ferbs54 What "West Side Story" did for the oft-told tale of Romeo and Juliet--updating it and setting it on the harsh streets of NYC--Michael Almereyda's 1994 offering, "Nadja," does for the story of Dracula. "I'm not really good for much of anything," Nadja, the 200-year-old daughter of the late count, tells a bar pickup when we first meet her, but as this film proves, the gal IS more than adept at following in daddy's footsteps and procuring a nice blood nosh for herself. During the course of the film, we see Nadja find a new girlfriend (played by the wonderfully named Galaxy Craze), look up her estranged twin brother in the wilds of Brooklyn, and tangle with a descendant of Dr. van Helsing. The film has three main selling points that make it a must-see for fans of modern-day horror. The first is Peter Fonda, portraying van Helsing as a long-haired hippy type in a wonderfully charismatic manner. Then there is the picture's absolutely gorgeous B&W photography, which transforms "Nadja" into a genuine work of art; DOP Jim Denault and his crew are to be commended for a splendid bit of work here. Indeed, the film looks so very impressive that its oft-discussed pixel FX (which are used seemingly at random and only to ratchet up the disorientation factor) struck this viewer as a mere distraction. And then there is Nadja herself, played, appropriately enough, by Romanian actress Elina Lowensohn, a woman with a striking accent, a distinctive way of emphasizing her lines, and a decidedly off-kilter beauty. Elina has been perfectly cast here (and looks terrific in a cowl!). "Nadja" also features bits of well-integrated humor (as when Nadja refers to her dad as a "night bird"), and although its story line is a bit too dependent on (double) coincidence, it remains enthralling nonetheless; a significant contribution to the Dracula legend.

dstilley-1 I've just read all of the reviews on this film on this site and nobody even mentions what this film is really about. Like any "good" horror story it works on different levels. Like the Zombie films of George Romero there's an underlying message to this film that has nothing to do with it's horror exterior. But you have to think about what Michael Almereyda is trying to say with this story. This isn't just true of this film, but of all good horror. Dr. Jeckyle and Mr.Hyde-Addiction to substances, Frankenstein-Man playing at being God, Dracula-Hate poisoning the mind and soul. The main theme of this film is wanting to change your life but not being able to escape your old habits and break loose. It's even mentioned outright several times during the film by different characters. There's a lot of philosophical discussions by different characters on this through the film.This film has black humor, meaning of life philosophy, camera work that serves a purpose to enhance the story and heart felt dramatic performances by all of the actors and actresses. One of the things that I really like about this film, (and one of the things that many people didn't understand or like) was the use of the toy camera pixel-vision effect. I found it to be a perfect way of economically expressing the intoxicating effect of being under the influence of a vampire. If you watch the film and think about the scenes where it's employed it will be obvious. It isn't just a random attempt to be arty as many of the reviewers seem to think. It's a visual depiction of the impaired state of mind that you might experience if a vampire was psychically manipulating a mortal. And it enhances the film it doesn't detract from it. Whether you like it or not, film-making is an art. Just like painting, drawing, writing or any other form of expression. Some filmmakers just don't have any sense of art, they only wish to mindlessly entertain. That's why people say things like TV rots your mind. Well, I guess that if you watch anything in a mindless manor that could be true. But film that has something to say, something to think about is a worthwhile use of time and intellect.I have a fairly large collection of "horror" films and "Art House" and I can tell you that Nadja is one of my all time favorites. Every time I watch it I see something new, get a different little joke or notice different connections that I didn't get before. I also enjoy many of the "Mindless entertainment" variety of Vampire films,and so a quote from the writer David Goyer who wrote the screenplays for Blade, "Sometimes you just want to see somebody kick some ass!".Most people don't realize how huge the genre of Vampire Cinema really is. Dracula is the definitely the most filmed character in film history, and the greater tree of Vampire films in world cinema is so big that it almost impossible to accurately list. Of the Art House and Vintage, comedy and Vampire Hunter categories I would recommend checking out some of my favorites. Many Vampire films are a hybrid of two or more of these categories,but they all have different points that I find attractive,humorous, exciting, entertaining and thought provoking. Again, I haven't seen but a small selection of the huge list of Vampire cinema, so it's likely that I'll be leaving out many excellent selections and maybe some of your favorites in this list. I'm giving this list because the film Nadja could very well be enjoyed if you like some of the films that I like and have been entertained by.Art House and Vintage: Nosferatu 1922 (The original granddaddy Vampire film from the silent era. The Kino Version is worth paying for with an excellent soundtrack option featuring musicians from Art Zoid), Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog), Shadow of the Vampire (a fun comedy-fictional story based around the making of F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu-1922), Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer's atmospheric masterpiece, even though part's of the film were created by accident!),Dracula (1931), The Hammer Dracula series (feartuing the great Christopher Lee), Dracula-Pages from a Virgin's diary (a modern silent film of a Canadian Ballet company filmed by Guy Madden), Blood for Dracula (also known as Andy Worhol's Dracula), Immortality, Ganja and Hess, Habit, Near Dark, Salem's Lot (Based on the novel by Stephan King-the original mini-series, I haven't seen the newer remake) Bram Stoker's Dracula (The love it or hate it classic by F. Coppola). Some of my favorites from the Vampire Hunter sub-genre: The Blade Series (Again one of those "Love it or hate it" series for some.), John Carpenter's Vampires (This one is hard to classify, lots of comedy too.), The Captain Kronos-Vampire Hunter films by Hammer studios, The Forsaken, and the British TV series "Ultraviolet" (an X-Files type mini-series). Also worth mention is the Japanese-Anime films Vampire Hunter D-Bloodlust (You'll forget that you're watching a cartoon, the story's that good!), and Blood-The last Vampire (A short but well done film).Some of the comedy genre: Innocent Blood, Modern Vampires, The Breed, Dusk to Dawn (I've only seen the first one, a hybrid of Tarantino's crime style and Robert Rodriguez's horror style), Vampire's Kiss, and Interview with the Vampire (I find this Ann Rice film quite comedic), and Lost Boys (A local favorite being that I live in Santa Cruz).Nadja is one of the jewels of my collection because it is truly a multi-faceted piece of film-making that defies categorization.

Theo Robertson " Derek Jarman meets David Lynch " is how presenter Bill Bailey described NADJA . If I was a presenter I would have described as a big pile of art house crap but " Derek Jarman meets David Lynch " is the same difference . I've nothing against art house horror , I thought THE ADDICTION was okay while I loved the visual style of THE KEEP but there has to be a limit and NADJA goes way beyond that limit and ends up unwatchable for those of us who aren't obsessed with pretentious nonsense The story follows eponymous vampire Nadja who steps foot in America in a bizarre remake of DRACULA'S DAUGHTER . Everything in the narrative is sacrificed for the visual style and more often than not it's impossible to understand what the hell is going on since the picture fades to pixellated shots that are out of focus , cross fades , slow motion sound fade outs and other directorial tricks from Michael Almereyda . No doubt the director thought he was being clever but it makes the story unfathomable and isn't helped by some very poor performances indeed . It's impossible to believe that any of the cast - Including Peter Fonda - are professional actors A very poor film that will only appeal to art house junkies and if it wasn't for the great soundtrack by Portishead , My Bloody Valentine and The Verve this steaming pile of ostentatious excrement would have received even less than three out of ten

Jonny_Numb "Nadja" is a woefully pretentious music-video style gloss on the early Universal vampire films (it's even photographed in black-and-white) crossed with modern-day nihilism and a more-hip-than-thou attitude that's painful to watch. An experienced cast of indie-film veterans (including Martin Donovan and Peter Fonda) and David Lynch in the executive-producer's chair does little to help what is, at heart, a stylish yet poorly calculated gloss on an ages-old premise. The use of black-and-white film stock, combined with the utterly random inclusion of pixellated images, does nothing but accentuate "Nadja"'s shallow, showy pretentiousness.