Crispin Glover
selects
Nosferatu the Vampyre

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), dir. Werner Herzog, 1979

Nosferatu the Vampyre is a haunting blend of horror and poetry; an essential part of his oeuvre for any filmmaker’s study. Herzog stated that the German-language version is definitive. Klaus Kinski’s vampire captures loneliness and the undead in a soulful, hypnotic way. Herzog’s Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) and Fata Morgana (1971) influenced my first feature, What Is It? (2005), informing its structure and aspiring to similar poetic inference. Herzog’s personal words to me—“Always produce yourself”—remain meaningful. He continues to challenge filmmakers to reach ecstatic truths that transform both creator and audience alike.

Crispin Glover is a multifaceted American artist. Primarily known as a film actor, he is also a publisher, filmmaker, and author. His latest film, No! YOU’RE WRONG, or: Spooky Action at Distance, premieres at MoMa on Thursday, October 2 before a nationwide rollout. 

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Signe Baumane
selects
Guard Dog

Guard Dog, dir. Bill Plympton, 2004

What if a film could come directly from a creators’ mind onto a screen without the limitations of reality, and unrestrained by studio fears? Enter Made in New York: Best of NYC Indie Animation, films made by NYC animators creating their work outside the studio system. My own journey as an animator was informed by the defiance of the NYC spirit, embodied in the works of Bill Plympton (Guard Dog), John R. Dilworth (Life in Transition), Debra Solomon (Everybody’s Pregnant), among others. To me, “making it in New York” has always meant to keep making your own work, and here it is—the riches of NYC! 

Signe Baumane is a Latvia-born, Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker, artist, writer and animator. She has made 17 animated short films and two features, and her work has screened at Sundance, Berlinale, Karlovy Vary and over one hundred other festivals. Her film Teat Beat of Sex is currently streaming on Metrograph At Home, as part of Made in New York: Best of NYC Indie Animation.

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Mark Polizzotti
selects
Nosferatu the Vampyre

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), dir. Werner Herzog, 1979

Okay, I’ll admit that, in my humble opinion, nothing can match Murnau’s 1922 original for sheer creaky creepiness, but Herzog’s 1979 remake brings elements to the table that make this an absolute gotta. One is the luscious color that animates the early scenes of Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) riding to Transylvania to bring Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski) his real estate deeds (while Murnau altered names to try to get around the Stoker estate’s infringement suit, Herzog could freely use the originals: copyrights, unlike vampires, are not undead). Another is the semi-documentary shooting style that gives certain scenes an edgy Blair Witch vibe. On top of which, Herzog leans much harder than Murnau into the underlying sensuality. But it’s not just about giving the sex added bite: Kinski’s Dracula puts passion and yearning into his bloodlust. As he laments to the object of his desire, “The absence of love is the most abject pain”—a sentence I can’t imagine spoken by Max Schreck’s Orlok. With his desire and his regrets, especially when set against Ganz’s blank Harker or Isabelle Adjani’s dazed Lucy, Dracula as played by Kinski might well be the most human character in the film. 

Mark Polizzotti’s most recent books are Why Surrealism Matters (Yale) and Jump Cuts: Essays on Surrealism, Film, Music, Culture, and Other Utopian Topics (The Song Cave).

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