filmic ennui

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Trying to find my way back to a passion for film – not for the medium itself (I still adore it) but for the enjoyment of sitting by myself, deciding what to watch, then watching it. Thinking the root of the problem is two-fold: one, perhaps I've been looking at films from a "–maker's" perspective that I've lost the ability to just enjoy them for their own sake (not dissimilar to music when I left music school); and two, all of my people who I'd talk to about them are dead or gone. Books I don't have a problem with; comics, same. But I'm struggling to find my way back to that cinematic passion, the one who would salivate at the latest Criterion release or some other way to spend money on being in the presence of the promise of a cinematic experience. Thought I’d found my way back with a rewatch of THE MENU but, alas; maybe the answer is the same as it is for everything: accept it for what it is and know that it'll change eventually. Doesn't make it any easier.

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Figured out why Eggers's take on NOSFERATU left me wanting: the story was already told so perfectly in Murnau's version – sans dialogue and fleshing out / expansion of the story – that nothing Eggers brought to it wasn't already there, lurking below the surface and captured by Murnau and the original players. Don't get me wrong: still loved Eggers's interpretation – though I was felt that I was watching more an effective homage than a bold new take; had I not seen Murnau's film so many times – indeed, been raised on it –, I might hold a different opinion.

Willem Dafoe, “crazy vampire hunter”

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Dafoe channeling a bit of Lon Chaney in LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT here? All I want for Christmas is next Christmas so I can finally see this film (Eggers’s NOSFERATU, though I would totally camp out for the midnight premiere of WILLEM DAFOE, CRAZY VAMPIRE HUNTER):

Eggers’s NOSFERATU - first image

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Definitely nails the feel of Murnau’s original. Love that, according to Eggers, “It’s even more Ellen’s story than previous versions.” Can’t wait for this.

Rather than a mere sprinkling of horror inflections, Eggers is confident in what his Nosferatu sets out to do. “Yeah, it’s a scary film. It’s a horror movie. It’s a Gothic horror movie,” he tells Empire in the 2024 Preview issue, featuring the world-first look at the film. “And I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while. And I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.” It won’t just be viewers experiencing pure terror – as seen above, Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter, the wife of Nicholas Hoult’s estate agent Thomas, will be petrified by the power of the bloodthirsty Count Orlok. “It’s even more Ellen’s story than previous versions,” teases Eggers. “And Lily-Rose is absolutely phenomenal.”