#gregoire Colin

[filmaticbby]

Beau Travail (1999) dir. Claire Denis

[dare-g]

The Vourdalak (2023)

[artfilmfan]

Sex is Comedy (Catherine Breillat, 2002)

[metropoliswhite]

Adrien Beau - Le Vourdalak (2023)

[eclecticpjf]

Now watching:

[agentnico]

The Vourdalak (2024) review

Bet A24 are kicking their shins for missing this one.

Plot: Lost in a hostile forest, the Marquis d'Urfé, a noble emissary of the King of France, finds refuge in the home of a strange family.

In my childhood my dad would always read to me various stories at bedtime, and the one that really stuck out was the little novella “The Family of the Vourdalak” by Aleksey Tolstoy (that’s the other Tolstoy, not the madman who spent however long writing the over thousand pages of War & Peace), and the reason this one really left an impression on my little brain was how it held this immersive element of dread and terror that didn’t let go until the end. For this is a vampire tale, yet interestingly enough this was actually written near half a century prior to Bram Stoker publishing his famous Dracula novel. So this is very much an early folkloric interpretation of what vampires were, that came from myths and tales spun around villages, so look, all I’m saying is these old school villagers had a wild imagination and Tolstoy utilised that well. Anyway, if you’ve never read the original 1839 novella, do yourself a favour and seek it out, as it’s truly spectacular.

With that in mind when I heard there was a new French movie adaptation being released of Tolstoy’s story I knew I had to seek it out as I always thought that material had so much cinematic potential. Truly I was expecting some gruesome dark visually striking in-yer-face shocker of the level of Hereditary or Evil Dead Rise, because honestly I could totally see that working. But to my surprise director Adrien Beau has gone a completely different direction.

The Vourdalak is a film that does not belong in the 21st century. Seeing this in 2024 is really odd, and I mean that in the best way. Reminiscent of a time gone by, The Vourdalak was shot on film, truly embracing the vintage look with real grain and harsh shadows, envoking the feel of a period piece from the 70s/80s. As such I can see many viewers be put off by this thinking the movie looks cheap or dull, but I truly think this stylistic choice was a nice change of pace for a modern day horror, and a nice way to get by its low-budget. The setting of the sparsely populated European forest also allows for the threat to feel more effective due to how confinding and inescapable the situation is.

In terms of negatives I didn’t give two craps about any of the characters. The main French aristocrat we follow who refers to himself as the emissary of the King of France is a pompous face-covered-in-white-make-up narcissistic dandelion who can only think about the next woman who’s pants he can get into. The family in the forest he comes across are all varied introverts who have their eccentricities, but none of them were likeable as such. You know who was great though? The main vampire!

So the titular Vourdalak (a vampire-like being with Slavic origins that prefers to feast on blood of relatives rather than strangers)…… he’s a puppet. No joke, this is a 2024 horror movie where the vampire is portrayed by a puppet. It’s actually done really well too, with the life-sized marionette moving in uncanny strange ways, eyes bulging out, rictus grinning and with a disembodied voice, it all comes to a pretty immersive effect. It makes for a good reminder how solid and effective practical effect instead of CGI can be. But also the vampire itself, though creepy, was actually kind of a stand up fella? Like yes he wanted to suck everyone’s blood and kill and so on, but when he spoke he was always super polite, had a nice level of sass to him too. Honestly I’d hang out with the guy. I’d grab a pint with him for sure.

Overall the movie is an interesting nostalgic view of horror from a bygone era, with old school visuals and a fantastic vampire puppet performance, and though I would say there were times the film did drag a bit, as a whole this was a delightful peace of Gothic fairytale. This may just be the bite in the neck the genre needed.

Overall score: 6/10

[loveboatinsanity]

[blackfilmgaze]

Grégoire Colin and Mati Diop in 35 Shots of Rum (2008) dir. Claire Denis

[strathshepard]

Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)

[genkinahito]

Serpent's Path Le chemin du serpent 蛇の道 (2024) Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

[chinchillasorchildren]

Films of 2024: The Vourdalak (dir. Adrien Beau)

(3/5)

[filmaticbby]

Beau Travail (1999) dir. Claire Denis

[dare-g]

U.S. Go Home (1994)

[randomrichards]

YOU RESEMBLE ME:

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[streamondemand]

'The Intruder' – a sensual odyssey on Criterion Channel

Claire Denis’s vivid and visceral The Intruder (France, 2005) stars Michel Subor as Louis Trebor, a grizzled old lone wolf who has left the herd for a solitary existence in the Northern wilderness. Or so it seems from the first images, wandering through the wilds under his hard, tight face etched with years and mane of white hair, leading a pack of dogs. Louis may be a Russian spy, he certainly…

[faithconsumingcope]

l’intrus by claire denis isn’t her best film but the pure sensual disorientation & exacting dreaminess of it is unlike anything else and may be her most *unique* and idiosyncratic work. even if you’ve been seen beau travail or high life you get a sense of her style but l’intrus takes it so far it shatters any border you could try to impose on it, literally & metaphorically.

100% an “acquired taste” and “not for everyone” film even if you’re a cinephile, but it’s one i would really want people to see.