I came across this fascinating little interview with Winona Ryder a couple weeks ago in which she talks about watching Bram Stoker's Dracula this past Halloween. She talks a little about her experiences in the production but her tone overall is of a fan discovering the film rather than of an actress who was actually in it. It feels more and more like she's become a different person. Compare her enthusiasm to this interview from around the time of Dracula's release:
I remember Coppola, on the DVD director's commentary, complaining about how detached Ryder often seemed during filming. I wonder if she's aware of those comments. In any case, detachment certainly doesn't seem to be a problem for her now.
Anyway, the movie is, as Ryder says, a marvel of practical effects. The costumes, the sets, and above all the transitions. The strange and sort of delirious ways Francis Ford Coppola and Roman Coppola devise for moving from one shot to another give the film a sense of dangerously unstable perception.
I almost bought some absinthe this past weekend. I found a liquor store, Nishiumi, with a really impressive liquor selection, though the only absinthe they have is Absente. I still remember Absente as the fake absinthe that didn't have wormwood, back when it was illegal in the U.S. Supposedly they bottle the real McCoy in the U.S. now but I wonder if the Japanese version has it. I haven't been able to find information on it. I imagine it's not popular here because of the anise flavour, which is similar to liquorice and is generally associated with medicine or toothpaste in Japan. Liqourice is unpopular and very difficult to get. A bucket of Red Vines on Amazon is around 10,000 yen, or 60 dollars! I tried to tell a class of students about liquorice yesterday but they didn't seem interested. I guess it's a bridge too far.
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