I originally wrote this for my blog, Indepedent Ethos. But I love this movie so much, I want to share my POV here: Only Lovers Left Alive, the long-awaited vampire drama by Jim Jarmusch, has to be one of the better date movies I've seen in a long time. There is something beautiful yet romantically slippery about the exquisitely matured bond between the vampire couple at the heart of the film. Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) may be the first vampires of time immemorial. With so many centuries behind them, Jarmusch, who also wrote the script, presents this couple as the antithesis to the naive lovers in the Twilight Saga.
Stunningly stylish from beginning to end, Jarmusch treats the idea of long-surviving/suffering vampires in only the way he can, with brilliant wit and heartfelt respect. Beyond jokes like the characters' names, Jarmusch profoundly considers the effects of immortality on the minds of these creatures, both positively and negatively. Eve can speed read Infinite Jest, and thoughtful Adam tends to agree with Einstein’s critique of quantum mechanics: "Spooky Action At a Distance." She lives more in the moment, taking up residence in an opium den in Tangiers and in the company of Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt) who apparently faked his death in 1593 to carry on living as a vampire (he's still bitter about Shakespeare). Meanwhile, Adam languishes in a big old house in the appropriately ghostly city of Detroit. He surrounds himself with dated electronics and uses rare instruments to compose experimental music on reel-to-reel tape to be released on limited edition 180 gram vinyl with no label. To stay in touch with Adam, Eve uses Facetime on her iPhone while Adam uses a low-resolution webcam attached to a PC tower.
As with any romance movies involving mature individuals, love can get complicated, even with this decidedly progressive couple. Over the ages, Adam and Eve have developed a becalmed relationship. They don't raise their voices at each other and despite the huge geographic gulf and differing lifestyles, their affection for one another does not waver. Still, a sort of tired undercurrent runs below the surface of their relationship despite a magnetism of shared experiences and an emotional investment that goes back centuries. They don't just have chemistry, they have a fusion as deep as old bones calcifying to become one. They are old souls incarnate.
Ultimately, Adam's loneliness becomes palatable to Eve from across the globe, and she books a red-eye to fly to Detroit. He's gone a tad mad and depressed, turning into a hoarder of sorts. Once at the cluttered mansion, Eve stumbles across a wooden bullet Adam had obtained from his human connection to the black market, Ian (Anton Yelchin). It upsets Eve with a quiet frustration, yet she handles it delicately, recognizing it as a call for attention more than a threat. The real kink comes in the unexpected arrival of Eve's younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska), who must have turned undead before her frontal lobe had fully developed. She's the most troublesome of the quartet. While the other vamps prefer anonymity, Ava's rather reckless. Wasikowska plays her with a wide-eyed precocious smile. She's like a mischievous elf hiding in the shadows ready to pounce for a prank, albeit a deadly kind. Her character adds a colorful bit of comic relief to the mostly purposely dour proceedings.
"only lovers left alive"Still, all of the film's characters are a delight, even if the film's plot is spare and ambling. As it is with most Jarmusch films, it's all about the dynamics between the characters, and he keeps the narrative focused on the nighttime activities of the vamps. The entire movie appropriately unfolds in the shadows, against a perpetual nocturnal backdrop. Cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, working with Jarmusch for the first time, delivers varying scenes using diverse degrees of focus and colored filters for different shades of atmosphere.
It's all about the vampires in Only Lovers Left Alive, and they are ironically soulful characters. Humanity has somehow lost touch with slowing down and savoring life, unlike these undead culture vultures. Jarmusch places humans in the periphery. Some human characters are only shadows in the distance. "only lovers left alive"They roam the world on a diet of junk food and junk culture to the point that their blood has grown literally unpalatable to the vampires. Adam and Eve don't dare bite anyone's neck for fear of contamination by impure blood. Instead, they look for pure Type O-negative on the black market to sip out of sherry glasses. The vampires don't even refer to mortals as human. Instead, they call them "zombies."
The film's score and musical sequences deserve highlighting, beginning with the sumptuously absorbing score by lute player Jozef van Wissem backed by Jarmusch's very own band SQÜRL. The opening scene introducing us to the vampires is a brilliant montage featuring a perpetually rotating camera, turning the image around the screen at what seems to be 33 rpm--- the speed of a record player. The detailed art design, augmented with beguiling costumes, all twirling 'round can feel dizzying. The sensation is heightened further with the growling vocals of Cults' Madeline Follin covering Wanda Jackson's "Funnel Of Love" and the super-delayed echoing of a blues-infused electric guitar weaving around a stomping, slow beat, which is occasionally accented with a single ringing chime. It's a bit of sensory overload, but it captivates all the same. The sequence could work brilliantly as a music video alone.
It's not the only time music takes over for narrative of Only Lovers Left Alive in enchanting ways. When the vampires satisfy their thirsts, they act as if they are slipping away into an opiate high. The shallow focus of the scene allows their faces to drift away into blurs, fangs exposed, maws bloody and half-agape. The scene is scored with Wissem lazily dragging a melody across his multi-stringed instrument, varying each refrain with a high note and a low note. Below, a guitar squeals a low, wash of feedback. It's an enthralling moment, which delightfully recurs once more during the course of the film.
But the film is filled with many more delightful scenes, as it strides along at a relaxed pace that never tries the audience's patience, despite its two-hour-plus duration. Clearly, Jarmusch has spent a lot of time thinking about his version of the vampire. Even when they are troubled, like Adam, or deviant, like Ava, they remain interesting and even endearing. With Only Lovers Left Alive, Jarmusch has created a rich world that also provides a witty jab to the immature, pop-culture obsessed consumer who does not seem to know how to stop and savor the more complex arts. Yet, Jarmusch is not above offering a bit of self-deprecating critique back at his over-seriousness as channeled by these vampires. Despite its quirks, Only Lovers stands as one of his greatest and still entertaining personal statements in a long time.
--Hans Morgenstern
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ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (DVD)
Format: DVD
IMDb7.2/10.0
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Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- Package Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches; 2.4 Ounces
- Media Format : DVD
- ASIN : B00MVGJ1XI
- Best Sellers Rank: #307,575 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #242,551 in DVD
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Love this DVD. I bought it because of Tom Hiddleston, but really enjoyed it. It has great characters. They are vampires, yet the movie is about how to live and love.
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2018
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 7, 2023
An excellent portrayal of life as an outcast. Trusting others can either bring joy or sorrow and this is an excellent example. The ending was the only way to go.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 28, 2023
I love this movie! I am a super Vampire/Zombie van! This is how one might imagine the first, presumed still immortal vampires live in society today. If you missed it, the premise is that after they were kicked out of the garden, they were "granted" or cursed with everlasting life. This I presume is the "Curse" they received from biting the apple. That said, they are then cursed with watching mankind evolve into the mess we have today. They are understandably recent full of humans they call Zombies, due to our constant state of the persistence of Dis-enlightenment. Eve is not as disillusioned with us and tries to cheer Adam up by saying they did get lucky in the area of Love and he agrees and they make love. Adam does have human minions will do his bidding. A greedy worker at the local blood bank and his personal assistance who shares his love of music. This movie is a commentary of how we built up a great empire with mechanization being that focus, particularly the car industry and how, like all great empires without the foresight to diversity the decay and those who live in the remains human and inhuman. Overall, it is an excellent commentary on just, that mortality in the context of a society in decay.....and those who are cursed to live through it over and over and over...so living forever starts to sound more like a curse than a gift...you decide.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 6, 2023
We love this so much we may as well buy it. If you know Jim, then you know it’s great.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 28, 2021
I wanted to like this film, but I just really did not. Maybe I am biased because I prefer zombies to vampires, and I got an unpleasant visceral response watching the vampires drink blood, then space out like drug users after a fix.
My annoyances with this film are many. The pacing of this film is just...so...SLOW. Multiple, multiple shots of the vampire lovers holding each other and staring off into space - what a waste. And these vampires, while articulate and worldly, seem like the kind of dull weirdos with whom I most definitely would not like to spend an afternoon chatting. Tilda Swinton's Eve is the more palatable of the two, other than her annoying habit of calling every single tree, plant and animal by its anthropological name, instead of just calling a skunk a skunk, but Tom Hiddleston's Adam seems like an outright miserable, condescending, "Debbie downer" pompous bore.
Things looked like they might become more interesting when Eve's troublesome younger sister Ava shows up uninvited on the scene, and I was hoping she might go full Betelgeuse and cause some good chaos, but her visit is short-lived and not exceptional, though Mia Wasikowska is fantastic in this role and for me the only really interesting character. Anton Yelchin adds to the cast as Ian, Adam's procurer of the odd and unusual, and he plays his role fabulously. Ian is far more appealing than the two vampires since he is in the music biz and I want to know who he knows and what he does when not on odd errands for Adam. John Hurt rounds out the cast playing Stephen Marlowe, and he offers up some fine acting, but I did not gravitate to Marlowe particularly.
I dunno, many will disagree with me on this, but I felt like everything but the kitchen sink was thrown into this film and it reeked of smirking condescension, as if people who aren't art snobs and highbrows are just losers, or in this case, zombies, as the vampires call the living. Like your high school teacher who tried to seem cool by rambling on about some random scientific journal nobody else reads to make up for low wages and a high mortgage payment or the office narcissist who needs to tell everyone around him what he just bought and the trendy restaurants where he has dined. Parts of this film felt like I was watching a documentary, not a movie. I watch films for entertainment, not to be preached at or hear a bunch of facts and data, or to take a tour of abandoned downtown Detroit. There is a yearning for a long bygone era threading throughout this film, but too much is too much. Great filmmaking to me is when the lessons are subtle or the viewer can come up with his or her own interpretation, while this film to me feels like being repeatedly punched in the gut or banged on the head with a baseball bat.
I guess the only highlights of this film were the sets, costumes and cinematography. Visually, Only Lovers Left Alive is a beautiful feast for the eyes. The acting iss first-rate, no question, but the main characters bored me, the pace of the film bored me, the lack of a real plot bored me. I can summarize this film by saying: "Two vampires mostly staring at walls in dark, candlelit rooms."
As to love, I didn't get any major love story from this. Adam and Eve are two very different individuals, she an extrovert who enjoys being in the middle of things, he a moody and depressive introvert who rarely leaves his home. Their relationship is unique in that they are two mature people who don't need one another but instead choose one another, who are connected by an invisible thread and have a strong and unwavering bond that spans across miles and continents. But overall, still two vampires staring at walls whilst sipping blood and listening to rock 'n' roll thinking they are morally superior to everyone else.
Not my cup of tea, this film.
My annoyances with this film are many. The pacing of this film is just...so...SLOW. Multiple, multiple shots of the vampire lovers holding each other and staring off into space - what a waste. And these vampires, while articulate and worldly, seem like the kind of dull weirdos with whom I most definitely would not like to spend an afternoon chatting. Tilda Swinton's Eve is the more palatable of the two, other than her annoying habit of calling every single tree, plant and animal by its anthropological name, instead of just calling a skunk a skunk, but Tom Hiddleston's Adam seems like an outright miserable, condescending, "Debbie downer" pompous bore.
Things looked like they might become more interesting when Eve's troublesome younger sister Ava shows up uninvited on the scene, and I was hoping she might go full Betelgeuse and cause some good chaos, but her visit is short-lived and not exceptional, though Mia Wasikowska is fantastic in this role and for me the only really interesting character. Anton Yelchin adds to the cast as Ian, Adam's procurer of the odd and unusual, and he plays his role fabulously. Ian is far more appealing than the two vampires since he is in the music biz and I want to know who he knows and what he does when not on odd errands for Adam. John Hurt rounds out the cast playing Stephen Marlowe, and he offers up some fine acting, but I did not gravitate to Marlowe particularly.
I dunno, many will disagree with me on this, but I felt like everything but the kitchen sink was thrown into this film and it reeked of smirking condescension, as if people who aren't art snobs and highbrows are just losers, or in this case, zombies, as the vampires call the living. Like your high school teacher who tried to seem cool by rambling on about some random scientific journal nobody else reads to make up for low wages and a high mortgage payment or the office narcissist who needs to tell everyone around him what he just bought and the trendy restaurants where he has dined. Parts of this film felt like I was watching a documentary, not a movie. I watch films for entertainment, not to be preached at or hear a bunch of facts and data, or to take a tour of abandoned downtown Detroit. There is a yearning for a long bygone era threading throughout this film, but too much is too much. Great filmmaking to me is when the lessons are subtle or the viewer can come up with his or her own interpretation, while this film to me feels like being repeatedly punched in the gut or banged on the head with a baseball bat.
I guess the only highlights of this film were the sets, costumes and cinematography. Visually, Only Lovers Left Alive is a beautiful feast for the eyes. The acting iss first-rate, no question, but the main characters bored me, the pace of the film bored me, the lack of a real plot bored me. I can summarize this film by saying: "Two vampires mostly staring at walls in dark, candlelit rooms."
As to love, I didn't get any major love story from this. Adam and Eve are two very different individuals, she an extrovert who enjoys being in the middle of things, he a moody and depressive introvert who rarely leaves his home. Their relationship is unique in that they are two mature people who don't need one another but instead choose one another, who are connected by an invisible thread and have a strong and unwavering bond that spans across miles and continents. But overall, still two vampires staring at walls whilst sipping blood and listening to rock 'n' roll thinking they are morally superior to everyone else.
Not my cup of tea, this film.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 24, 2023
There’s not much of a storyline, and I’m still a little unclear on a couple things, but it’s not bad.
Top reviews from other countries
Bruno
5.0 out of 5 stars
Conforme descrito.
Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on July 4, 2023
Excelente filme. Conforme descrito.
Marco S
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gran Edición
Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on February 24, 2017
El transfer de la película es de muy buena calidad, y los extras de la película valen muchísimo la pena.
Freya of Asgard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Un film meraviglioso
Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on October 17, 2016
Un capolavoro che riporta la figura del vampiro allo splendore dei grandi romanzi gotici dell’Ottocento. Le atmosfere solitarie, oscure e decadenti di Tangeri e soprattutto di Detroit fanno da sfondo alle vicende di Adam e Eve, i due protagonisti. Adam e Eve sono vampiri, creature millenarie che vivono in una loro dimensione fatta di musica, arte e letteratura oltre che del profondo sentimento che li lega.
Adam è un musicista di talento, profondamente depresso, fragile e annoiato della sua immortalità. Eve, invece, è una donna vivace e di mentalità aperta, orgogliosa del suo status di vampiro. Nonostante queste differenze, la coppia vive da secoli la sua storia ed è disturbata solo dall'arrivo improvviso di Ava, la selvaggio sorella minore di Eve. Il caos scatenato dal comportamento irresponsabile di Ava costringe Adam e Eve ad una pericolosa fuga e a fa riemergere la loro natura animalesca.
Il film, che ha non ha molta azione, è un viaggio notturno nei pensieri e nei sentimenti dei protagonisti. Al loro peregrinare è abbinata una magnifica colonna sonora che unisce grandi classici del rock degli anni ’50 e ’60 e brani realizzati espressamente per il film. Ottimi gli attori, che hanno reso veramente credibili Adam e Eve in tutte le loro manifestazioni.
L’edizione in blu-ray per il mercato inglese contiene numerosi extra in più rispetto a quella italiana, come scene eliminate ed estese ed un lungo documentario 'dietro le quinte'. Vi sono poi le interviste con gli attori e i trailer, presenti pure nell'edizione italiana.
Un capolavoro per chi ama le ambientazioni gotiche e il cinema di Jarmusch.
Adam è un musicista di talento, profondamente depresso, fragile e annoiato della sua immortalità. Eve, invece, è una donna vivace e di mentalità aperta, orgogliosa del suo status di vampiro. Nonostante queste differenze, la coppia vive da secoli la sua storia ed è disturbata solo dall'arrivo improvviso di Ava, la selvaggio sorella minore di Eve. Il caos scatenato dal comportamento irresponsabile di Ava costringe Adam e Eve ad una pericolosa fuga e a fa riemergere la loro natura animalesca.
Il film, che ha non ha molta azione, è un viaggio notturno nei pensieri e nei sentimenti dei protagonisti. Al loro peregrinare è abbinata una magnifica colonna sonora che unisce grandi classici del rock degli anni ’50 e ’60 e brani realizzati espressamente per il film. Ottimi gli attori, che hanno reso veramente credibili Adam e Eve in tutte le loro manifestazioni.
L’edizione in blu-ray per il mercato inglese contiene numerosi extra in più rispetto a quella italiana, come scene eliminate ed estese ed un lungo documentario 'dietro le quinte'. Vi sono poi le interviste con gli attori e i trailer, presenti pure nell'edizione italiana.
Un capolavoro per chi ama le ambientazioni gotiche e il cinema di Jarmusch.
Francesca
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tutto bene
Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on June 19, 2022
Tutto perfetto
viejecita
5.0 out of 5 stars
Todo
Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on April 27, 2022
La vi hace poco en alquiler , y me ha gustado tanto ( y eso que a ese director lo suelo evitar, que es demasiado "leído y escribido" para mí ), me ha gustado tanto, pues, que lo he comprado inmediatamente en BR.
Y en ese formato se disfruta más aún.
Y en ese formato se disfruta más aún.