a review of 惊情四百年

𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖕𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝖝 𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖘𝖎𝖝𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: Came away from this really impressed after having seen it only once during its original release. At the time, I don't think any other movies (aside from maybe Lucas/Spielberg's big blockbusters and Tim Burton's Batman films) had prepared the younger me for the level of directorial maximalism on display here, where it feels like every single shot composition, insane camera move, and special effect, and (to an extent, see below) every wild editing choice was concocted by a mad genius. I'm curious to know if a longer cut exists of this, because now that I'm watching it after finally reading the book it feels like there's a lot (especially Jonathan's confinement and Mina's tryst with Drac) that's on the cutting room floor and deliberately being short-handed through editing and narration. I'd love to imagine a totally insane 3 or 4 hour cut of this and how Coppola might have expanded on those elements.