Only Lovers Left Alive review: Tom Hiddleston wants to suck your blood

Director: Jim Jarmusch; Screenwriter: Jim Jarmusch; Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Right; Running time: 123 mins; Certificate: 15

One of cinema's most defiant rebels jumps on the vampire bandwagon, but never fear: he hasn't gone all the way to the dark side. Writer/director Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Coffee and Cigarettes) casts Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as the bloodsuckers trying to fill their time after so many centuries, like a couple of urban slackers doomed to faff for eternity.

Killing isn't much of a kick, either. Instead, they get their O-negative on the black market, though Hiddleston (best known as Loki in the Thor franchise) has a bit of fun as Adam, drifting through hospital corridors with an incongruous stethoscope and sunglasses, creeping out the doctor who supplies him. He makes a living (so to speak) as a cult rock musician, but he's had it with the world and asks an unwitting groupie (Anton Yelchin) to procure for him a wooden bullet.

It's easy to see where this is going, but his wife Eve (Swinton) knows the signs better than anyone. A moody Skype session sees her winging her way from Morocco to Detroit, Michigan, hoping to relight their fire after much time apart.

Nevertheless, the story moves at a leisurely pace, with the beat set by the languid strains of Adam's electric guitar and a deeply twanging soundtrack featuring Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and White Hills.

Only Lovers Left Alive: BFI London Film Festival 2013
Tom Hiddleston: The many talents of the Thor star

The two have their differences. Eve is an unabashed hedonist, able to take pleasure in the little things, but they're still head over heels and she encourages Adam to try and see things her way. They hang out, shoot the breeze, listen to music, make love and get high on Adam's premium grade red stuff. Swap the blood for other Class A substances and this could be Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love - except there's still hope for a happy ending.

Mia Wasikowska rudely crashes the party as Eve's little sister Ava, a greedy whirlwind of a vamp in a far cry from the actress's 2011 portrayal of Jane Eyre. Her lack of impulse control puts a strain on the relationship but it's fun to watch the sparks fly. Jarmusch presents a world of gothic glamour and dark fantasy and brings it back down to earth with a lot of bickering. The result is a film that is gritty and seductive, profound and silly, begging the question: what's the point of living?

Hiddleston is brilliant. He pulls off a delicate balancing act, never tipping too far into sulky self-indulgence and Swinton is a reliable anchor with her no-nonsense approach to immortal life. It seems an unlikely pairing and yet they have a great rapport, both able to tap into an unconventional vein of humour. After all, the script has John Hurt walking the earth as the un-dead Christopher Marlowe - never bitter, despite being the real author of Shakespeare's plays.

Adam may continue to ponder the big question, but Jarmusch makes a very strong argument for Eve's philosophy of life. He delivers two hours of pure, unadulterated pleasure; a fiendishly amusing, high-spirited movie that simply bleeds with cool.