Lucy Westenra (Tara Birtwhistle) is besieged by a wasting illness that transforms her into a creature of the night. Her three suitors, led by Dr. Van Helsing (David Moroni), trace her troubles back to recent immigrant Count Dracula (Zhang Wei-Quiang). Lucy rises from the dead and must be destroyed, Dracula escapes the hunters and sets his sights on Mina (CindyMarie Small) as his new bride, only to be killed by the dawn.
You know this story. What is original here is that Pages from a Virgin's Diary is presented as a ballet filmed in the style of a German Expressionist silent film. When I talk about being on my bullshit, this is what I mean. If I could have injected this movie straight into my veins, I would have. The ballet work is beautiful, Birtwhistle especially. She basically carries the entire first half of the production and has a lovely expressive face.
If I have any complaint, it's that the camera work overshadows the ballet. I would have liked for it to be slightly less faithful to the aesthetic in the interest of showing the dancing. You can have too much of a good thing. Overall, however, this was an original interpretation of a classic and I am here for it. It's currently streaming on Tubi.
No comments:
Post a Comment