Touches You

Absolutely brilliant

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I liked this very odd, surreal and somewhat camp vampire film much better on 2nd viewing, when I was prepared for its David Lynch like lack of naturalism, strange rhythms and odd blend of silly humor and almost melodramatic drama. (It's not surprising that Lynch executive produced this, and appears briefly in the film). The black and white, stylized photography, the music, and parts of the dialogue are terrific; original and compelling. And setting a modern vampire tale in the nightlife of young hip 90s Manhattan yields some very interesting results. But at other times it can't seem to make up it's mind about what ratio of camp to reality it wants to be. In the end, it's not as strong as its recent spiritual offspring: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night", but it's still worth seeing -- as is any work from the always inventive, ahead of the curve Michael Almereyda.

Low-key, off-beat, somber, existential, avant-garde modern retelling(partially)of Dracula's Daughter has the exotic beauty of Elina Löwensohn put to good use as the Romanian Count's predatory vampire daughter, Nadja, roaming New York City for fresh victims, finding a potential love interest in melancholy Lucy(Galaxy Craze)whose unhappily married to her gloomy alcoholic husband Jim(Martin Donovan). Jim and Lucy love each other but never display an appropriate affection or fireworks which truly exhibit on the outside, if anything their relationship seems destitute and glum. But, once Nadja initiates a spark with Lucy after meeting her in a bar, their love and marriage will be tested as the vampire wishes to conquer her, capture her very soul through the draining of her very life-source, the blood. Thankfully for Jim, he knows Dr. Van Helsing(Peter Fonda, in a very kooky performance, clearly enjoying his role's chance for eccentricity), the very one who thrust the stake in Count Dracula's heart. Van Helsing's desire to end Nadja's existence, ridding the world of a bloodsucker who has been draining New York of it's citizens through her various rendezvouses with male victims, opening the possibility of sexual activity, shutting the door on such opportunities by killing them. Nadja travels with her human slave Renfield(Karl Geary;very different than the countless nutty incarnations of the character whose often molded after Dwight Frye, young and attractive, quite laconic and mysterious, yet can be quite dangerous when provoked)as they pursue and hunt. NYC provides quite a backdrop for Nadja, a vast supply if she so wishes to feed. Löwensohn's face is glamorously shot by director Michael Almereyda's cinematographer Jim Denault, and the dialogue, often spoke by the actress as a vampire who is having quite an experience in a city of such diverse and eclectic people, is quite thought-provoking and poetic.The film's narrative shifts somewhat once Nadja finds her ill brother Edgar(Jared Harris)and his beloved nurse Cassandra(Suzy Amis). Nadja wishes for Edgar to join her and takes an interest in Cassandra. Van Helsing needs to kill Nadja so that Lucy can be spared and to remove possible danger from Cassandra, his niece.The aspect of director Michael Almereyda's style that rather left me cold was his use of a camera which pixilates image, specifically during Nadja's vampiric activities. I thought the gorgeous B&W photography was fine on it's own and gave this film an alluring look to match it's titular female vampire. All the performances, the characters, remain subtle, almost zombie-like and distant..this might drive traditional and casual horror fans away and seems to reflect a society of lost souls, emotionally empty and depressed. The music score is quietly haunting and seems to fit the mood of the characters and their stories. This is definitely an art film, with the director giving the vampire genre a different flavour and tapping into contemporary themes that traditional horror fans might find ponderous and pretentious. I liked this a lot probably because of Löwensohn and it's refreshing change of pace from the normal brand of storytelling in regards to the vampire genre, which is oftentimes artificial, predictable and by-the-numbers. While this film does operate using themes associated with vampires(..needing blood to sustain life, not adept to sunlight, with a stake to the heart killing them), I like how Nadja is given a chance to show that she has feelings and often expresses herself with others regarding life and love. I appreciated the additional scene featuring Lugosi(..from White Zombie), lending his face to the Dracula spoken of by her siblings in the film. Fonda, with long hair, plays Van Helsing as if he were an oddball(..the way he should be portrayed, I think, because of his knowledge in "strange things most humans wish not to know about"), an outcast of society who lives, it seems, to serve mankind in ridding the world of dangerous vampires. Martin Donovan and Galaxy Craze play their roles rather sullen and without emotion, which is probably what the film calls for considering their supposed to be aloof.

I like a good vampire film as much, if not more so, than the next person so imagine how I felt when I had the misfortune to see this so called 'artistic' effort. Out of focus passages and pretentious dialogue doesn't make something arty, it just serves to make it so boring as to be a complete waste of film. It brings nothing new to the genre in fact it only seems to repeat the same stale old clichés that have already been done to death - I mean female vampire as lesbian seducer? Now where have I seen that before? Oh just about every vampire film since the early 1970's!In one word - AVOID!

Nadja starts in New York one night as a Vampire named Nadja (Elina Lowensohn) talks to a man (Nic Ratner) in a bar & explains that she & her slave Renfield (Karl Geary) have travelled to New York from her homeland of Transylvania because her Father Count Dracula (Peter Fonda) is dead & that it is hard to find good food in New York after 10 O'Clock. Shortly after in a car Nadja drinks his blood. Meanwhile Van Helsing (Peter Fonda again) is tracking Nadja down with the intention of killing her & he enlists the help of his friend Jim (Martin Donovan) to aide him. Jim's wife Lucy (Galaxy Craze, yeah right that has to be a false name) has met Nadja & taken her back to her apartment where Nadja & Lucy engage in a bit of lesbianism & blood drinking. Van Helsing & Jim become aware that Lucy is under the control of Nadja & in another bizarre coincidence Van Helsing's Sister Cassandra (Suzy Amis) is looking after Nadja's ill Brother Edgar (Jared Harris) who Nadja intends to visit, both Van Helsing's & Jim's desperation to kill Nadja becomes even greater as the people they care for the most are in danger because of Nadja's blood drinking activities...Written & directed by Michael Almereyda I hated just about every second of this supposed film. The script is slow & boring, nothing memorable really happens & is a bit of a chore to sit through. There are only a few character's in the film & I didn't care one bit for any of them, I've heard of minimalist but this is just ridiculous. As a whole Nadja doesn't make a lot of sense & just didn't grip, engage or entertain me in any way whatsoever. So the story & character's are crap can the film deliver in other areas, well no because Nadja is one of the worst looking films I've sat through. If black and white is your thing then fine & I have no problem watching black and white films but Nadja just looks so dark, bland & uninteresting. Then there's the shots which look like they were shot on a faulty camcorder, I'm sorry but they are incredibly annoying as the screen becomes an absolute mess of pixelation & blocks. To add insult to injury director Almereyda uses various irritating techniques to try & convince the viewer that their watching 'art' like soft focus, blurring, slow motion, shots where the background action runs at a different speed to the foreground, jerkiness, skipping frames & bizarre scene transitions. I hated how Nadja looks & was literary praying it would finish within the first 30 minutes but never let it be said I don't give a film a chance & I (just about) stuck it out to the end which was also crap. With a pretty reasonable budget of about $1,000,000 Nadja is a poor show, very few character's, no effects & a cheap feel throughout & I have to ask myself where all the money went exactly. There is no atmosphere, scares or tension & while I accept some people may like this black and white art-house nonsense I don't & that's all that matters to me, I simply cannot see how anyone could gain any sort of viewing pleasure from such a film as this & I certainly didn't. There is not one single aspect of Nadja that I can say I enjoyed apart from the central performance by Romanian actress Lowensohn who makes for a striking & seductive female Vampire. Fonda just looks stupid sporting long hair & reflective shades. Forget about any special effects or any proper blood or gore. If you like this sort of bizarre boring, black and white art-house stuff then Nadja is probably right up your street so I can recommend it to you but if your looking for a proper film with decent horror & an actual story then avoid this piece of crap like the plague, that's just my opinion & I'm sure there is an audience out there for a film like Nadja but it's not for me.