GUEST REVIEW: Morgan Fee
Jim Jarmusch’s latest film Only Lovers Left Alive breathes a new air of cool into the somewhat tired vampire genre. The film follows Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) – a couple who have been together for untold centuries drinking not only the blood of humans but the fruits of the greatest artistic endeavours. Both ooze with sophistication and refinement, fuelled by a strong sense of enduring love for each other and the pursuit of beauty in art.
Adam has become somewhat of a recluse, making music, leaving the house only to collect blood. Significantly he has chosen Detroit as the site of his hermitage and its deteriorated beauty is the perfect backdrop for the cruel passage of time. Adam is a product of our age – a cynical misanthrope whose faith in the human race is severely waning. Eve, by comparison, has an inspiring enthusiasm for life, ferociously consuming literature and nurturing friendship in Tangiers.
Nothing major really happens in the film, which is perhaps what renders it so artful. Unlike Hollywood blockbusters, Only Lovers Left Alive is not afraid to pause and revel in the still beauty of a moment, crucially accompanied by a haunting soundtrack. There is a clear feeling that this snippet of time in Adam and Eve’s world is just that, a piece of a much larger chronicle charting the peaks and troughs of human history. While other vampire characters are motivated by a thwarted love or their sources of survival, what is so charming about Adam and Eve is their principal passions for the artistry of human striving and each other.
3.5 Stars
