Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton play Adam and Eve, two estranged vampires drifting back into each other's lives. Adam is a rock star falling prey to both celebrity fatigue and weltschmerz, and calls for help. Swinton is great to watch as she sweetly tries to add levity to his life while fending off the rapacious Ava (a wonderfully kooky Mia Wasikowska). Anton Yelchin is Ian, a loyal, naïve and remarkably resourceful PA/confidant for Adam (“whatever you need, man, just ask”); his screen time is woefully inadequate. Together they drive through a decaying Detroit, shot beautifully under Yorick Le Saux's yellow-green lens.
At first blush, Only Lovers Left Alive may seem cold, and those not familiar with the occasionally glacial pace of Jim Jarmusch's oeuvre will be challenged by its stubborn refusal to move its own plot forward (what little there is). It's a film preoccupied with itself, much like its central characters who have lived for so long time is no longer important.
The 'vampire as aesthete' idea is not original, but with subtle changes made to traditional vampire mythology and tired cinematic ideas on the subject being largely ignored, Jarmusch's fairy tale feels fresh and sometimes fun, and is covered in his fingerprints.
This is a recommended return to form after the disappointing The Limits Of Control, and feels like a nice coda to the current wave of Vampire Cinema.
In cinemas 17 Apr
