大象传媒

Not a whiff of that famous Romanian vampire here, but another gypsy road trip from Tony Gatlif, the French-Algerian director famed for his exploration of Roma culture in Europe. Asia Argento stars as Zingarina, an Italian woman whose search for her Romany lover leads her to Transylvania, only to find he hit the road for a reason - he's not in love with her anymore. But far from slinking home, she embarks on her own odyssey across the harsh Romanian landscape.

Like the characters in his previous film Exils, Gatlis' Zingarina is compelled to drop everything and embrace the unknown. But instead of finding out about her roots, Zingarina is determined to detach herself from them, finding some fetching robes and transforming herself into a gypsy. This sense of liberation from racial and cultural identity is further emphasised when she hooks up with Tchangalo (Unel), an itinerant hawker who like her, is multilingual, so their conversation switches between languages throughout.

"ARGENTO IS REMARKABLE"

Channelling her sultry, if slightly off the wall charm, Argento is remarkable in her ability to glower and glow simultaneously, and looks at home in Gatlif's twilighty cinematic landscape. His vision of life on the open road is highly (sometimes overly) romantic, peppered with lively music and striking landscapes: it's the feeding of the senses that takes priority over plotting or polish in Transylvania.

French, Romanian, Romany and English with English subtitles.

Transylvania is out in the UK on 10th August 2007.