Jul 04, 2003 05:14 AM
1795 Views
(Updated Jul 04, 2003 05:15 AM)
First, I must tell you I am a fan of John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. I think they both tackled a unique script,and Willem fully deserved the Oscar nomination he received. With that being said, I was quite disappointed with this film. The concept is a good one, but the ending was disappointing. I thought it was going to be a type of docu-drama about the 1922 German film Nosferatu. It was about the making of this film, but the story itself was fictional.
John Malkovich plays F.W. Murnau, the film's director. He is in search of the perfect actor to play Count Orlock, the vampire in his film. He finds Max Schreck(Willem Dafoe) in Romania knowing full well he is an actual vampire. He strikes a deal with Schreck that if they finish the film, he can have the lead actress as his victim. He tells everyone on the crew that Max is a serious actor and that he will always be dressed as a vampire to remain in character. Strange things begin to happen. People working on the film start disappearing. Murnau is determined to make his film a success no matter what despite these obstacles. I will not spoil the ending, but I was disappointed. It was out of control. I thought I was watching a Stanley Kubrick film toward the end.
The cast is superb. Willem and John are great actors and they seem to relish in unconventional scripts. The camera work is excellent. I wish I knew what type of camera they used to shoot this film. I also like how they mixed clips of Nosferatu in with the film itself and made it look flawless. If you are a film student, this is work seeing simply for the camera work even if the story was silly at the end. Good concept though. I cannot give it less that 3 stars.
