Mubi Monday: Bloodsuckers (2021)

Count Dracula was, just to remind you, a selfish and rich monster who would feed from others without much fear of actually being caught and punished by anyone. He enslaved people to do some of his dirty work, lounged around in his massive home, and eventually set his sights on a trip to another country where he hoped to reassert himself as a well-to-do member of society and convince a young woman to be his new love. Basically, he is a typical rich person used to getting his own way.

Which is something made all the more obvious in Bloodsuckers (AKA Bloodsuckers - A Marxist Vampire Comedy), a mix of comedy and dark drama that feels light and fun until it strongly underlines every main point being made in the final act.

 

Writer-director Julian Radlmaier is no stranger to this kind of content, despite not being the first person you would think of to helm a "vampire" movie. He enjoys using cinema to explore philosophy and politics, and fans of his work will already have a good idea of what to expect from this, which is actually (and surprisingly) only his second full feature.

The main characters are Octavia (Lilith Stangenberg), her manservant Jakob (Alexander Herbst), and a man named Ljowushka (Alexandre Koberidze). All three of these people go through different journeys that show how they can work as both prey and prefator, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in much more subtle ways. 

The visuals here are fine, although very few scenes work as effectively as they could in blending the vampire motifs into the everyday details of the struggles being depicted, and the acting from everyone is in line with the straightforward approach to the material that Radlmaier clearly prefers. Stangenberg has enough presence to make her character feel worthy of the people who fuss around her and aim to keep her happy, Herbst is entertainingly pained throughout, and Koberidze is part everyman and part fraudtser, lying about himself in ways that are only slight exaggerations of how people often lie about themselves every day.

Although I enjoyed this intermittently, it's not the best work from Radlmaier. As subjective as it is, the comedy didn't work for me as often as I wanted it to, which was made all the more notable during the few times when it really DID work. And I'll admit that I wanted to see some more moments of literal vampirism mixed in with the commentary. That might just show that I am not as smart or savvy as Radlmaier's intended main viewership, or it might show that he needs to work on making the most of any premise that can provide equal parts talking points and cinematic entertainment. Let's face it, it's probably the former.

 

5/10

 

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Mubi Monday: Wild (2016)

I, like many other people, have often looked at a pet and become jealous of their lifestyle. Seeing a cat or dog contentedly lazing around during the day, knowing they will always have food and water available for them when they want it, really hammers home how difficult we humans have made our own lives. I’ve never looked at a wolf and felt the urge to have sex with it though. That isn’t normally a statement I would make, but that literal animal attraction is at the heart of Wild.

Lilith Stangenberg plays Ania, a young woman who seems to be stuck in a rut. Her job, her personal life, even her housing situation, it all seems one step away from being a complete disaster. Her mental state changes one night when she makes eye contact with a wolf, a creature she then becomes more and more obsessed with. Wanting to catch, and possibly tame, the wolf, Ania comes up with a plan, and it may well help her to connect with her more animalistic side. That’s only a good thing if she can use it to her advantage though, but it soon becomes obvious that she’s just going to use it as a way to regress and pull away from others.

Written and directed by Nicolette Krebitz, Wild is an uncomfortable and intriguing viewing experience. Every scene that features the wolf feels more inherently dangerous, and watching the journey of the central character is sometimes painful and disturbing, with Krebitz somehow helping us to remember how the worsening behaviour stems from the desperation and loneliness of Ania.

Stangenberg gives a fantastic performance, particularly in the second half, when her character is less fearful of others around her, but also more desperate to attain whatever improved “final form” she thinks is within her grasp. Georg Friedrich also does well, whether his character is being shown as cool, understanding, or inappropriately reacting to someone in a very vulnerable state. One or two others also do well in supporting roles, including Saskia Rosendahl and Silke Bodenbender, but the film fully belongs to Stangenberg and the wolf.

Would I rush to recommend this to people? No. I don’t know how others would react to it, particularly in the one or two scenes that push the whole thing even further into taboo territory. But I do hope that others are intrigued enough to check it out for themselves, if they think they can stomach it. It’s dark, disturbing, smart, and brilliant. I just don’t want to get funny looks from people who are unprepared for the tone and content. 

Krebitz has a few other directorial features that I have yet to see. I will hope to get to them one day, and look forward to seeing what else she does. I know many will disagree, but this film marks her out as an impressively unique talent.

8/10

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