I’ve never been a fan of the movies of Abel Ferrara. It’s
not that I have anything against him I’ve just found his films to be off
putting at best, boring at worst and more often than not claiming to have
deeper meanings than they actually have. I say this up front because I actually
kind of like THE ADDICTION.
Lili Taylor plays Kathleen Conklin, a philosophy student at
some university in New York City. Walking home one night she is dragged into an
alley by Casanova (Annabella Sciorra). There she is offered an option, tell her
forcefully to let her go or succumb to whatever she has in store for her.
Begging to be allowed to leave Casanova bites her and transforms her into a
vampire, telling her things will change.
Change they do as Kathleen becomes withdrawn and takes to
wearing shades and spouting more philosophy theories than before as a student
about to write her dissertation. The desire to feed overtakes her and she
prowls the city streets in search of someone to feed off of. This is her
addiction, not so much one of blood but of control over those she attacks. She
does to them what was done to her, providing most of them with the option to
leave.
As she progresses in her malady she waxes poetic with some
of her victims, again spending an inordinate amount of time discussing
philosophy. Eventually she comes across a potential victim, a book editor named
Peina (Christopher Walken) who knows what she is about to ask him before she
even opens her mouth. Like her, Peina is a vampire but one whose lived much
longer. He drinks from her and tells her that to survive he’s learned to
control his addiction, to blend in and seem normal and that she should learn to
do the same. After he leaves, she escapes and begins to consider his words.
As the number of her victims rises so does her mindset and
dealing with her addiction. It doesn’t matter who they are, teachers, friends
or a passerby trying to help her, all are changed as well. And along the way
Kathleen changes as well.
The movie is magnificently shot in black and white and looks
gorgeous. And once again Ferrara has taken to the NYC streets to show the one
he knows, the grimy gritty streets where junkies are found in alleys and street
youths hang out in front of stores hitting on girls walking by. While watching
I thought it would be fascinating to watch this film and Woody Allen’s
MANHATTAN back to back, allowing a viewer to see two completely different views
of the same exact city.
The acting is less than memorable but not bad. When reciting
dialogue that reads like a professorial speech concerning the various
philosophers Kathleen is studying it’s difficult to breathe life into those
words. Proof of that lies here where I never once felt the words come alive or
make me develop a desire to fly to the nearest bookstore in order to seek out
more information about these different philosophies.
I will say that the film was more entertaining than the
previous Ferrara films I’ve seen which are only a handful. And while I enjoyed
this one it wouldn’t make me seek out many others. It did hold my interest
though and the concept of evil as something that lives inside everyone not
being the motivation of the vampire was interesting, instead that relationship
between victim predator and prey no different from that of a lion killing a
gazelle for sustenance.
Arrow has done another remarkable job with this release
offering a new restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative by
Arrow Films, approved by director Abel Ferrara and director of photography Ken
Kelsch. Extras abound and include an audio commentary track by Ferrara and
moderated by biographer Brad Stevens, TALKING WITH THE VAMPIRES a new
documentary about the film made by Ferrara just for this release and featuring Walken,
Taylor, composer Joe Delia, Kelsch and Ferrara himself, a new interview with
Ferrara, a new interview with Stevens, an archival piece about Ferrara editing
the film during production, the original trailer, a reversible sleeve with new
artwork by Peter Strain and for the first pressing only an illustrated
collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by critic Michael Ewins.
If you’re a fan of Ferrara this will be a must have to add
to your collection. If you’re not familiar with his work you might find this
one entertaining though a tad slow. And if you’re just curious this would also
be a good film to examine.
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