Babeferatu
and a few other things before this year ends
I beheld Barbenheimer, so naturally I had to see Babeferatu. I have thoughts, so let me start with the film I saw first, Nosferatu.
BUT before I get to it, take a minute and ask yourself if spoilers are for you. If the answer is no, maybe skip ahead a bit. If you have seen the film already and/or don’t mind it being spoiled, read on.
Nosferatu is not a new story. it’s Dracula. There are over 200 films based on Bram Stoker’s nefarious Count. So if you have ever read the classic novel. Or seen one of the films based closely on the book like F.W Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922), Herzog’s remake Nosferatu the Vampyr (1979), Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) or FFC’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), then surely you know the story.
Robert Eggers is a filmmaker I enjoy. The Witch and The Lighthouse are two of my favorites, both for style and substance. I was eager to see Nosferatu from the moment it was announced and waited patiently with high hopes. Maybe my expectations were too high because now that I have seen it, I really feel it was all style and not much substance. Now, don’t get me wrong, the style was exceptional. The lighting! The shadows! But once Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard) was revealed to be like an 8 foot tall creepy bald guy with a huge mustache and bad skin, I felt myself drifting. The characters never felt fully developed, and the plot felt like those short streets in a neighborhood subdivision that lead you in circles past houses that all look the same. Willem Dafoe was the one highlight for me, possibly due to his shiny mane of a wig. But overall it felt too long, with a plot that underwhelmed me.
Babygirl isn’t really a new story either. Older CEO of a company with a perfect family risks it all for a tryst with a hot intern. You’ve seen this one too I bet. Nicole Kidman plays the CEO, of an Amazon style company at the forefront of automated packing and packaging tech. Robots, who can free the people up form the busywork to focus on other tasks. The movie opens with her and her husband (Antonio Banderas) having sex. They finish, and she goes into another room, opens a laptop and begins masturbating to porn so she can get herself off. This lady is frustrated y’all!
Enter hot intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson). They have a weird encounter. Then another one. Then, well, its pretty clear they are going to hook up, but its the dynamics at play that make this interesting. The trailer made me think it would be a “They hook up, he blackmails her, she loses everything” story. Friends, that is not quite it. This film is more about the dynamics of power- not just between two consenting heterosexual adults (sorry y’all, this film is mostly straight), but it also is a deeper look at generational ideologies that have to do with sex, and with work. It’s much more clever than I was expecting it to be, and Nicole Kidman revels in this role.
So if you want horny and gory, watch Nosferatu. And if you want horny and clever, watch Babygirl.
The only film I saw with more sex in it than Babygirl this year was Anora! We Watched this last weekend and damn, it is a good movie, worthy of all the praise but dang. LOTS of sex scenes. Mikey Madison is so great in this. Anora flips back and forth between humor and drama, but throughout this film is just great storytelling from Sean Baker.
Dr. C and I wanted something light and silly and Christmas themed so we watched… Hot Frosty. I bet you didn’t expect me to say that, did you? This Netflix original is like the old Frosty cartoon, but instead of a traditional snowman made from three spheres of snow, you get a chiseled adonis who comes to life and teaches a women how to love again. Its dopey but we had fun with it.
Finally, Criterion has been running a John Waters retrospective so I treated myself to Desperate Living, which I haven’t seen in years. It’s trashy and ridiculous and has one of the best opening sequences of all time. Mink Stole is completely unhinged when she yells I HATE THE SUPREME COURT and I am here for it.
Stay tuned, I will return with my top 10 of the year! Until then, keep watching the good stuff!