#bring anyone you can because Eggers and the crew deserve it

[somepsychopomp]

I’m high rn but I have somehting to say.

Nosferatu (2024) is so full of beautiful and evocative imagery: Thomas at the crossroads outside of Orlok’s castle, the ship in the storm making its way toward the darkened port at night, the final shot in the film, any time Ellen looks out a window, etc etc etc

But on my second viewing today, there was one moment that hit me like a bullet train and hasn’t left my mind all day, and it’s at the very end of the movie.

And all it is, is a very close up shot of Nicolas Hoult sweaty and red in the face as he’s running home to his wife.

It’s not a very glamorous shot at all. He’s very clearly running hard and is breathing heavily. All you see is his face bouncing up and down as he stares dead ahead. There are lots of ways to film an actor running and have it be comprehensible and look good, but looking good isn’t the priority of this 3-second long moment in a 2+ hour film.

It’s the fact that Thomas is running so hard that his expression is almost hard to make out.

It’s the fact that, despite this, you can so clearly see the sweat on his brow and his parted lips.

It’s the fact that you can still somehow see the minute shifts in his face, his oscillating between desperation and determination as he tries to reach his wife and save her. The slightest trace of rage. The fear.

I’ve felt that exact feeling when working out really hard or working on an infuriating project for grad school. It’s the feeling of when you’re so tired, you think you can’t possibly keep it up anymore. But then you think “no, I’m almost there. My goal is right in front of me, so fuck it I’m going to put every last bit of energy I have left to get it done. I don’t care what state I’ll be in once I’ve reached my destination, what matters is that I get there and I get there now.”

My man Thomas Hutter ran across the entire city and you can see it in his face no matter how choppy the extremely close up shot looks. He ran across an entire city for the woman he loves and he’ll keep running until he gets to her.

Idk what else to say but that I loved Hoult in this movie. Nosferatu is so full of dark and rich imagery/atmosphere, but a fucking teeny tiny scene of a white man running toward me made me metaphorically fall to my knees in the theater.

Because for all that was macabre in this film, that one moment was so blindingly and spectacularly human to me.