At first glance, Only Lovers Left Alive seems like a stupid movie. The plot summary reads like the back cover of a Stephanie Meyer novel: two ancient vampire lovers, one a cosmopolitan intellectual and the other a sadsack recluse, reunite after years apart, only to be antagonized by a wacky younger sister. However, due to the exceptional talents of both the cast and writer/director Jim Jarmusch, the film rises above its clichéd story elements to become an incredibly engaging tale of love that survives eons.
Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton star as “Adam” and “Eve,” the aforementioned bloodsucking couple – although bloodsucking may not be the correct term, as they’ve found other means of satisfying their thirst. A contamination in the blood supply prompts “Ava” (Mia Wasikowska), Eve’s little sister, to crash the lovers’ party, and hijinks ensue.
Although Jarmusch’s direction does wonders for the film, contrasting the smallness of Adam and Eve’s secluded lives with the grand dilapidation of postindustrial Detroit and exotic Tangiers, it is in his writing that the story really shines. The script is rife with references, from Shakespeare to the Bible to classic rock, effortlessly combining humor with epic tragedy.
Swinton and Hiddleston have magnetic chemistry. They manage to create thousands of years of intimacy within minutes, and they manage to make natural the slow, deliberate pace that Jarmusch sets for them. Wasikowska plays the perfect monkey wrench thrown into Adam and Eve’s master plan, balancing their restraint with exuberant obnoxiousness.
Only Lovers Left Alive takes back the vampire genre from such dreck as the Twilight series and Dark Shadows. It may fly over the heads of squealing preteens, but those with more mature tastes – and the patience to decipher all the references – will find it a bloody good time.
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