Customer Reviews

Nadja

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Nadja" is not like any other vampire movie ever made.

It is creepy, thoughtful, and very funny. This movie has viewers divided. Obviously the people who hate it did not get the humor, which is subtle and dark.

Nadja is the daughter of Dracula living in modern day New York. She describes her father as "a cruel and distant man." For the most part, this film is about the psychological damage caused by growing up in a single parent household with a vampire as the parent. She says things like "the pain I feel is the pain of fleeting joy." Instead of saying "I want to suck your blood," she says "I want to change my life" in a heavy Transyvanian accent.

Like all Dracula films, the arch nemesis is Van Helsing. In this film, he is the crazy uncle. He rides a bicycle and sleeps in a piano.

Nadja's crazy sidekick is Renfield, but we do not find that out until a third the way through the movie.

If you liked films like "Blade" and "Underworld," you are going to hate "Nadja." "Nadja" is for people who normally hate vampire films and looking for great dialog, stylish camera work, and have a quirky sense of humor.

This is easily my all time favorite vampire movie.

As soon as I saw David Lynch produced this, I knew I was in for a mixed bag. It's not that I don't think the man has talent, it's just that he always pushes the artistry and existentialism of the viewing experience to the point that his films occasionally cease to entertain and devolve into a near-nonsensical, unfocused mess. Still, Lynch didn't direct "Nadja" and it never goes that far, though it veers into that territory from time to time. This is a film custom made for philosophical, art-house vampire fans; the kind who think of goth as The Cure and Morrissey, not Marilyn Manson and Type O Negative. The action is thin, the sexuality brief, and the story difficult to accurately portray in mere words. Definitely a one-of-a-kind sort of vampire flick and that alone is reason enough to look it up and give it a whirl.

"Nadja" is a bit of a remake of the sequel to the original Dracula, entitled "Dracula's Daughter". Nadja is the daughter in question, one half of a pair of fraternal twins. Dracula has had many children through rape, but she and her brother Edgar were the only born from love; thus all of the rest were born hideous idiots allowing them to blend into the population (now THAT's black humor!). Nadja is a sexy vampire maiden of perpetual sorrow, enveloped by the sadness of "fleeting joy"; everything she loves disappears in the end. Her brother, thinking them monsters, wants her dead and is ill from not feeding, her "cruel and distant" father has just been killed by Dr. Van Helsing - who is played in an unusual manner by Peter Fonda- who is now aiming for her, and then there's that whole vampire thing: immortality and blood drinking and all that. Her desire for a fresh start in life and inability to break old habits can be a metaphor for many things; drug addiction and bad romantic choices being the two that strike me as relevant. The black and white picture is beautiful, the music is unique, modern, and evocative, and the image of the modern female vamp's hooded form walking down the street smoking a cigarette strikes me as iconic. Nadja herself is quite likable and the cast overall is good. There's a lot of indie charm to the film and humorous little bits of dialogue thrown in like Renfield chiming into a conversation with the philosophical nugget "love is like rabies". Hard to argue with that assessment. This is definitely a film to see if you're into artistic gothic horror with an indie touch that still maintains a classical feel. That's the good.

The bad is that after the first half, the film sometimes tries too hard and is often inconsistent in both the vampire mythos and the overall quality. The biggest loser of points is the unique but often annoying use of a blurry, pixelated camera view used in scenes where Nadja uses her vampiric influence to blur her victims' minds. A great idea in theory but it looks terrible in practice, inducing headaches in the lengthier scenes and making the onscreen action hard to follow in others. I actually wondered if the DVD was defective for a while the first time I viewed the film, but then I remembered David Lynch was involved and let out a little sigh. More good artistic intentions gone bad. And let's face it, when two beautiful women are kissing passionately onscreen or the protagonist is fighting for her life, nobody needs a blurry picture. Some of the dialogue is a bit distracting as well, with the use of phrases like "psychic fax" -used to explain the telepathic link between vampires- or statements like "blood is like chewing gum to these creatures" breaking the sophisticated and otherworldly feel of the film. Some of the plot points are of the WTF variety and the climax is more of an anticlimax, though the ending is somewhat fitting for the character. Still, much more could have been done storywise.

The bottom line is this: if you're looking for the orgy of sex and violence that the back of the box promises, you may as well go buy a coaster because that's all this DVD will be good for (well, that and a non-nude sex scene involving period blood); but if you want a thoughtfully different approach to vampires on film give this one a try. It will never be my favorite vampire film, but it is surely a worthy addition to my undead library.

3 1/2 stars, rounded down because Amazon won't let me change my rating.

I have owned this film for years on DVD and still think it is one of the best indie- films and vampire films of all time. So cool and quirky. People who knock Nadja (and David Lynch) just don't get it. As a musician I was very impressed with the selection of music and sound to viual editing. Beyond words.

Most vampire movies are all about blood, evil, mayhem, and big jutting fangs that could never actually fit in their mouths.

Fortunately "Nadja" never falls into the usual vampire cliches. Instead it focuses on blood, fuzz and the dark snowy streets of Manhatten, and the vampires that wander through it after Dracula's death. Though it occasionally stumbles on pretension, Michael Almereyda's direction and Elina Löwensohn's ethereal Nadja turn this into a quiet gem.

Dracula is dead. His daughter Nadja (Löwensohn) senses it immediately, and pledges to "start over," although Renfield (Karl Geary) is skeptical. As she wanders through New York, Jim (Martin Donovan) springs his eccentric uncle Van Helsing (Peter Fonda) from jail and gets a pep talk on Dracula and his past. But they don't know that Jim's unhappy wife Lucy (Galaxy Craze) is meeting the beguiling Nadja at a club, and the two of them end up having a brief lesbian tryst.

But that encounter with Nadja is slowly transforming Lucy into another zombielike slave, even as the lovely vampire heads to Brooklyn to meet her dying twin brother Edgar (Jared Harris). But when Van Helsing and Jim try to try to stop Nadja, her vampiric nature is fully reawakened -- and now Van Helsing, Jim and Edgar must stop her before

Technically "Nadja" is a remake of an old sequel to "Dracula," and a few parts of the newer movie show its origins. But other than that, it's pretty much a unique piece of work -- and while the art-house approach gets a little pretentious (that ridiculous story about butter) its haunting beauty is undeniable.

Michael Almereyda takes an uber-realistic approach for this movie -- it's filmed in crisp black-and-white, with lots of stark lighting, shadowed apartments, and the occasional blurry blood/sex scene. The dialogue varies between plain and poetic ("I was born by the Black Sea, under the shadow of the Carpathian mountains..."), and has the occasional haunting monologue about Draculean offspring and "the pain of fleeting joy."

Much of the plot involves the various characters rambling through New York, only to suddenly transform a full-fledged vampire film after Nadja's visit to her brother. As her vampiric nature starts taking over, the movie speeds up into a nightmarish showdown in an overgrown Transylvanian manor. And while the twist ending is a bit of a headscratcher, it's a suitably unconventional ending for an atypical vampire movie.

For such a movie, you need a truly brilliant Nadja. And Elina Löwensohn is perfect -- exotically beautiful, dignified, and capable of both innocence and malevolence. She adds a dreamlike flavour to many otherwise prosaic scenes, whether she's wandering through the snow or reclaiming Dracula's body ("We have come for the body of Count Voivoida Armenios Ceausescu Dracula. I believe there is a wooden stake in the heart").

The other actors do solid jobs with all their roles -- Peter Fonda is quite good as a mildly crazy, long-haired Van Helsing who drives his relatives crazy with his vampire obsession. Donovan, Craze and Harris do serviceable jobs with their roles. Karl Geary is a real standout as the sexy, moderately predatory Renfield, who is kind only to Nadja.

"Nadja" is a vampire tale with an arty modern twist and a brilliant lead actress. Sometimes it gets a bit pretentious, but its beauty can't be denied.

Here is a vampire movie that had potential, yet was ultimately ruined by some poor choices. It is a tale involving two offspring of Count Dracula, who has recently been stabbed with a wooden spike. The two, Nadja and Edgar, endeavor to retrieve the body so they can return it to his native soil. Showing up so he can try to stop them is a relative of van Helsing, also known as Dr. van Helsing. Why the filmmakers thought they needed to retain Dracula as their vampire character is puzzling, though not nearly as puzzling as the decision to include Lucy, van Helsing and Renfield characters. Are these the only characters from vampire lore they could think of? For me, it only seemed to make the film contrived, less authentic and less appealing. Footage from the Lugosi "Dracula" film is also briefly used for some reason, as though we do not know who Dracula is. As Dr. van Helsing, Peter Fonda's performance is sporadic at best; he looks intermittently embarrassed and acts as though he did not take his role seriously. I cannot really blame him though, since the film's budget is noticeably very low. As with most other vampire films, the low budget does not hinder the production very much. There really aren't any special effects and, this being set in the present, the sets are not elaborate. It becomes rather humorous, however, toward the climax of the film, which is supposed to be at Dracula's castle in Romania. One scene, which supposedly takes place at the foot of the castle, was obviously shot at night in some non-descript countryside. The next scene is supposed to be under the castle, though it looks as though it was shot in a drainage ditch. The scenes inside the castle consist of one room, which doesn't really look like a castle.

It is not all bad news, though, as Elina Loewensohn looks and acts very much the part of Dracula's daughter. As Lucy, Galaxy Craze (I swear I did not make that up) is delectable; she is quite competent for an unknown actress and brings a convincing naïveté, which is consistent with the character. Too bad she has not been in more films. Also, the decision to film in black and white was gutsy and, I think, a good one. It is sometimes beautiful and works tremendously to the film's advantage with use of shadows, etc. Unfortunately, the overall look of the film is really cheapened and ruined by the use of pixel vision. I have NO IDEA why this was employed, as it renders the onscreen action indistinct and utterly incapable of viewing.

David Lynch, who also had a hand in producing this film, shows up in a cameo. Just don't expect Lynch's usual stamp of bizarre, humorous entertainment. If you really want to see this film, I would strongly recommend renting before buying.

Arty without taking itself too seriously, beautiful, sexy yet...funny? this movie is hard to categorize. Visually beautiful with a gorgeous, haunting soundtrack, the movie has the potential to be a pretentious art house flick but avoids it through the occasional use of dead-pan mundane lines that are side-splitting by their incongruous placement in this striking vampire flick. When I saw this movie in the theater with my friend, we were the only ones laughing at the funny bits at first - not until later on in the movie did other people seem to catch on.

The use of the grainy Fisher Price camera for some of the horror sequences is nothing short of genius.

Any friend who gets this movie gets my sense of humor and aesthetics.

Good. Different feel and atmosphere. Love the backdrops and the casting. Adds to the atmosphere. B&W film is radical to a degree. Give the film extra depth and character. Loved the shadows and the atmosphere. The accents throughout add value as well. Different and must see. Good film for the genre and not typical.

it does have a bit of "twin peaks" feel to it; if you can get pass the reciting lines instead of acting, you'll enjoy the story.Nadja

Nadja is a difficult film to review, if reviews are meant to guide others, partly because others' reactions will vary wildly. Cinephiles and Goths may regard Nadja as a profound masterpiece, whereas Fangorians might think it turgid crud.

A black & white vampire film, Nadja falls into that small but intriguing category: the horror art film (e.g., Blood and Roses, Spirits of the Dead, The Company of Wolves, Gothic). Its cast includes such Hal Hartley alums as Rumanian-born Elina Lvwensohn (Flirt, Amateur, Basquiat, Schindler's List) and Martin Donovan (Flirt, Amateur, The Opposite of Sex), and is executive produced by David Lynch (who cameos as a morgue attendant).

Nadja's plot is a lethargic (some would say moody) retelling of the Dracula tale in contemporary Manhattan. Lvwensohn stars as Nadja Dracul, Dracula's daughter. Early in the film, Nadja senses Van Helsing destroy Dracula, both roles played by a long-haired but balding Peter Fonda. In effect, Fonda "kills himself." I don't know what this is meant to symbolize, if anything, but throughout most of the film Fonda plays Van Helsing, as Dracula is now truly dead (except in flashbacks).

And there are flashbacks aplenty. Every film school/art house gimmick is on display. The black & white photography is variously beautiful, rich, stark, stunning, moody, sumptuous, smoky, blurry -- everything an Anne Rice fan on acid could desire. Images are framed from every conceivable angle. Rainwater drips on the camera lens. Some scenes are shot with a toy Pixelvision video camera. (Yes, there are slow motion shots.)

The soundtrack features diverse musical styles and discordant nondiegetic noises, sometimes fading in and out, sometimes cutting in and out with jarring abruptness. The black & white photography, discordant noises, and languid pace all evoke David Lynch's Eraserhead. (Yes, there are voiceovers.)

Lvwensohn begins one voiceover amid sound effects while in her castle. We cut to events outside, and although her voiceover continues seamlessly, all else is silenced. Moments later, the sound effects fade back up. No real reason for this audio gimmickry, but some viewers may think it eerie. Some may even regard it profound.

If it sounds like I'm reviewing form rather than content, it's because Nadja is about style rather than substance. This film is to be watched rather than understood. Its story is as disjointed as its editing. (Yes, there are jump cuts.)

Characters flitter about aimlessly; only Van Helsing is consistently driven. Van Helsing destroys Dracula, then wants to destroy Nadja. He enlists Jim (Martin Donovan), who's sort of married to the boyish Lucy (Galaxy Craze), who is seduced by Nadja. (Lucy, as in Stoker's Dracula -- get it?) There's also a Renfield (Karl Geary), Nadja's "slave." Nadja also wants to nurse her non-vampire brother with blood plasma. Instead, Nadja seduces his lover/nurse Cassandra (Suzy Amis, of Titanic). (Yes, there are lesbian vampire sex scenes.)

Nadja is burdened with flashbacks and jump cuts and torpid pacing and vapid dialogue, obfuscating a thin story. Many will be too bored to prune away all the pretty padding and make an effort to follow the story. Nonsense lines abound, often spoken in a monotone, Hal Hartley style. Jim stares blankly at Lucy while he expounds his love for her to Van Helsing. Lucy responds: "Tuesday I ate two diet cokes and a bit of pizza. Today I had some M&Ms." She's under Nadja's spell, but she's not all that different for it. Her conversations with Jim are both fatalistic and trite. (Yes, there's enough fatalism and pessimism and gloom in this film to delight a whole mausoleum-ful of Goths.)

The story ends in Nadja's Transylvanian castle, which looks like an abandoned New Jersey tenement; the walls are brick rather than large cut stone. That's okay, it's an old low-budget trick. And the tracking shot of a Rumanian map is a stylishly nostalgic manner in which to depict the characters' travels. Goths especially will love the darkly draped bed Nadja shares with Cassandra.

There is a "surprise twist" ending, but I saw it coming. So should anyone who is familiar with Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (a retelling of Carmilla, and a far better film). Since Nadja features a female vampire, one may argue that it too is informed by Carmilla rather than Dracula, but Nadja's character names are lifted from Stoker's novel, not Le Fanu's.

There are some trendy modern themes. Nadja laments her dysfunctional family. Seems Dracula was a lousy dad. That, and the gender-bender lesbian sex, the long-haired puffy-shirted men, the vapid philosophizing that sounds profound if you don't think about it, and a film textbook's worth of cinematic stylistics, makes for a film that many an Anne Rice fan could stare at for endless hours, imagining that they were watching some insightful statement on transcendent love, or whatever. Others will be screaming: "Get on with it!"

Nadja's story could easily have been compressed into a half hour short, resulting in a quicker pace without losing any substance. Its lavish stylistics are impressive, but its slight story, silly dialogue, lack of philosophical insight, and lethargic pace are a drag on the film. Nadja will enthrall some, bore others. I presume you, dear reader, know which camp you're likely to fall into.

This film was very confusing. I never knew that vampires were lesbians as well as blood suckers. Some scenes were too funnhy to be scary such as her lover turning into a zombie and another chase scene and her brother receiving messages that were telepathic and made his nose bleed and have a migraine headache afterwards.

Not the typical "horror" movie.