Nicolas Cage is, by far, at his best when playing up his image by chaining “meta” jokes and in “Renfield” he becomes a hilarious Dracula.
Yes, Nic Cage had been in “Vampire’s Kiss”, an independent production in which he played a man who believed he was a vampire. Since then, the extraordinary “Dracula” (1992) by his uncle Francis Ford Coppola has been there and the actor seen recently in the very funny “A Talent in Solid Gold” cheerfully plays on references – sometimes even unconsciously – with the masterpiece.
In Dracula, Nicolas Cage becomes bloodthirsty, claims to be Bela Lugosi in a scene at the start of this 93-minute “Renfield” and handles grating jokes with virtuosity, his performance referring us to that of Chloe Grace Moretz’s father in the excellent “Kick-Ass”.
But who is this famous Renfield of the title you ask? Renfield, played here with British humor and phlegm by Nicholas Hoult, is the devoted servant of the Prince of Darkness. Already embodied by Klaus Kinski in “Dracula’s Nights” (1970) and Tom Waits in “Dracula from the Work of Bram Stoker” (1992), Renfield now attends a self-help group for affective addicts. Undermined by the unusual demands of his master, the young man seeks to get out of this toxic relationship – the dialogues of the group meetings are worth their weight in gold – and along the way meets Rebecca Quincy (sympathetic Awkwafina), a cop determined to arrest the New Orleans mafia, led by Ella (Shohreh Aghdashloo, always perfect).
The direction of Chris McKay (“The Tomorrow War” or the “Lego” animated films) is effective, the filmmaker brilliant when staging the fight scenes, reminiscent of “Kick-Ass” or “Machete” both they are surreal. The screenplay by Ryan Ridley from a story by producer Robert Kirkman (producer, among others, of “The Walking Dead”) is skilfully put together, all ensuring welcome entertainment to celebrate the arrival of sunny days with dignity.
PS: the absence of puns with “blood” is intentional.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
