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Touches You

Absolutely brilliant

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Maddin's first feature-length commissioned work that he didn't originate, and in this case didn't write either. Very different stylistically from the following film ("Cowards Bend the Knee"), this is the film of a ballet by Mark Godden for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, based on Bram Stoker's novel, with music taken from Gustav Mahler's first and second symphonies. Not typical Maddin material at first glance perhaps but the psychosexual nature of the Dracula story melds surprisingly well with Maddin's aesthetic, offering a more dreamlike and romantic vampire tale than usual, but also one in which the violence and hatred in the bigoted Victorian English men who confront the vampire is made almost as explicit as Dracula's own hunger.I'm not going to go into any great detail about the story, as it follows the fairly typical Dracula pattern; suffice it to say that young Lucy Westernra (Tara Birtwhistle) is seduced by Dracula, turns vampire and is ultimately killed; her husband-to-be has enlisted the aid of Van Helsing (David Moroni) who tracks Dracula to his lair by means of a new potential victim, Mina (CindyMarie Small) being used as bait. Finally, a confrontation between the lord of the night (Wei-Qiang Zhang) and Van Helsing's group ensues in the vampire's underground abode.This is very different-looking from the succeeding film, indeed rather different from any of the director's other films. Much of the film is shot in sharp and crisp 35MM as opposed to his more usual super-8 and 16mm (though I believe he uses some of those as well), many of the shots are longer and more fluid, and there is a dramatic use of color, digitally painted on in just a few bold strokes - red blood on the neck, Dracula's bold and frighteningly large red cloak, green money, yellow digital titles. The longer, more "balletic" and graceful shots contrast strongly with the rapid cutting in the action scenes and really help to highlight the sense of fear and unearthliness, and the casting of a Chinese-Canadian as the dreaded count emphasizes the xenophobia inherent in the novel and in the Victorian mindset generally.Gustav Mahler was a rough contemporary of Stoker's, and his first two symphonies premiered in the early 1890s roughly when Stoker was writing Dracula. I've been a huge fan of Mahler for years and at first I wondered how appropriate these works would be, but they fit this work almost like a glove - the glory of nature expressed in the first movement of the first symphony perfectly expresses the freedom that this bold, sexual and luminous being Dracula brings to the young repressed maidens of stuffy English society, and the "Resurrection" symphony (the second) is perfectly appropriate to many of the themes inherent in the vampire story. Also, their placement as late romantic works on the cusp of modernity seems to jibe well with Maddin and Godden's vision of Dracula as a 20th century, threatening, alien creature who may offer promise and a bold and liberated way in the world, but who the world is just not ready for.Beautifully and expressively dance, wonderfully shot and edited, if there's a problem here it's that Maddin's trademark strange humor seems to me at times a little out of place -- many of the titles are deliberately exaggerated, particularly at the beginning of the film. But this is a small qualm, and the beauties and emotional power of the story soon leave the few goofy elements behind. Gorgeous and visionary and proof that Maddin can do quite well with someone else's ideas to work from.

The erotic aspects of Dracula are enhanced in this visual spectacle by Guy Madden. He uses the techniques of silent film and the Canadian Royal Ballet to produce a dream-like story of Dracula that is stunning and faithful. Even Dr. Van Helsing's examination of Lucy seems charged with eroticism.Madden's love of the cinema of the 20s and 30s is evident in this avant garde film. Using Wei-Qiang Zhang as Dracula also adds a bit of xenophobia to the film. It would certainly have the stamp of approval from Lou Dobbs.The use of color for emphasis was exquisite; and the dancing was absolutely beautiful. An amazing film.

The ballet is well choreographed and the story is faithful to Stoker's novel. Beautiful cinematography reminiscent of the silent films of the 1920's and talkies of the 1930's. The Chinese actor in the lead does a fine job of acting and ballet if one forgets that he's Chinese and not Caucasian like most actors who have played the part but then in Dracula Istanbul Dracula was played by a middle eastern Turkish actor and in a university stage play video tape version that is showed part by part on YouTube Dracula is played by an exotic actor of African descent and in the American version of the musical The Three Musketeers Athos was played by a Black American.It's the performance that matters not the race. I appreciate this version because it didn't streamline the characters like so many other Dracula adaptations. They didn't combine the characters of Arthur and Quincy together like some of the other versions have done and it didn't leave characters out either. They're all here in this production Dracula,Van Helsing,Dr.Seward,Arthur Holmwood,Quincy Morris,Jonathan Harker,Mina Murray,Lucy Westenra,Renfield,Mrs.Westenra and the vampire Brides. In my humble opinion this is one of the best versions of Dracula and should be in any Dracula film fanatics collection.I do regret that it wasn't longer in running time because it sure was enjoyable to watch!

May be spoilers. Watch out where you tread.This came to my local theater and I didn't see it. I could kick myself in the head for not seeing it on the big screen now.I have never seen the Dracula ballet, but this makes me want to run out and get tickets for it, if it is as great as it is made out to be in this movie.The film captures all the plot points of the novel and serves it up in only 75 minutes. I have read the book and seen countless movie versions, but I have never seen the reference to Dracula's coat being cut and money falling out of it. Amazing. I was so happy that was put in. Money had to be a silent way of conveying the menace of Dracula, who in a genius move by Maddin, is Chinese. Wow. A modern update on a classic, but it is, unlike other lesser movie updates, with a purpose. No longer are the "reds" the threat, it is the Asians who might take over the money systems of Europe and America. This metaphor also calls to mind the outsider baseness of Dracula, the evil animal who must be stopped before he consumes the land and white women! The subtitles were a riot. The one will Van Helsing that ends with Etc, was inspired. For those who didn't know the story from the novel of Stoker's novel (which was given good yet shoddy historical treatment by Coppola some years back, so more people should know most of its scenes, minus the Vlad Tepes bits not in the book) these words explained the characters, their intentions, places in the book, etc, so even the layman can't get lost, giving humor in the process.The techniques in the ballet and the film are brilliant. For example, when Dracula is staked at the end (did I give it away for some of you?) he ends up lying on top of it, much like in woodcuts of Vlad Tepes when he would put people on stakes to torture them. I can't see wires, so how this was done brings out the kid in me. The adding of color here and there (such in the green of money and the red of blood) added much to the movie and it looked hand done, even if it was done by computer. I am unsure if it was or not. The ballet itself was a good forum for Maddin, a man who loves dealing with imagery from the Victorian age to the Depression Era, using grainy film and making the films look bygone, but adding modern ideas and translations. He is one of my favorite directors. He is like a Victorian Lynch...in fact many of his films have an Eraserhead like feel. Empty, tense, with a lot of feeling. Tara Birtwhistle is wonderful as Lucy. There is a scene where her suitors and Van Helsing come to her grave and she rises up and towards the camera. It is lovely and disenheartening at the same time and is, again in my kid self, quite unnerving! It is beauty in horror, which Birtwhistle claims with honor and grace.Wei-Qiang Zhang is also full of poise as Dracula. I love watching him dance. His Dracula is seductive, taking along much of Stoker's characterizations, such as hairy palms. He even dances with a knife. Gorgeous! I rented this film and will watch it as many times as possible. I love that the DVD has many extras, including commentary. If you liked this film, I highly recommend Careful, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and Archangel. I also recommend you go see The Saddest Music in the World when it is in theatres! Maddin's world is definitely unique, bringing the past into the present with a much inspired bloodtap!