‘Dracula’ Review: Radu Jude’s Wild Three-Hour Exploration of AI and History

Radu Jude’s ‘Dracula’ is a wild, three-hour film that blends dark humor, Romanian history, and cutting-edge technology. The movie features a director relying on AI to salvage his vampire film after it fails a test screening. While the AI generates bizarre riffs on Dracula and manipulates historical footage, Jude uses it to critique the ways in which art, history, and technology have always fed off one another. With a blend of absurdity and intellectual depth, the film dissects the legacy of Vlad the Impaler, artificial intelligence, and how the past’s exploitation mirrors the present’s. Jude’s approach is anarchic and playful, often poking fun at commercialization, exploitation, and the absurdity of modern mass entertainment. The film is both vulgar and sophisticated, offering a critique on the commodification of history while embracing the chaos of AI-driven creativity. It’s a humorous and satirical reflection on a world that continues to feed off itself, using AI as a metaphor for humanity’s unchanging nature. While AI plays a central role, it is not the film’s only focus, with Jude delving into historical and cultural references to provide a multi-layered experience.