robert eggers’ nosferatu [launch]
Modern films from frequent A24 collaborators seem to have a different motive than other pictures. Hardly do they ever give you shocking or laugh-out-loud or cheer-worthy plot moments, nor characters to sympathize with or root for or remember fondly (or even remember their names), but in exchange they are meant to showcase artsy filmmaking techniques, great performances, and stylistic directorial decisions. It’s almost like strolling through a museum and observing paintings in that regard. Eggers, in particular, seems to push aside sympathetic characters and an engaging story and is instead drawn to his strong suit: visual presentation.
The lighting, cinematography and art direction are Nosferatu’s claim to fame, as all the effort and care taken for costuming, set design, shadow usage and mystifying fantastical locations really add to the historical and spooky atmosphere of this experience.
First off, as always, continuing with the positives: Nicholas Hoult is incredible. He's emotive, passionate, sweaty and pale, and truly looks terrified. Between this and The Menu, he's good at playing snivelling cowardly doormats. He's becoming a new all-time favorite for me, and I can't wait for him to be Lex Luthor. Dafoe was also great, and I don't know if he was supposed to be, but he was pretty funny. He made me chuckle a couple times.
Speaking of performances, Bill Skarsgard is an undisputed chameleon. One of my favorite young actors working today, his ability to transform with makeup and prosthetics is unmatched, and is truly a sight to behold. The reason you might not recognize his face is because he looks completely and totally different in each film he appears in, seamlessly transforming into monsters, clowns, and the like.
Despite the technical marvel of it all, however- and this is where the criticisms are really going to start pouring in- I really disliked the vampire itself, especially the design. The voice is generic and annoying, the bushy mustache dreadful and silly. When he's wearing clothes, he looks over the top and tacky, and when he's not wearing clothes he looks like a generic 2000s movie monster, or like the CGI mush aliens from The Thing 2011. He's not scary at all, partially due to his design, which pales in comparison to the original, partially because I had no idea what his motivations were or how his magic worked so I never bothered to wonder where he was or what he was doing, and partially because he kept running his mouth and sucked all the tension out of the room with his ‘dastardly’ monologues. I kept thinking how much of a missed opportunity this was- you got the legendary Bill Skarsgard to play one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time, and you made him look and sound and act like this? Are you serious?
In fact, the design of the vampire was so egregious that I legitimately thought for at least half an hour in the theater that it was going to be a bait and switch, and there was going to be the real vampire hiding in the shadows. I leaned over to my friend to confirm this theory, but nope. That was Bill Skarsgard the whole time, and that's what he had to look like for the rest of the film. Joy.
The slowburn ‘reveal’ of Nosferatu was also not what I wished it was. Max Schreck's original Count Orlok is scary because he's in your face, staring at you with his wide eyes, haunting you. You could see every pore on his face, and he was present, right there in front of you. It seems to be the opposite here- clearly going for a Jaws-esque “less is more” approach, the first portion at the castle refuses to show the vampire for several minutes, then underwhelmingly drops him on screen with little to no drama before shoving him haphazardly into every scene in the movie they could fit him in. It felt like they fast tracked “slowburn”, if that makes sense.
Also, this movie is weird. Maybe not Robert-Pattinson-masturbating-to-a-mermaid-statue weird, but definitely a-guy-biting-the-head-off-a-pigeon weird. Weird symbolism and weird sequences don't make for an interesting film, they just make me irritated that I have to Google the meaning of everything now. Cheap jump scares and reused violin strums don't make for a scary experience, either. Maybe Ellen's weird moaning throughout the film is a metaphor for the fall of the Roman Empire, who knows.
The plot was indeed the weakest element at play here, tragically borrowing all the uninteresting plague elements from the original. The film branched into so many directions at such breakneck speeds that I felt I was watching multiple movies stitched together. It turns into a ripoff of the Exorcist and back again as quickly as it dives headfirst into the underdeveloped plague crap, then back into a blabby Count Orlok, and I was extremely anxious to wrap up. At least the ending was great, with a fantastic melting effect as well as a neat conclusion to the story and Ellen's character.
2024’s Nosferatu really did feel like the 1922 original by Robert Eggers. It felt like the ‘22 original because I tuned out and started getting ready to wrap up halfway through, and it felt like ‘by Robert Eggers’ because I now have to skim articles and other reviews for artsy filmmaking information so that they can tell me my opinion on this movie; that it's a very well made movie that I never need to see again.
