A vampire movie directed by Jim Jarmusch? This question was asked by Jarmusch fans and vampire movie buffs in 2013, when ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘ was released on screens. The two categories of moviegoers who apparently do not seem to have much in common do not think I have special reasons for dissatisfaction. ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘ is really a vampire movie with characters and a story line that follows all the rules of the genre. Jarmusch‘s fans will find in the film the atmosphere of poetry and candor that they love in his films. Jim Jarmusch may have tried to broaden his regular circle of spectators, but he did not seek cheap success with ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘. Rather, I could say that the director has shown that he knows how to make a personal film, identifiable for his style, in a genre of popular cinema that is apparently far from his comfort zone. And we, the others, the cinema lovers who do not necessarily belong to any of the mentioned categories, we simply enjoy a beautiful film.
The heroes of the film, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), are a couple of vampires in love. It is not clear if they are really ‘The’ Adam and Eve, but it is certain that they have been on Earth’s face long enough, for example, to have been present and involved in the writing of ‘Hamlet’. Actually their more mature friend, also a vampire, is called Marlowe (John Hurt). As one of the secrets of vampire permanence is discretion, the two lead ordinary lives, to the extent that vampires can lead ordinary lives, and even feed on blood from the (increasingly contaminated) hospital supplies. Eve lives in Tangier, Tom in ruined Detroit, where he deals with retro music (being a composer, a great lover of guitars and old records). The idyll between the two has an allure of sophisticated and decadent intellectualism, sprinkled with cultural references from the music of the ’60s going back to the Middle Ages. The intrusion into their lives of Ave (Mia Wasikowska), Eve’s sister, a teenage and somewhat reckless vampire, blows up the comfortable and discreet arrangement of the two vampires’ lives in the ruins of Detroit.
Can a vampire movie say more about America today, about the state of the planet, or about the underground culture than dozens of political movies? Jim Jarmusch proves that the answer is yes. ‘Only Lovers Left Alive‘ is a delicious movie to watch, full of cultural and historical references, with a selected and significant soundtrack. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are perfectly distributed and melt with obvious pleasure in their roles. The story is thin, but it is only a pretext. The characters and the atmosphere around them matter much more. Jim Jarmusch‘s vampires are a superior race of tender beings who transmit to us, the spectators, something of their tenderness.