Nadja (USA, 1994) 93 min B&W DIR-SCR: Michael Almereyda. PROD: Mary Sweeney, Amy Hobby. DOP: Jim Denault. MUSIC: Simon Fisher Turner. CAST: Elina Löwensohn, Peter Fonda, Suzy Amis, Galaxy Craze, Martin Donovan, Karl Geary, Jared Harris. (October Films)
A sure bet for future cult status (of which I’d be a proud member), Nadja could only have been made in the 90s. This one-of-a-kind update of 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter, done with an underground sensibility, shot in velvety black and white, grabs you from the start with an arresting matte job of the count’s daughter ruminating about loneliness over images of the cold, night city. Perhaps it’s without surprise that the film falls short after such a striking opening, but it’s only a short fall. You are rewarded with a quirky, inventive picture that haunts you for days, despite some slow spots and elements that don’t quite work.
The film’s greatest claim to fame is also, I think, its greatest flaw. Any segment featuring acts of vampirism is filmed with the discontinued Fisher Price Pixelvision camera. (Writer-director Almereyda’s previous feature, Another Girl Another Planet, was shot entirely in this format.) The device is used, presumably, to give an unnatural feel the supernatural moments, but the film is already depicting a supernatural world with its dream-like monochrome and evocative use of hard, long shadows
The striking cinematography complements the ambience of dread and foreboding. Up to this point the action slows, the location changes and the suspense is hanged for a conventional climax that one wouldn’t have fathomed for such a unique picture, with its Universal horror tropes featuring Van Helsing, having just dispatched Dracula from this mortal coil, pursuing his daughter Nadja and her twin brother Edgar (Jared Harris) through 1994 Greenwich Village.
This isn’t a severe liability, as its unique flavour is also retained through its offbeat characters. Romanian actress Elina Löwensohn is spellbinding in the title role. She is a dark, unconventional beauty, whose sharp features accentuated by the expressionistic lighting give a rightfully otherworldly presence. Peter Fonda also has one of his best roles in a right-on portrayal of a bohemian Van Helsing (a long-haired, bicycle riding eccentric with John Lennon sunglasses), all the more successful because he plays it straight. (His face resembles so much of his father’s that it’s downright creepy!) Adding to the offbeat cast is the “Jeff Bridges of independent film”, Martin Donovan (who also co-starred with his leading lady the same year in Hal Hartley’s Amateur), Suzy Amis (who had just received good notices for the independent film, The Ballad of Little Jo) as the recipient of Nadja’s neck-nibbling, and a cameo by the film’s “presenter”, David Lynch
Whatever its narrative shortcomings, Nadja however rewards with enough atmosphere and mood to warrant repeat viewings. (I saw it twice in the theater: the first time with Susan, who also quite liked it, even though she doesn’t like horror films.) It successfully offers a new twist to the well-visited vampire cycle of films.