Story of My Death (2014)

HONOR DE CAVALLERIA comprised a radically minimalist, near-plotless riff on DON QUIXOTE, while BIRDSONG applied a similar approach to the New Testament tale of the Three Kings. The new film continues in this vein of literary/historical appropriation, but this time engineers a meeting between two figures (one historical, one mythical): 18th-century author, adventurer, and womanizer Giacomo Casanova and the immortal (in more ways than one) Dracula. If this inspired, high-concept pairing suggests that Serra has abandoned his trademark absurdist minimalism, never fear: both Casanova and Dracula serve as a means for Serra to imagine and inhabit the world of the 18th century, which he depicts with the serene patience, wry wit, philosophical curiosity that made his previous films so singular and astonishing. (C) Anthology Film Archives