Only Lovers Left Alive [DVD] [2014]

As a fan of anything that kicks you off kilter, I loved the meandering storyline punctuated by black humour, and the clever social commentary that runs through this movie. What Only Lovers Left Alive does is to conjure up a fresh take on Vampire mythology, adding in a few rewrites along the way. I loved the social elements that Jim Jarmusch has added, such as how they consume blood almost ritualistically from a stemmed liqueur glass, the fact they cannot enter each others homes without being invited and the wearing of gloves in public. If you are a fan of all aspects of 'Vampire', this will prove an enjoyable outing, If however you are looking for a Vampire flick that fits into a well worn mold then this is not for you. As the director Jim Jarmusch has mentioned in many interviews, this is a love story that just happens to have vampires as the main characters. His vampires are intellectual idealists, aloof to mankind because having lived so many years they have seen all our failings, again and again.The story is anything but a thoughtless tale, best described as how we deal with all the questions that being human creates and how we survive those questions. In this case the protagonists also deal with being trapped in a world governed by humans who are abusing the Earth and polluting their blood, not learning from the past because they have not personally lived it. The upside is that in this rather depressing material there is a great deal of subtle and very clever wit; and of course two wholly engaging and delightfully portrayed protagonists: Adam and Eve.***** Please Note The Following Contains Spoilers *****At the centre of this modern day fable are Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and his wife Eve (Tilda Swinton) who are the ubiquitous vampires. Although never fully explained they are separated by distance, he living in Detroit and she in Tangier, but also by their philosophies and view on life. They have been married at least three times to each other, always holding fast to their relationship over the centuries.Adam is a rather melancholy character, dressed in black like a decaying rockstar, intensely antisocial but creatively driven with a penchant for collecting musical instruments. His abode echoes his personality perfectly, a derelict house in the abandoned suburbs of Detroit, filled with books and musical equipment, half destroyed internal walls and general detritus of a long and secluded life. He is woeful for the destruction of the planet at the hands of humans (who he refers to as Zombies) and being a generally morose character he gets ideas it may be time to exit his life. Fortunately Eve calls him and agrees to leave her Tangiers home to try and elevate his mood, which she has obviously had to do before. Her life is vividly contrasting to Adam's as is her appearance. Pale haired and clothed in light colours and red, she is a calm, logical and optimistic being who sees the beauty in life. You could say she is the Yang to her husbands Yin. With the reunion of these two the story kicks off, or should I say starts to smoulder, because this is anything but an action filled, bloodlust vampiric movie. It is however a thoughtful dialogue on the meaning of life, love and how your attitude to it governs exactly what you get out of it. Which is interesting because that also sums up how you relate to the movie.All is going well until Eva (Mia Wasikowska), Eve's sister, turns up. She is an insatiable, unstable and intrusive element in Adam and Eve's reunion. She embodies all the elements of Vampirism that her 'family' have let go. After a night out she inevitably behaves badly (in what you could see coming a mile off) by drinking Adam's human 'friend', which provides more black humour. Especially when she complains she feels sick, to which Eve replies "what do you expect, he's in the music industry". After this point the couple flee Detroit for Tangiers and Only Lovers Left Alive starts descending into a disappointing anti-climax last third, which is only lifted by John Hurt as Christopher Marlow, and a 'toothy' endingAlthough the movie could be called slow and almost drawn out, it is mirroring what living centuries could feel like. What keeps the movie light is it being peppered with lots of black humour. The wooden bullet, an unfortunate death of a 'friend', the procuring of blood and numerous other incidents are subtle but undeniably funny. My favourite scene is where Eve presents Adam with a frozen blood lolly. The shameless name dropping of important people from the past and many social references also lighten the mood and balance out the flavour of the film. As mentioned, the story does move slowly and unfortunately begins to drag like a corpse behind a grave robber towards the end, but the final shot nails home the the message behind it all. Life continues, whatever we may think.Visually the cinematography and locations are stunning, the views down on many scenes seem to reinforce the idea that eventhough the protagonists are immortal they are still very small in the scheme of things. I especially enjoyed the shots of the decaying theatre now car park, the Tangier sets and the landscape of the abandoned centre of Detroit. The images are made all the more beautiful and strange for being shot entirely at night. As for the interiors I loved Adams house with its antiquated technology (the scene where Eve calls him on her iPhone is genius) and feeling that it is a bastion of lost ideals in a world that has run away with itself. The cold desolate feel of abandoned America plays well against the warm, earthy and enduring sense of Morocco. What also needs to be mentioned is how much music features in the movie, not only because Adam is a musician, but also as a character in it's own right. A mixture of North African, Motown and music by Sqürl (Jarmusch's band), it reinforces the emotions of the story perfectly, without this soundtrack the movie would have been far different and less effecting.As for the actors, Tilda Swinton steals every scene. Her graceful portrayal of an ageless and elegant mind is superb. Tom Hiddleston, as usual, proves he can turn his hand to almost any part. He shines as the world weary musician torn between wanting to leave his mark on the world, but also to keep his anonymity. The interaction between the two actors is the centre of the movie and makes it all the more fun to watch. Mia Wasikovska is suitably annoying and vivacious as Eva, but John Hurt as Christopher Marlow was as always fabulous.As a thoughtful piece of cinema which provokes you to delve deeper about the meaning of human existence, Only Lovers Left Alive ticks every box. As an engaging story it misses the mark a little, and as a well paced piece of drama it fails a bit more. But as an overall ensemble you can forgive it it's flaws. For me it was outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable, having now seen it four times I can say it just gets better and better. It will easily become a cult classic if it hasn't already. Just leave your preconceptions, and misconceptions, at the door.Thanks for reading!

Fast delivery, item as described

I don't know how I missed this one at the cinema, and only found out about it from a review of 2014's films. I would watch anything made by Jim Jarmusch and any film starring Tilda Swinton (I am Love, Orlando and even The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe!) so, to have a film involving both of these superb artists is a must-see. In fact, considering the left field approach of both Jarmusch and Swinton, I'm amazed that a colaboration like this was so long in coming. And to cast Swinton as a centuries old vampire is a stroke of genious. I've not seen any of Tom Hiddleston's films (and looking at his filmography I'm unlikely ever to). Absurd though the notion of the existance of vampires is, the depiction of Adam and Eve, along with John Hurt as Christopher Marlowe (who wrote all of Shakespeare's plays) as world-weary, immensely knowledgeable, deeply-in-love, vampires who have eschewed traditional blood-sucking for buying bags of blood, from crooked doctors, which they drink from vintage port glasses is so convincing. Adam's run-down house in Detroit is full of his own inventions, developed over hundreds of years, and even his old Jaguar XJS is powered by what seems like a kind of jet turbine engine. (When he takes Eve for a drive around Detroit he casually points out the house where Jack White lives!) The whole film exudes languid cool and the characters' resignation to their eternal existence in the shadows is wonderfully portrayed. A film I shall watch over and over. The sountrack is excellent, too, as is the album by Yasmine Hamdan, who features in the film ,both of which I subsequently bought.

Amazingly atmospheric version of "Hal" by Yasmine Hamdan towards the end of this otherwise so, so film, but introduced me to this fantastic group and singer from Lebanon.

It's not often that a film as unusual as this comes along, and by saying unusual I certainly don't mean it in a bad way.I have been a fan of Tom Hiddleston for years and have seen every film he has been in. To be honest I probably wouldn't have known about this without being a fan of Tom Hiddleston. I am so glad I managed to see it with it's very limited cinema release in the UK and I can't wait to have a copy on dvd.The soundtrack is incredible and one of the films highlights. It's not often a film comes with a great soundtrack, screenplay as well as phenomenal acting by everyone involved, not to mention the interesting filming locations.After seeing Only Lovers Left Alive just once I could not get the story out of my head.The film has had mixed reviews and is a movie you will either love or hate depending on how much patience you have. I loved the slow pace of the film and I found it fascinating following Adam and Eve through a very small part of their long long lives. I found it beautiful to watch how in love they are with each other, despite all the other stuff in the world which they shut themselves off to.The casting for this film is spot on. Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt and Tom Hiddleston who fits into the roll of a suicidal, underground rockstar, vampire perfectly.Buy this on dvd and you might just fall in love with this story as much as I did!!

La vi hace poco en alquiler , y me ha gustado tanto ( y eso que a ese director lo suelo evitar, que es demasiado "leído y escribido" para mí ), me ha gustado tanto, pues, que lo he comprado inmediatamente en BR.Y en ese formato se disfruta más aún.

I know, I know... There is a lot of vampire thingy going down since the last 20 years. But this one deserves its five stars.Maybe even more because it has to sail in a world that has forgotten the Gothic romance that goes from immortality. (And who could blame them with all the mainstreaming that has followed it?)This is way more Anne Rice than Twilight, let me assure you.And frankly, it achieve the thing most important to any movie about immortals, they do feel OLD.It's in the details, in the rhythm, its everywhere. When a couple know so much about each other that they can live on either side of the world and still feel close; when 10 years after doesn't need a hello but is just the continuation of an old conversation between lovers...Indeed, when "Only Lovers Left Alive".These are not blissfully young forever empty shells... These are rich and complex people that are tired to be experts at everything, but still manage to find beauty in the arts and each other.And that's something this movie does not lack either. From the haunting soundtrack to the blissfully colourful and richly detailed nightscapes, this little gem is just hypnotic enough that you might finally get to feel the vampire's seduction. The security of an old friend, and familiarity of a known touch in a world reborn too many times.(I'm speaking from experience here, my wife didn't wanted to get near anything vampire related but she still got entrapped, sat, and enjoyed the experience.)Thank you movie, for making vampires believable again.

I originally wrote this for my blog, Indepedent Ethos. But I love this movie so much, I want to share my POV here: Only Lovers Left Alive, the long-awaited vampire drama by Jim Jarmusch, has to be one of the better date movies I've seen in a long time. There is something beautiful yet romantically slippery about the exquisitely matured bond between the vampire couple at the heart of the film. Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) may be the first vampires of time immemorial. With so many centuries behind them, Jarmusch, who also wrote the script, presents this couple as the antithesis to the naive lovers in the Twilight Saga.Stunningly stylish from beginning to end, Jarmusch treats the idea of long-surviving/suffering vampires in only the way he can, with brilliant wit and heartfelt respect. Beyond jokes like the characters' names, Jarmusch profoundly considers the effects of immortality on the minds of these creatures, both positively and negatively. Eve can speed read Infinite Jest, and thoughtful Adam tends to agree with Einstein’s critique of quantum mechanics: "Spooky Action At a Distance." She lives more in the moment, taking up residence in an opium den in Tangiers and in the company of Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt) who apparently faked his death in 1593 to carry on living as a vampire (he's still bitter about Shakespeare). Meanwhile, Adam languishes in a big old house in the appropriately ghostly city of Detroit. He surrounds himself with dated electronics and uses rare instruments to compose experimental music on reel-to-reel tape to be released on limited edition 180 gram vinyl with no label. To stay in touch with Adam, Eve uses Facetime on her iPhone while Adam uses a low-resolution webcam attached to a PC tower.As with any romance movies involving mature individuals, love can get complicated, even with this decidedly progressive couple. Over the ages, Adam and Eve have developed a becalmed relationship. They don't raise their voices at each other and despite the huge geographic gulf and differing lifestyles, their affection for one another does not waver. Still, a sort of tired undercurrent runs below the surface of their relationship despite a magnetism of shared experiences and an emotional investment that goes back centuries. They don't just have chemistry, they have a fusion as deep as old bones calcifying to become one. They are old souls incarnate.Ultimately, Adam's loneliness becomes palatable to Eve from across the globe, and she books a red-eye to fly to Detroit. He's gone a tad mad and depressed, turning into a hoarder of sorts. Once at the cluttered mansion, Eve stumbles across a wooden bullet Adam had obtained from his human connection to the black market, Ian (Anton Yelchin). It upsets Eve with a quiet frustration, yet she handles it delicately, recognizing it as a call for attention more than a threat. The real kink comes in the unexpected arrival of Eve's younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska), who must have turned undead before her frontal lobe had fully developed. She's the most troublesome of the quartet. While the other vamps prefer anonymity, Ava's rather reckless. Wasikowska plays her with a wide-eyed precocious smile. She's like a mischievous elf hiding in the shadows ready to pounce for a prank, albeit a deadly kind. Her character adds a colorful bit of comic relief to the mostly purposely dour proceedings."only lovers left alive"Still, all of the film's characters are a delight, even if the film's plot is spare and ambling. As it is with most Jarmusch films, it's all about the dynamics between the characters, and he keeps the narrative focused on the nighttime activities of the vamps. The entire movie appropriately unfolds in the shadows, against a perpetual nocturnal backdrop. Cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, working with Jarmusch for the first time, delivers varying scenes using diverse degrees of focus and colored filters for different shades of atmosphere.It's all about the vampires in Only Lovers Left Alive, and they are ironically soulful characters. Humanity has somehow lost touch with slowing down and savoring life, unlike these undead culture vultures. Jarmusch places humans in the periphery. Some human characters are only shadows in the distance. "only lovers left alive"They roam the world on a diet of junk food and junk culture to the point that their blood has grown literally unpalatable to the vampires. Adam and Eve don't dare bite anyone's neck for fear of contamination by impure blood. Instead, they look for pure Type O-negative on the black market to sip out of sherry glasses. The vampires don't even refer to mortals as human. Instead, they call them "zombies."The film's score and musical sequences deserve highlighting, beginning with the sumptuously absorbing score by lute player Jozef van Wissem backed by Jarmusch's very own band SQÜRL. The opening scene introducing us to the vampires is a brilliant montage featuring a perpetually rotating camera, turning the image around the screen at what seems to be 33 rpm--- the speed of a record player. The detailed art design, augmented with beguiling costumes, all twirling 'round can feel dizzying. The sensation is heightened further with the growling vocals of Cults' Madeline Follin covering Wanda Jackson's "Funnel Of Love" and the super-delayed echoing of a blues-infused electric guitar weaving around a stomping, slow beat, which is occasionally accented with a single ringing chime. It's a bit of sensory overload, but it captivates all the same. The sequence could work brilliantly as a music video alone.It's not the only time music takes over for narrative of Only Lovers Left Alive in enchanting ways. When the vampires satisfy their thirsts, they act as if they are slipping away into an opiate high. The shallow focus of the scene allows their faces to drift away into blurs, fangs exposed, maws bloody and half-agape. The scene is scored with Wissem lazily dragging a melody across his multi-stringed instrument, varying each refrain with a high note and a low note. Below, a guitar squeals a low, wash of feedback. It's an enthralling moment, which delightfully recurs once more during the course of the film.But the film is filled with many more delightful scenes, as it strides along at a relaxed pace that never tries the audience's patience, despite its two-hour-plus duration. Clearly, Jarmusch has spent a lot of time thinking about his version of the vampire. Even when they are troubled, like Adam, or deviant, like Ava, they remain interesting and even endearing. With Only Lovers Left Alive, Jarmusch has created a rich world that also provides a witty jab to the immature, pop-culture obsessed consumer who does not seem to know how to stop and savor the more complex arts. Yet, Jarmusch is not above offering a bit of self-deprecating critique back at his over-seriousness as channeled by these vampires. Despite its quirks, Only Lovers stands as one of his greatest and still entertaining personal statements in a long time.--Hans Morgenstern

El transfer de la película es de muy buena calidad, y los extras de la película valen muchísimo la pena.

主役のお二人が、とにかく素敵です！ストーリーも素敵ですが、アダムとイブの人物像に心惹かれます。Amazonビデオでの購入と悩みましたが、インタビューもついてるし、手元においておきたくて購入しました。大満足です！