If there is one genre that has been overdone even more than comic book heroes in recent years, it is vampires, both on TV and in film. Jim Jarmusch’s new film, Only Lovers Left Alive, breathes a little life into the subject matter but it was ultimately a cold and disappointing experience for me, like so many of his films before with the notable exception of Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai.
Tom Hiddlestone and the excellent Tilda Swinton play vampires, Adam and Eve, who have maintained a relationship across the centuries despite spending long periods apart. Despite the usual restrictions of their lifestyles, Eve still seems to find happiness in her existence but Adam is growing increasingly despondent, which becomes apparent to Eve when she travels to the US to see him.
As you would expect, this is a stylish film with some pleasurable features. As well as Swinton’s performance, Jeffery Wright amuses as a doctor who supplies Adam with fresh blood, referring to non vampires as zombies is interesting and the music by Jozef Van Wissem fits the woozy mood of the movie very well.
However, the film did fail to take off properly. There is too much clunky dialogue, such as the name dropping of famous poets and scientists and a clichéd and pointless exchange about Marlowe writing the plays attributed to Shakespeare. Other unnecessary scenes include a tour of Detroit that seems to serve no purpose other than to clumsily shoe horn in a reference to Jack White.
In the end, I found the film mostly frustrating and lacking in purpose and originality.
Rating: 5 out of 10