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[personal profile] winter
One of my shames is that I've yet to see Murnau's original Nosferatu. I've got a vague idea of catching it at the artsy cinema, where they sometimes show silent movies with live piano music. For the meantime, the local Cosmo equivalent came packaged with a DVD of Herzog's remake a few months ago, and since my exam didn't happen (argh), I watched it today.

It's such a quiet, unearthly movie. The light and shadow play is very much inspired by Murnau. The soundtrack compliments the visuals beautifully - the scene where the plague-stricken people dance as a mournful hymn plays out is unearthly. The sheer contrast - Lucy (in this version, Jonathan's wife) looks like a vampire, pale and black-clad, and yet it's the people she passes, dancing and joyful, who are the ones condemned to death.

Kinski's Dracula is a mite too crazy at times, but then he catches the rhythm and is appropriately spellbinding, quite an accomplishment in that makeup. I didn't much care for Bruno Ganz as Harker, except at the end, but I was surprised at how much I liked Isabelle Adjani's performance. I was afraid her Lucy would turn out to be a will-less victim, and I couldn't have been more wrong.

Come to think of it, this is a surprisingly feminist movie.

Also, a guy looking like that has absolutely no business being hot, but somehow his scene with Lucy was scorching. Something about their hands...

(Note: the version I saw was the German-language one. The English one consists of entirely different "speaking" takes.)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 07:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fyrie.livejournal.com
Hands are so expressive, which so many people don't seem to get. It was one of the first things that smitted me wth Erik, when i saw the show - the way his every gesture carried so much emotion and power and character.

And now Krolock. I'm starting to see a pattern in my weaknesses :D

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 08:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fyrie.livejournal.com
*grins* Isn't it delightful when something as simple as hands can induce bunnies of crazed proportions :D

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 08:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fyrie.livejournal.com
(and there was meant to be a ? there, but my grammar has disappeared today)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 08:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fyrie.livejournal.com
BWHAHAH!

*coughs*

I mean, I didn't force you to do anything! It's entirely not my fault ;)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 07:52 am (UTC)
ext_25574: (Default)
From: [identity profile] seraphim-grace.livejournal.com
in the uk they bundled them both together so they're on seperate disks and i wonder why they couldn't do that with all foreign language movies where the characters speak english.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 08:24 am (UTC)
ext_25574: (open for business)
From: [identity profile] seraphim-grace.livejournal.com
i got bitten really early with lousy dubs so I'm a bit strict about it, i will always watch it subbed, and besides if it's subbed you can put on the director's commentary in english and it doesn't interfere with the film. (grins)
some dubs should be called Dumbs.
i always watch it in the original language, with french i don't need the subtitles and if they speak slowly in german i can manage but they don't speak slowly they go all in a rush and i work on a bit of a delay so i get all tangled up.
but for the most part the british won't watch a film if it's subtitled, which is a shame because they usually lose half the dialogue.

there is a version of das boot somewhere where someone took the mine sequence and replaced it with someone listening to a man u football match.
everything i needed to know about dubs i learnt in that moment.

catch the murnau one if you can, it's deliciously creepy.
and the bbc made a movie about it called Shadow of the Vampire which i love which has Willem Defoe playing Max Shreck but only makes sense if you've seen the original.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 11:09 am (UTC)
ext_48465: (integral closeup)
From: [identity profile] sukeban.livejournal.com
I heartily recommend you to look for the DVD release compiled by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung. It's the version closest to the original, has the colours Murnau intended it to have, *and* it's got an excellent industrial/ experimental Einstürzende Neubauten-like OST.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 06:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] assimbya.livejournal.com
Found this from Dracschick's flist, and I agree completly. I love this movie. :) May I add you to my friends list?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-02 09:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] assimbya.livejournal.com
People who like Werner Herzog's Nosferatu more than Bram Stoker's Dracula are rare. It's always nice to find one. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-05 11:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hotbeast.livejournal.com
Zabrzmię w tym towarzyswie jak profan, ale mam całkowicie ambiwalentny stosunek do wampirzego towarzystwa. Filmy obejrzę, czemu nie, ale zaraz zapominam, aż do następnego razu. Pewnego rodzaju wyjątek stanowił Nosferatu'22, który obejrzałam tylko częściowo, popołudniową porą na ALE KINO! i byłam pod wrażeniem. Głównie przez muzykę. Ściągnęłam ten film i właśnie słucham go :). Niemieckie napisy są dla mnie całkowitą zagadką, ale cóż, historia jest znana.

Ktoś, kto dopasował właśnie taką ścieżkę muzyczną był geniuszem.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-02-05 02:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hotbeast.livejournal.com
nie mam zielonego pojęcia :)

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Beth Winter

October 2023

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