A good decade ahead of the curve, cult Canadian auteur Guy Maddin released this homage to Bram Stoker’s famed novel in 2002 as part of a CBC collaboration with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
It’s nothing terribly original with regard to the story. It’s pretty much the same old interpretation---Renfield goes nuts, the Brides run amok and by the end we feel worse for the Count than we do for Van Helsing and his cadre.
But it's nothing to scoff at. Thinking of it as just another ballet would be so totally beyond the scope of what Maddin tries to achieve. It’s not like one of those Metropolitan Opera commercials where they simply record what’s going on.
Anyone familiar with the eccentric’s work knows that it’s more than just a colorless filter that makes his movies unique. It’s the feel. The atmosphere. It’s the deteriorated look of the film itself that gives “DPFAVD” a unique sense of pagan mysticism that, by comparison, makes other retro throwbacks seem slapdash at best.
Toss that in with amazing dance choreography and selections from Mahler’s first, second and ninth symphonies and you might not get a vampire movie in the most traditional sense but you get one hell of a hybrid.
Plus, when’s the last time you saw a Chinese man play Nosferatu?
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