Directed by:
Jim JarmuschScreenplay:
Jim JarmuschCinematography:
Yorick Le SauxCast:
Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Anton Yelchin, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi, Georges Claisse (narrator), Aurélie Thépaut (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangier, an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them? (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
You see the posters, you've seen the movie. The beautifully framed shots with amazing mise-en-scene are considerably more than the whole more-or-less story with characters so impenetrable that no one even wants to penetrate them. The sad kind of movie that if it wasn't dutifully artsy, lyrical, and independent, it would have been 45 minutes shorter and at least respectable. That said, it's funny how what the film really lacks most is what's often picked on in Czech films, the lack of a dramaturg who has the balls to say to a famous, renowned director, "Hey don't you feel like this is a little past the point of mind-numbingly boring?"
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The film Only Lovers Left Alive is stylized, with its own pace, specific musical and sound aspects, and distinctive acting - slow, weary, resigned - where faster moments stand out, although there aren't many of them. The horror atmosphere is minimal, but for example, the scene in the airplane is very well-shot, even though it logically fizzles out. A good film, but one that is not easy to digest.
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“I don’t have any heroes.” Jarmusch chose a similar direction as he did with Dead Man – back to the roots of the genre, back to the starting point. Before the time when vampires became sexy, massively popular killers. Instead of a raging bloodbath, Jarmusch offers up a hypnotically minimalistic hipster love story that – because of the lack of a narrative structure – works better as an essay on the value of immortality in a world of ephemeral experiences, things and people than as a drama with a plot that progressively develops. Unlike the human zombies that surround them, Adam and Eve are conscious of historical contexts. Disregarding fashion trends, they pick and choose what appeals to them from human history, evaluate the new in the context of the old, and understand time as being cyclical rather than a linear march toward increasingly better technology (the circle as a symbol of eternity appears in the mise-en-scene from the beginning). However, this approach is not a choice for them, but a necessity. Their lives also go in circles, as they no longer have anywhere to go, so they simply keep moving, discovering what is already known to them. Jarmusch does the same as a director. He does not enrich his poetics with new elements, as he merely makes use of what his fans already know and like. He uses the perspectives of the immortal outsiders (Adam and Eve do not belong anywhere in terms of time or space) to examine the present in such a way that is close to him. The important thing is to give vent to the imagination, to ceaselessly find the old in the new and the new in the old. The narrative indicates several times that the conventions of civilisation do not allow Adam and Eve to give expression to their nature (the appetising sight of fresh blood in the hospital and later on the plane). It’s not difficult to find a parallel with sexual minorities. These are all stimulating ideas and Jarmusch definitely does not straightforwardly present them to us through a pair of superbly written characters, as if they are superior to everything else. It was nice to ponder the attempts at imaginative reinterpretation of the genre, stylistic inventiveness (only the intoxicating hypnotic sequences will remain in the viewer’s memory) and brilliant work with the visual aspect (as in so many other vampire films, the production design was inspired by 19th-century art), but I didn’t see much that was new in any of it. 70%
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Jarmusch tests the limits of the audience's perspective - you'd stake another filmmaker for the cheapest name symbolism - while building one of the best musical playlists ever. In a melancholic atmosphere, he lets two cursed men of infinite time pass who have run out of reasons to live, letting one of the year's essential viewing experiences mature as the hours tick by. 4 ½.
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A very stylish and darkly atmospheric drama! Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton make a very eccentric and exotic duo. Their appearance and behavior was portrayed perfectly. It doesn't have much in common with horror, but surprisingly I wasn't bored for a second, so a decent three stars. Action 0/10, Suspense 2/10, Gore 3/10, Story 8/10, Atmosphere 7/10.
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