Michael Almereyda's deadpan "Nadja" both spoofs and celebrates vampire mythology,
through a cast of mid-'90s indie stars (Peter Fonda plays a tweedy, long-haired, bike-riding
Van Helsing!), expressionistic black-and-white cinematography and the use of a
Pixelvision
... more toy camera to evoke a vampire's alien POV. Elina Lowensohn's Nadja has the exquisite face of
a dolorous angel, with eyebrows like great black wings arched over dark,
despairing eyes and a lushly sculpted mouth with AC/DC tastes. Wearing a hooded
black cloak, Nadja prowls Manhattan backstreets, hanging out in smoky
clubs where she shares cryptic confidences with guys just hoping to get lucky.
Luring her pickups into a cab (driven by a "slave"), this succubus loves them to
bloody death. Her seduction of a boyish beauty (Galaxy Craze), under a Christmas
tree hiply decorated with Dracula dolls, severed rubber hands and blinking
lights, is both steamy and scary, with the women's primal communion trumping
indie irony. (Everett Collection)Close
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