Only Lovers Left Alive

Synopsis: Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a reclusive rock star who is supplied with rare instruments by Ian (Anton Yelchin). Ian has no idea that Adam is a vampire, his quirks are pretty normal for a musician. Adam has a wife, Eve (Tilda Swinton), currently living in Tangiers with Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt). But then she flies across to Detroit to reunite with her love.

Vampires are pretty much played out these days. Tedious even. So it makes sense that Jim Jarmusch would approach the genre with a cool disinterest. Adam and Eve are bored, just passing the days. Adam is despairing of the “zombies”, i.e. the rest of us, destroying the world and our own bodies in the name of progress. Eve is more positive, but mainly thinks about past glories. Either way the world has moved on from them and they need to hide away. It’s an apt scenario given the exhausted nature of the vampire genre, but given that that exhaustion has long been common knowledge it’s also kinda pointless.

I have to admit, I was put offside pretty quickly, when we're introduced to John Hurt's Christopher Marlowe, a vampire who used William Shakespeare as a way to get his plays out without arousing suspicion that he might still be alive. I find the whole “Shakespeare didn’t write his own plays” conspiracy theory annoying. Sure it is used as a gag here but it's a tired gag and it's a gag that made me aware that Jarmusch is simply playing with surfaces and reflections of other things. There’s very little it can call its own. The reclusive rock star Adam is just a less energetic version of Anne Rice’s Lestat. His eternal love, Eve (Tilda Swinton), isn't much more original. The only sign of life in the entire film is Eve's sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska), who turns up briefly, creates some chaos and vanishes. She should be creating something that pushes the plot onwards but since there's no plot she's just a passing episode.

I have the idea that maybe Jarmusch, who also wrote the screenplay, thought of this as a supernatural version of Before Sunrise, but if that’s the case, it’s a bit dismal. But maybe that’s me. Do you like people wandering around the night talking about dead famous people as if they knew them? Or does it strike you as a bit of empty posturing and somewhat played out in the vampire film genre? And for a film that namechecks so many dead artists, how they managed to avoid mentioning any of the Beats while spending half the film in Tangiers has me completely bewildered.

Clearly I didn't think much of Jarmusch’s latest offering. It will appeal to those who like their films cool and languid. Or at least, prefer that description to Mel Gibson's famous "Boring as a dog's arse" comment in reference to The Million Dollar Hotel. It has its moments, but mostly it's a bit dull. A shame really, as it's very pretty to look at. But one thing you absolutely must do: buy the soundtrack, it’s gorgeous.

 

 

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