Dracula

Count Dracula is by far the most famous Romanian in history. The world-famous vampire from Transylvania is loosely based on a historical character and more precisely on a Victorian novel, but such references have long since blended together to create the character that lives in our shared imagination. When the character is used to make money, for example by using it to increase tourism, the line between Dracula’s likeness and the state of Romania also begins to blur.

Irreverent director Radu Jude thrashes the iconic nature of the vampire in idiosyncratic ways. After all, there always seems to be room for new cinematic interpretations. In the framing story, an enthusiastic film director (Adonis Tanta) presents some twenty different takes on the same premise. The shoestring budget is no obstacle, as AI technologies make it possible to create all kinds of unnatural monstrosities.

This almost three-hour-long extravaganza offers everything from off-colour humour to folklore and romantic shenanigans. At the same time, it delivers a sharp criticism of both the neoliberal greed of contemporary Romania and the complacency of the film industry as well as the hollow techno-optimism that promises unprecedented spectacles through new generative AI tools. Such spectacles will always be delivered to those who are ready to wonder, for example, what Dracula’s reproductive organs might look like.

Paavo Ihalainen (translated by Herman Tikkanen)