Nadja Nadja Abel Ferrara's "The Addiction" flops because he wanted to make a movie about vampires that wasn't a vampire movie. Doncha just hate filmmakers who consider that genre to be beneath them? (Hey, Abe, anyone who makes a frozen turkey like "Fear City" has no right to sneer at time-honoured bloodsuckers.) Michael Almereyda's "Nadja"' is another story. "Nadja" is fun! Let's face it, any movie that was partly shot in pixelvision with a Fisher Price toy camera AND casts Peter Fonda as Dr. Van Helsing (in the venerable tradition of Edward Van Sloan) has got to be a kick.
When a drained Lucy (Galaxy Craze) explains that she ate a bag of M-&-M's except for the yellow ones and Fonda vigorously intones to his nephew, "Let's face it, Jim, she's a zombie!", can't help being a kick and a. half. The title character (played by Elina Lowensohn) looks sorta like Gale Sondergaard, Gloria Holden and Frieda Kahlo all rolled into one. Her twin brother Edgar (Jared Harris) is one of those nice vampires who only wants to get married to his nurse Cassandra (Suzy Amis) and live happily ever after. Clearly made on the cheap, "Nadja" is nonetheless impressively atmospheric and respectfully saucy to vampires.
Copyright 1995 Monica Sullivan
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