Only Lovers Left Alive

If Jim Jarmusch’s languorous, laconic style isn’t your bag, his stone-faced vampire comedy won’t make you a believer. Those who’ve already been bitten, however, will swoon like the film’s toothy leads whenever their lips touch neck juice.

Do I detect a note of self-satire in Jarmusch’s undead? I’d like to think he’s poking fun at his own stylized, white-boy cool. But underneath, of course, he’s deadly serious. A ruined metropolis, a snatch of dialogue about coming water wars, a poisoned blood supply: The garden of Adam and Eve is despoiled beyond remedy. This is a charming dirge, though.

Only Lovers is so fluidly edited and thinly plotted that it feels almost off-hand; yet, it’s also made with great care, beautifully lit and set-designed to an eyelash.

The unhurried film is a beauty. Shooting digitally — a first for Jarmusch and a paradox for a movie that so ardently celebrates the artisanal — cinematographer Yorick Le Saux uses nocturnal lighting to eloquent effect. The titular lovers are beauties too, soulful and captivating. Swinton and Hiddleston make their love story one for the ages.

Disarmingly direct and charmingly directed; it’s a bona fide love story, if an exhausted and occasionally thin one.

Legendary hipster filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s wryly funny exercise in genre bending hits so many grace notes it ends up being his most satisfying film in years.

Only Lovers Left Alive is simply dead, an exercise in style, bland humor and vague gesture that yet seems to have been made in the naive expectation of a conventional response - that is, of an audience's actually caring.

Only Lovers Left Alive is probably the first realistic movie about vampires, creatures that can live for hundreds of years and drink human blood (rhesus negative preferably). They are smart, talented, they know a lot, they admire science, they have a sense of class, but they have their own problems specific to their lifestyle and needs. Both the choice of actors and the way they act are amazing, especially Tilda Swinton, who is a natural "born to be a vampire". The movie brings a very deep atmosphere with both music and decorations. The movie also addresses certain social issues such as the issue of "zombies" or I would say morons in the world around us and the limitedness of our natural resources. The appearance of the vampire sister of the main protagonist somewhat mocks all those other vampire movies by showing us a comparison between the really profound and realistic vampires presented by Jarmusch and their somewhat boring and mentally limited classic counterparts from movies like the Twilight. 10 out of 10.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

While the shots, scenes, characters are all terribly wonderful, it's also rather boring and at times way too slowly paced. Surely there's deeper ideas behind the conversations and comments of the ancient and wise characters, but I was yawning more than once. Rather unfortunate while otherwise it was a great experience and beautifully made.

Some style but overall it's self-indulgent hipster name checking. It comes off as Jamursch hiring two great British actors to lounge around and talk about his favorite records and books. So instead of a compelling story and character journey we are basically hanging out in the dusty living room of hipster vampires where we can admire their (and by extension, Jamrusch's) music, instrument, and book collection. Someone should have told Jim that it takes a little more than that to tell a compelling story. **** and self-indulgent.

Avoid this movie! I really like the actors and they are wasted on this farce of a movie. Nothing happens in the movie, the third act is total **** after another character f&cks things up for our vampires. And when I say nothing happens, there's just nothing to see.