Miscellaneous - Transylvania

by Anthony Strutt

published: 16 / 6 / 2007

Despite its title and starring one-time horror film actress Asia Argento, 'Transylvania' has nothing to do with vampires and is an edgy road movie with a stunning gypsy folk soundtrack. Anthony Strutt finds much to be impressed about

Article

'Transylvania' is a new film due out in early August from director, Tony Gatlif, and which stars Asia Argento. Running to 105 minutes, some of it is in English, but there are other places in which it is subtitled. Despite its title and even being set in the Big D's homeland, 'Transylvania' is not a horror film and there is no trace of a Castle Dracula. It, however, is not an easy ride at all. It has an edgy feel to it and there are scenes that reminded me of the 1968 Hammer film 'The Devil Rides Out' and 1973's 'The Wicker Man'. If this was a band it would be a new release by the Editors or Interpol as it would appeal to fans of 'Barren Wastelands' and 'Sorrowful Visions'. The film opens with three young women searching an isolated village in search of a man, the boyfriend of one of them, Zingarina, whom is expecting his baby. Zingarina is played by Asia Argento, who is the daughter of Dario Argento , the Italian horror film director and actress Daria Nicolodi, whom Dario co-wrote the classic 'Suspiria' with in 1977 when Asia was 2 years old. Zingarina's lover, a struggling musician. has been run out of town due to a lack of work. No one in the film has money, and a pain-filled lifestyle of struggling to live on whatever you can manage to get for yourself is expressed throughout the film. Much is made of this struggle but there is love everywhere in the form of the gypsy folk music that holds 'Transylvania' together, and all the way through the film it lifts the spirits high. Asia's character finds her lover only to be rejected and then she hits rock bottom, leaving her friends noteless and hanging out with a poor street child until she meets up with Tchango, a wheeler dealer with a kind heart. This is a love story but a bitter one. Even a love making scene looks more like a rape until a bear gets in the way and injects some humour into a well paced scene. Tchango is not a likeable character but he stands by Zingarina and a true human bonding takes place. He has his hands full as Zingarina is one messed up chick, whom has to deal with her own inner demons or madness as a trip to an exorcist shows. This is not a main stream film but definitely a brave movie and one which will appeal to both lovers of art house films and the hardcore Asia Argento crowd. Just don't bring a date.