Final Rating: 3/5
In the 1990s, the landscape of the American cinema provided audiences with a variety of film offers, including a varied production of independent cinema, exploring the local production’s culture, and investing in genres. In the NYC ecosystem, indie directors would use the lack of resources and funding to experiment with the artistic limits of the city, such as the violence in the boroughs or the societal complexities of being the world’s central city.
Michael Almereyda lands on the genre experimentation to understand the intricacies of time. Known for his work with Ethan Hawke in films like Hamlet and Tesla, the director has a cult gem under his belt with the 1994 film Nadja. World premiering at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Arbelos and Grasshopper Film are releasing the 4K restoration of the film.
Restored from the only 35mm answer print, which is the version that premiered at TIFF in 1994. OCN Labs, Five Seventy Films, Ben Gilbert Films, David Ferron, and Blackhawk Films were responsible for the laboratory work. The 4K restoration brings a crystallized and gorgeous Black-and-White cinematography by Jim Denault. His visual identity shifts from the B&W imagery to the emulation of a VHS pixelated image, which appears in distinct moments in the film.
The film narrates the story of Nadja (Elina Löwensohn), a twin vampire who lives in New York City. She and her twin brother have a dysfunctional family that must come together when Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Fonda) starts to hunt them down. Yet, amidst her brutal nights, she seduces a woman and is unable to murder her to drink her blood. Besides the constant tension, anxiety, and stress of the hunt, Nadja also deals with the emotions of her relationship, now that she has created another vampire, while Van Helsing is attempting to exterminate them.
In the initial thirty minutes, the film is an atmospheric exercise in hunting. The titular character is one obsessed with feeding their bloodthirst. Yet there is a charm and mysticism in Nadja’s eyes; Löwensohn provides a seductive aura to the role. In previous works of vampire films, the creatures are charming and seductive; Bela Lugosi’s Dracula is quirky, yet utterly alluring.
She uses her mysterious energy to pick up individuals in bars, where she seduces them, promises sexual satisfaction, and finalizes her procedure to obtain blood. In this sense, as a procedural film of her killings, Almereyda thrives in constructing an energy and a sensual environment that justifies the victims falling in love with this woman. However, after a seductive and thrilling failed killing, the film shifts to a familiar drama with a lack of engagement.
Contrary to her adventure in bars seeking victims, when the film turns to the family history and the mythmaking behind it, it fails to land the same excitement. There is no sense of cohesion guiding the narrative, and even the same visual effort fades away. The rest of the cast are not up to Löwensohn’s game, with each of them inserting a different approach to their vampires. There is a fascinating David Lynch cameo, who executive-produced the film, and it is a nostalgic, heartwarming moment to remember one of the greats. It lacks cohesion between the two halves of Nadja, which makes the first one much more engaging and provoking than the ending.
Consequently, despite its gorgeous imagery and impressive Elina Löwensohn, Nadja is an uneven effort produced in the 1990s landscape of the New Yorker independent genre films. The first half introduces a fascinating setting that loses its charm when it expands, but still, it reminds us of the undiscovered gems of the 1980s and 1990s American indie cinema that must get a second chance.
Thank you to Arbelos, Grasshopper Film and Fusion Entertainment for the screener.
