Review of Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) by Jenna L — 23 Feb 2014

There's a lot to this film I liked but there was so much potential for a stronger plot and pithier dialogue. It's long, pretentious, protracted and kinda dull and boring.

Right, spoiler blah...Eve (Swinton) decides to visit her husband (Adam) as they are both vampires, and he is getting noticeably depressed. She tries to get to get him back to enjoying life again. This is only a vampire movie in the very thinnest sense, mind. Kit (Hurt) is Eve's best friend and supportive of the two.

There are some great shots of scenery outside and the interiors of their homes. An interesting question was posed was; what would you do with your time if you lived for hundreds of years. You get to see the protagonsists' individual choices, which I thought interesting. However I thought they could have given a fuller answer to this than having the duo drive around the derelict sites of Detroit for a large part of the movie. Nice shots of Tangiers to contrast this, to be sure.

I thought this film was too much about the cinematography, endless name dropping of pop culture- and literary references and the couple in love shuffling down the streets of Detroit and Tangiers. There were complaints voiced about the state of the 21st century, which I agreed with, but this got heavily laboured in the film. This did sound a bit petulant after a while.

All in all an interesting film, but it dragged towards the end, and I thought there was too much emphasis on pretty pictures and bitching about historical figures, rather than delving into what the characters have done with their time and what they expect of an immortal life. This was done better in films like Highlander and the Hunger. So yes, very pretty but where's the plot?