Nadja

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Nadja ★★★ 1995 (R)

Fresh, modern comic take on the vampire tale is about family ties and the power of home, with the required AIDS analogy and lesbian sex scenes. Tired of nightly blood-letting, the daughter of the now-deceased Count, Nadja (Lowensohn), lives in New York's East Village, hoping to change her life. She seduces and falls in love with Lucy (Craze), whose husband is the nephew of old family nemesis Van Helsing (Fonda, in a surprisingly comedic role). Manic Fonda Van Helsing sets out to save Lucy and steal the film. Meanwhile, Nadja finds her long lost twin brother (Harris, son of Richard) and Lucy discovers sex with Nadja is draining. Innovative camera work (vampire point-of-view scenes shot with a toy Pixelvision camera and blown up to 35mm for a moody, grainy look) and a great score keep “Nadja” very watchable despite some missteps in the plot. (Director Almereyda pioneered use of the Pixel-vision camera in “Another Girl, Another Planet.”) Executive producer David Lynch contributes a cameo as a guard at the morgue where Nadja claims her father's body. 92m/B VHS, DVD . Elina Lowensohn, Suzy Amis, Galaxy Craze, Martin Donovan, Peter Fonda, Karl Geary, Jared Harris; Cameos: David Lynch; D: Michael Almereyda; W: Michael Almereyda; C: Jim Denault; M: Simon Fisher Turner.