Ulrike Ottinger's Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia (1989) is one of the best things I have ever seen in my life. I was going to write that it is a crime against humanity that this movie is not available on DVD from Criterion, but it looks as though copies can be ordered through the director's website, so I am going to hold off on calling down the wrath of Tengri and Angela Carter just yet. It's hilarious and otherworldly, stylized and documentary, full of old ritual and Yiddish theater standards, and while I have read stories and poems like it, I've never seen anything comparable on a screen. I loved it very much.
Ottinger's current project is Die Blutgräfin—The Blood Countess—from whose title you may correctly guess the subject is Erszébet Báthory. She will be portrayed by Tilda Swinton. With vampires, in Vienna. It is possible there will not be enough awesome in the world to describe this film.
These discoveries have seriously improved my day.
Ottinger's current project is Die Blutgräfin—The Blood Countess—from whose title you may correctly guess the subject is Erszébet Báthory. She will be portrayed by Tilda Swinton. With vampires, in Vienna. It is possible there will not be enough awesome in the world to describe this film.
These discoveries have seriously improved my day.
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