Review of Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) by Isaac B — 02 Dec 2015

I would describe Only Lovers Left Alive more as an art piece rather than your conventional film. As you can see by my 4 star rating, this is not a bad thing. Only Lovers Left Alive has so many aspects pushing this film forward.

The script is phenomenal and completely unique compared to all other vampire movies. There was a subtle comedic element that made the film much more enjoyable and realistic. Jim Jarmusch really poked fun in that this was a vampire movie, using this to his advantage comically.

The acting is top of the game making it hard to believe Tilda Swinton isn't actually a vampire. Tom Hiddleston without a doubt takes the cake though. His portrayal of Adam raises the bar for Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen and this is a bar I will happily bet he can never reach.

The music fit perfectly with the vibe of the movie and I was pleasantly surprised to find out Jim Jarmusch's band SQÜRL was primarily responsible for the soundtrack.

Above all, my favorite feature of the film is its cinematography, beautifully done by Yorick Le Saux. Beautiful is quite the understatement in fact. Yorick's style played a huge part in my comment of this movie feeling more like an art piece. The shots lingered with realism, capturing every moment in a conversation. If I were to pause the movie at any moment I'd have myself a better wallpaper than most found online.

Some of the longer shots did somewhat factor into my negatives for the film. There were several scenes where either Hiddleston's character Adam was playing music or someone else was found singing in a restaurant and these scenes lasted for what felt like the full length of the songs (3-5 minutes). Again, this is key in the art style nevertheless, judging strictly on the morals of a film, this took away from its rewatchability factor. These moments were where I found myself most tired beginning to lose focus. I would never ask of Jim Jarmusch to take away what makes him Jim Jarmusch but I do think these moments could have had a minute or even two taken away and still had the same effect.

Another aspect of Only Lovers Left Alive is that there is not much of a structured plot. Yes, things happen, things go wrong, but you don't see any large character arcs, any resolution to any problems raised, or the film ever reaching full circle. Although a negative in terms of following the traditional movie structure, in my book, I actually loved this. If it were done wrong, The movie would probably have been forgotten by now but Jim Jarmusch handled this decision with such care and pulled it off so smoothly that it only added to the films underlying story.

If you love movies and especially if you love art and the crafting of a story, 100% check this out. It's slow but worth it. I would also be doing a disservice if I did not quickly touch on how blood is used by the characters. I wouldn't want to ruin it for you so I will leave you with just saying, its fantastic. The first scene where you get a glimpse of this might be one of the best cinematic moments in recent years. Based off of the audience rating above, clearly this is a better one to watch without any expectation or any idea of what you'll see like myself. I think you will enjoy either way but if you have yet to watch the trailer, skip it and go straight to the feature. Enjoy.