Every film review, every article of cultural analysis and in fact every piece of writing ever written is informed by a system of expression we call language, which is used to describe aspects of a state of being we call reality. Nicolas Cage’s performance in the freakishly great 1989 cult classic Vampire’s Kiss transcends language and exposes the limitations of human vocabulary, entering a space sometimes rationalised with the defeatist turn of phrase: “there are no words”.
If that sounds a bit much, why not watch the film’s famous alphabet scene and have a crack at describing it yourself? You’ll probably gravitate towards words like “madness”, “batshit”, “bonkers”, “hilarious”, “unhinged” and “offbeat”, as others have. If you feel the need to use the words “over-the-top”, which have frequently been applied to this film and Cage’s style more broadly, you are missing the point and should go and sit in the naughty corner.
