"Only Lovers Left Alive" is a film that's both poetic and ironic - it's underground, languid and cool. If you're not on it's wavelength it may just seem slow, but if you relax and give yourself over to its we've-got-all-the-time-in-the-world pacing, you begin to enter its hypnotic stream, and then what a pleasure it becomes. The film deals with love and mortality - the passage of time, what's of value and lasts, and what is just of the moment. There also is a generational theme, embodied in the four vampire characters (relative to vampire years): childhood, adolescence, mature adult, and old age. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddelston, as Adam and Eve, make a lovely and deeply romantic vampire couple - one for whom endless time has not been wasted - they're philosophical, sophisticated and so much in love. Tilda and Tom are perfection in these roles, their chemistry really holds the film together. John Hurt is the elder vampire mentor, Kit Marlowe, who has seen it all and has described it profoundly in the writings attributed to Shakespeare (a humorous dig at the old bard). After a while, Ava, Eve's impulsive little vampire-sprite of a sister, enters the film like a whirlwind out of L.A. ("Zombie Central") and proceeds to upend Adam and Eve's gentle world. Mia Wasikowska has a hell of a good time playing Ava as a wild, touchy-feely little jungle cat, always hungry, looking for diversion and a means to quench her endless thirst. Where Adam and Eve contemplate eternity, art and science, and a loving connection, Ava demands to be fed and wants to party. Finally, Ava's dangerous urges create a crisis that forces the vampire couple to set on another whole course. "Only Lovers Left Alive" is sensual and delicate with beautiful cinematography and a wonderfully evocative soundtrack. The film is refreshing and unique - it's both contemplative and funny, a welcomed antidote to our ADHD society and all it's endless noise, "full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing".
Review of Only Lovers Left Alive
