Only Lovers Left Alive (3 stars out of 4)

Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive is not your typical vampire love story. While Jarmusch's vampires do crave blood and can't handle sunlight, that is where the similarities to the genre end. Only Lovers Left Alive is a dark comedy about love, the reclusiveness of artists, and how chemical dependency (in this case DNA) can affect both. Jarmusch's latest offers an unexpectedly light presentation of a mostly dark story. His methodical presentation coupled with inspired performances by Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston help Only Lovers Left Alive rise above some of the trapping of the "troubled junkie musician" trope.

Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is an isolated musician living in Detroit. He stays up late laying down moody instrumental tracks and spends his days sleeping. It isn't just his artistic ambitions that keep Adam up late. It turns out he is a vampire. He lives alone recording music just for himself. The only "zombies" (Adam's term for "humans") he comes into contact with are his music equipment delivery-man Ian (Anton Yelchin) and his "blood dealer" Dr. Watson (Jeffrey Wright). Ian is becoming more and more pessimistic about his life (a neighborhood power outlet with far too many plugs in it sends him over the edge) and is heavily considering ending his eternal existence. His wife, Eve (Tilda Swinton) lives in Tangier and regularly "drinks" with her good friend Marlowe (John Hurt), a writer who you may have heard of by his pen-name. Even across continents, Eve can sense Ian's isolated depression. She hops a flight (a "red-eye" of course) to Detroit to be with him. There she attempts to bring some life into Adam's dead world.

Detroit is the true star of Only Lovers Left Alive. Even though it is shown exclusively at night, there is no better place to create a film about Gothic loneliness and isolation. While the occasional glimmer of light off a building like the Fox Theater shows some of the beauty that can even be found in the dark, Detroit and the story are much more inclined to show the darkness of the surroundings. Eve is astonished to find the area around Adam's dwelling is full of skunks and fungi. Ian takes Eve on a trip to the old Michigan Palace, an abandoned theater that was turned into a parking garage. Detroit encapsulates many of the thematic qualities of Only Lovers Left Alive. It is the perfect setting for this story.

"Blood" in this film is easily interchangeable with some sort of drug. The film is littered with shots of vampires feeding and throwing their head back as they have gotten they much-needed fix. The analogy of "blood" and "drugs" is nothing necessarily new in art but it does tie into Adam's persona as a "malaised artist". Most of the time it accents the "junkie love story" aspect which is nice and somewhat unexpected. The second-half addition of Ava (Mia Wasikowska), Eve's troublesome sister, is where the junkie/vampire parallel is heavily on display. It fits nicely though and adds some much needed characterization and conflict to a subdued story.

It is a wonder that Tilda Swinton hasn't played a vampire until now. All the more interesting is that Swinton is playing the least vampiric character. Her Eve is playful and wondrous about the world around her, even though she has been around for centuries. Swinton is especially radiant in her scenes with Hurt which puts an interesting spin on how friendship can only strengthen through the years. These scenes are unexpectedly sweet, a feeling we don't normally connect with films about vampires. A scene in the last act between Swinton and Hurt is easily the best moment of the movie and one of the most touching scenes in some time. Hiddleston is given slightly less to do with his larger but more subdued role. He plays a shut-in musician very well. Much like Swinton's Eve, we never would confuse Hiddleston's Adam with a human although we have certainly seen humans act in similar reclusive manners. It is nice to see Hiddleston receive strong roles where he doesn't have to wear a super-villain outfit.

Unexpectedly, it is the occasional steps into comedy where Only Lovers Left Alive falters. The occasional mention of Adam and Eve (even writing those names together is somewhat eye-roll inducing) coming into contact with important people through time is charming. Eve's conversations with Marlow about his writing alter-ego Shakespeare are a little excessive (would they really discuss Shakespeare so often after 500 years?) but give the first half some welcome lightness. Unfortunately, hearing Adam discuss inspiring the music of Mozart is over-the-top even as a throwaway line. While Adam's music is definitely impressive (it somehow leaks without actually being released), there is nothing to suggest he is one of the greatest composers living (or dying). This and other references to the passage of time the characters have lived through gets tiresome and waters down the story.

Although far from a fast-paced and romantic film, Only Lovers Left Alive takes an interesting spin on both the romantic dramedy genre and especially the vampire genre. Although it does fall into being a little too cutesy, the wonderful setting and inspired casting make it the best hipster date movie out since Before Midnight. Although both films present a dying relationship, the relationship in Only Lovers Left Alive is considerably more undead.