ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE is a hypnotic slow burn vampire art house film.  Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a depressed centuries old vampire (living on the outskirts of Detroit) who creates music in private, but he is thinking of suicide by wooden bullet.  His lover Eve (Tilda Swinton) decides to come from Tangiers via a couple of night flights to take him out of his depression as she finds books and music to be thrilling.   Their old friend is Christopher Marlowe (John Hurt) who once supposedly wrote all of Shakespeare’s plays centuries ago.   Adam and Eve’s reunion is disrupted by the arrival of Eve’s vampire sister Ava.  

 

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE is an interesting change of pace for vampire movies as it shows how centuries of living affect the minds of vampires and how they have to be more careful in the age where blood can so easily be contaminated.  Jarmusch approaches their lives like everyday life except they happen to be centuries old vampires with regular problems like the rest of us.  Adam is an underground musician who wants no contact with his fans who somehow manage to find him while Eve wants to shake things up a little and Ava lives carelessly.  If you expect a horror movie, go elsewhere.  If you expect something that is fast paced or the vampires to be hunted, ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE is not that type of film.  It is the love story of two old souls who can be apart for years and yet pick up where they left off when reunited.   If you want a romantic vampire art house film, give this movie a watch.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

TRAVELING AT NIGHT WITH JIM JARMUSCH is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film to see how the director talks with the cast and crew behind takes.

 

26 minutes of deleted and extended scenes which are mostly stuff cut for pacing

 

Yasmine Hamdan “Hal” music video

Theatrical trailer

Previews for other Sony Pictures Classics releases

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE is a poetic slow burn vampire film which defies expectations of what people expect out of vampire films.

 

This blu-ray review is ©8-24-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com