Only Lovers Left AliveChange can scare even the darkest hearts. Just imagine how terrifying it would be to an immortal. Only Lovers Left Alive is a gothic romance about a pair of centuries-old vampires, humorously named "Adam" (Tom Hiddleston) and "Eve" (Tilda Swinton). Although forced by nature to be somewhat reclusive, Adam has become introverted to the extreme, allowing only a single fan of his music named Ian (Anton Yelchin) to procure odds and ends for him, like vintage guitars, while he holes up in his house in an abandoned Detroit slum. His wife, Eve, comes to visit him from Tangier, a reunion of two souls for whom time has stopped having any meaning.
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If Only Lovers Left Alive were made at the height of the "goth" subculture movement of the Eighties, it wouldn't have surprised me, which speaks volumes to the film's tone and understanding its characters. Adam certainly looks like he would have been a contemporary of Joy Division or The Cure, and the music he privately composes in his old Victorian home would have fit the era enormously. He is a walking embodiment of ennui, but it's less tiresome for the audience than it sounds. He is haunted, in that Anne Rice vampire kind of way; not because of any urge to imbibe blood--which for reasons of practicality he buys off of a medical professional called "Dr. Watson" (Jeffrey Wright)--but because he has become old...an old soul to be accurate. Only Lovers Left Alive is gleefully ambiguous about when it was that Adam was "turned", but one suspects that it was Eve who did it to him, as she acts and appears older than he. He decries how humanity--who he calls "zombies" with no small amount of derision--has destroyed the greatness of the past. Eve asks him about his "scientists", and one wonders if Adam was a contributor to their efforts. He lists them off as though they were his idols, since smashed to pieces by the ignorant throngs who survived them. I can almost picture Adam sitting on his porch in a rocking chair, shouting at those darned kids to "get off my lawn". What's funny is that Adam and Eve are easier to forgive for their curmudgeonly attitudes toward "kids today" because they ooze mystique. In keeping with expectations cultured about vampires throughout fiction, they are stylish, urbane, and charismatic despite themselves. Everyone loves a sexy vampire, because that's how they entice their victims to let them sink their teeth into you. This is why when Eve's sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska), crashes their reunion, she is immediately detestable; not just because she came uninvited, but because she is young and trashy. We sympathize with the moody yet sensitive Adam and his rational and caring wife, Eve, because they are mature; Ava is not. She dresses like a party girl, and selfishly pilfers Adam's secret stash of type-O negative blood. (Incidentally, the absence of any music from Type O Negative on the film's soundtrack is a grave oversight. Pardon the pun.) Adam and Eve are vampires who have seen kingdoms rise and fall, peoples vanish, and works of art crafted before their eyes. It's almost paradoxical to see Eve with an iPhone in her hand Skype calling Adam, who has rigged together a cathode ray tube television set on his end so that he can do the same with her. They have retreated to remote locales; they aren't just creatures of the night, they are introverts for whom society has become a liability. Even when they are starving, they only turn to feeding on isolated humans out of necessity, because as Eve puts it, to do so is "so 15th century".
Like many films by Jim Jarmusch, Only Lovers Left Alive isn't a morality tale; it is almost the antithesis of one. Characters just occupy their places in the world and we as the audience observe them and draw our own conclusions. We begin to understand that there are rules and a way of doing things in the life of a vampire, because Ava defies these rules and the consequences are problematic for Adam and Eve; but ultimately, they are all bloodsuckers. Also, over decades of stories about these nocturnal undead, we have our own preexisting expectations about vampires, and this film relies on its audience being informed to appreciate its humor. (Heck, I actually thought that Adam would have worn a badge at the hospital that said "Dr. Acula" instead of "Dr. Faust", but I suppose that would have been too on the nose.) Adam and Eve have lived so long that there isn't any concept of "sin" or "guilt" anymore; they simply are what they are, but do not endanger themselves by acting like monsters. More than anything, the vampires of Only Lovers Left Alive remind me more of cats than bats. Just consider the awkward positions Adam and Eve sleep in on their bed, and ask yourself if you haven't seen cats sleeping the same way. Furthermore, cats are both predators and prey; much is the same for these two who can no longer just drink dry a straggler in an alley. That's because police investigations and forensics are far more sophisticated than they were in the Jack the Ripper days. Also, it is suggested that vampires in this movie are essentially a dying breed. Really, there are but four in the movie--that we know of--including Eve's contact for her sanguine supply in Tangier, who is apparently none other than a contemporary of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt). This adds a metaphorical aspect to that familiar vulnerability of vampires: exposure to sunlight. To make themselves visible as vampires is to invite destruction, which means that despite appearances, these vampires still fear death (or obliteration, at least). Adam has chosen Detroit for his hideaway, and as he and Eve drive through its empty streets replete with abandoned industry and homes, it is clear why a vampire would choose to make his home in such a deserted wasteland; there's little shortage of privacy. But it also highlights that Adam has given up on finding joy in anything but himself. It's a surprise at all that he even lets Ian into his home, except that Ian is clearly skilled at procuring vintage guitars--more relics from the past, like Adam. Only Lovers Left Alive is something of a love letter to goth fans, and yet ironically, a sly criticism for those who have since become the establishment with time. The film's title is taken from the novel of the same name, but they have nothing else in common. The book was a counter-culture dystopian story, but the film is almost the opposite in how it views our heroes (antiheroes?), decrying the young generation as little more than stupid children that they have to suffer. So audiences of Only Lovers Left Alive will likely draw immediate comparisons between the way Adam and Eve dress, how they talk, the music the listen to, and more with that now bygone era of The Velvet Underground and copious black eyeliner. Their time has come, and Adam at least resents it, leaving Eve responsible for comforting her gloomy husband and keep him from shooting himself with a cocobolo bullet he has Ian bring him. Yet their reunion isn't one born from some old wounds, but as immortals who just needed to spread their wings (figuratively speaking, since they never take flight in this movie). When they reunite, their love is full and real. They are soulmates reunited, reminding me a bit of Ingmar Bergman's Saraband. Even as the world falls down around them, they have each other, because they don't have anyone else.
Recommended for: Fans of a touching romance that just so happens to be about a couple of aged vampires, and also for anyone who grew up with Bauhaus or the like on their turntables, right next to their copy of "Interview with the Vampire". Only Lovers Left Alive is like a warm dram of ichor--soothing and nostalgic--while at the same time a darkly comic deconstruction of the vampire movie. (Did I say "ichor", and not mulled wine? Am I getting too into the movie? Dunno...my teeth do feel a bit pointy...)
Like many films by Jim Jarmusch, Only Lovers Left Alive isn't a morality tale; it is almost the antithesis of one. Characters just occupy their places in the world and we as the audience observe them and draw our own conclusions. We begin to understand that there are rules and a way of doing things in the life of a vampire, because Ava defies these rules and the consequences are problematic for Adam and Eve; but ultimately, they are all bloodsuckers. Also, over decades of stories about these nocturnal undead, we have our own preexisting expectations about vampires, and this film relies on its audience being informed to appreciate its humor. (Heck, I actually thought that Adam would have worn a badge at the hospital that said "Dr. Acula" instead of "Dr. Faust", but I suppose that would have been too on the nose.) Adam and Eve have lived so long that there isn't any concept of "sin" or "guilt" anymore; they simply are what they are, but do not endanger themselves by acting like monsters. More than anything, the vampires of Only Lovers Left Alive remind me more of cats than bats. Just consider the awkward positions Adam and Eve sleep in on their bed, and ask yourself if you haven't seen cats sleeping the same way. Furthermore, cats are both predators and prey; much is the same for these two who can no longer just drink dry a straggler in an alley. That's because police investigations and forensics are far more sophisticated than they were in the Jack the Ripper days. Also, it is suggested that vampires in this movie are essentially a dying breed. Really, there are but four in the movie--that we know of--including Eve's contact for her sanguine supply in Tangier, who is apparently none other than a contemporary of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt). This adds a metaphorical aspect to that familiar vulnerability of vampires: exposure to sunlight. To make themselves visible as vampires is to invite destruction, which means that despite appearances, these vampires still fear death (or obliteration, at least). Adam has chosen Detroit for his hideaway, and as he and Eve drive through its empty streets replete with abandoned industry and homes, it is clear why a vampire would choose to make his home in such a deserted wasteland; there's little shortage of privacy. But it also highlights that Adam has given up on finding joy in anything but himself. It's a surprise at all that he even lets Ian into his home, except that Ian is clearly skilled at procuring vintage guitars--more relics from the past, like Adam. Only Lovers Left Alive is something of a love letter to goth fans, and yet ironically, a sly criticism for those who have since become the establishment with time. The film's title is taken from the novel of the same name, but they have nothing else in common. The book was a counter-culture dystopian story, but the film is almost the opposite in how it views our heroes (antiheroes?), decrying the young generation as little more than stupid children that they have to suffer. So audiences of Only Lovers Left Alive will likely draw immediate comparisons between the way Adam and Eve dress, how they talk, the music the listen to, and more with that now bygone era of The Velvet Underground and copious black eyeliner. Their time has come, and Adam at least resents it, leaving Eve responsible for comforting her gloomy husband and keep him from shooting himself with a cocobolo bullet he has Ian bring him. Yet their reunion isn't one born from some old wounds, but as immortals who just needed to spread their wings (figuratively speaking, since they never take flight in this movie). When they reunite, their love is full and real. They are soulmates reunited, reminding me a bit of Ingmar Bergman's Saraband. Even as the world falls down around them, they have each other, because they don't have anyone else.
Recommended for: Fans of a touching romance that just so happens to be about a couple of aged vampires, and also for anyone who grew up with Bauhaus or the like on their turntables, right next to their copy of "Interview with the Vampire". Only Lovers Left Alive is like a warm dram of ichor--soothing and nostalgic--while at the same time a darkly comic deconstruction of the vampire movie. (Did I say "ichor", and not mulled wine? Am I getting too into the movie? Dunno...my teeth do feel a bit pointy...)