything but normal.

Without giving anything materially away, Mr. Pattinson's group of vampires belong to a family that feeds only on animals to satisfy their blood lust. Despite that fact, darkness begins to descend on the entire local community as people start to show up dead as a result of suspected animal attacks. Thereafter, vampires turn on vampires as humans become allied with one side.

I must admit that there are some marvelous dramatic moments as Ms. Stewart is put in harm's way as a result of the mutual commitment between her and Mr. Pattinson. What fascinated me about "Twilight" is that it is one of the rarest of Hollywood movies in the sense that it is directly aimed at teenage girls, an almost forgotten Hollywood demographic.

Clearly, as much as you can rightfully praise movies such as "Knocked-Up" (2007), "Superbad" (2007), "Pineapple Express" (2008) and this year's wholesomely demented "Role Models," young women are an afterthought as a target audience. Like it or not, these films are aimed at young men, and the various studios count on women to go along as their long-suffering dates.

"Twilight" is different. It is demonstrably obvious from the emotional response of the many teenage girls attending this movie that they not only thought it was splendid, but clearly viscerally related to the various relationships portrayed on the screen. Following that thought, I don't see how a so-called adult can properly review this film without being in the company of young people anymore than one could adequately review a Tyler Perry film without sitting in the midst of a largely African American audience.

Having seen this film with my Saudi exchange student, "Z," it was clear that he and the other teenagers in the audience knew exactly what was going on. All of them exhibited a joyful reaction to this fine little film from beginning to end.

Given Ms. Hardwicke's wonderful work in previous films such as "Thirteen" (2003) and "Lords of Dogtown" (2005), it is not surprising that she would capture the essence of the convoluted nature of teenage existence. Languid in its pace and extraordinarily beautifully photographed, she has produced a poetic reflection of teenage romance.

As I left the theater and contemplated the surprising dramatic quality of "Twilight," I was reminded of an old Mark Twain quote, "Youth is such a wonderful thing. What a pity that it is wasted on the young." Set aside your skepticism and go see "Twilight" and dare to experience the mixed blessings of being young again.