Jim Jarmusch films typically weave skeins of dark and quiet with musical threads in the weft. He allows time. The Only Lovers Left Alive redefines dark, quiet, time (and potentially music) by depicting a very long term conversation, an undying love.
Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston are two stylish, sophisticated vampires, married to one another and deeply conversational for centuries. They don't always reside in the same location. After all, they have had, and will have (with care), millennia to explore being together and apart. Their longevity is much due to passionate interests in literature, music and one another. They are inspired to continue because life is worth living.
I could not take my eyes from this film for a second. The exquisitely low lighting, rich fabrics, visual texture, shiny eyes, and elastic slow moments are enchanting. The dance of time and love as extended over long experience is languorously and intelligently observed. There is wry insight and sharp humor.
The original soundtrack, plus Detroit classics, paces the film perfectly. Literary and musical references amuse and abound. Tilda dancing in her moth eaten robes to "Trapped by a Thing Called Love" has an immortality all its own.
The beautiful script (by Jarmusch, of course), the cast, vision and sound make this a delicious neo-Gothic swoon. How can I join this rather exclusive vampire club? Like the stylish vampires depicted, I have had it with the zombies.
