Nosferatu
Take a shot every time Lily Rose-Depp tweaks in this movie good lord
Nosferatu is the movie I’ve been waiting for. Longtime fans of my account (no one) will recall my fondness for the Dracula IP when I ranted negatively about Renfield two years ago. Robert Eggers is a filmmaker that I trust now. I have yet to see a movie of his I did not resonate with and he’s directed the penultimate film of my life, The Lighthouse (2019). I cannot think of a better filmmaker to adapt the source material of one of my favorite books, the 19th century novel “Dracula” by Bram Stoker. Eggers thrives in creating discomfort in the audience. You pay him to make your skin crawl. He’s not a filmmaker that makes horror to create cheap jumpscares, he’s in it to make you want to leave the theater because you’re grossed out in a way you never have been before.
The actors on the hook for Nosferatu did an incredible job. The only one that I felt middlingly about was Aaron Taylor-Johnson but I think that’s largely due to the role that he plays in the story being rather one-note. Bill Skarsgård might be on the best character actor roll in human history right now. I genuinely could not see or hear him in this role for about 90% of the movie's runtime. Nicholas Hoult is great and his performance here gives me another reason to hate Renfield—he isnt meant to be fucking Renfield, he’s meant to be Jonathan Harker! That’s the role that suits him best and he nails it here. Ralph Ineson delivers yet again in an Eggers production as does Willem Dafoe. Not as prominent in the film as the promotional material led it on to be but such is the way.
But Lily Rose-Depp boy.. what the fuck was she on??? That girl was going straight up insane mode and elicited the best response any performance can elicit from me: I said “Jesus Christ” in the theater after one of the later moments of the movie concludes. Truly transcendent, I did not believe she was capable of this type of role. Pretty unbelievable, she should be considered for best lead actress for this full stop.
Of Eggers’ work I’ve seen, Nosferatu is still not his best work in my opinion. The Lighthouse (2019) is such an inspired work that I cannot in good conscience say that this is better. I have yet to see The Northman, but I do see this as better than The VVitch. The narrative excellence of The Lighthouse is essentially untouchable and while I do think this film does a great job in discussing the inherently predatory nature of patriarchal relationships, it just isn’t his masterpiece.
I could keep going about this for quite a while because it really was a great experience, I’ll leave it be here. Everybody knows already, but this is absolutely worth your time and money. Support great film and we’ll get more of it