Director: Jim Jarmusch
Talent: Tom Hiddlestone, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin
Release Date: 21st February
Adam (Tom Hiddlestone) is a despondent but successful underground musician, and vampire. When his depression at the state of the world threatens to engulf him his wife (Tilda Swinton) comes to stay, followed shortly by her sister (Mia Wasikowska), whose capricious nature has always brought the couple trouble.
Their relationship is given scope by garbled references to the likes of Galileo and Byron, and since the chemistry between the two leads is minimal it’s the only clue that this is a tale of epic romance. Hiddlestone, the Shakespearean actor, clearly struggles delivering such inorganic dialogue while Swinton’s lazily drawn character is only a few sleepovers past a groupie, leaving Mia Wasikowska’s fleeting appearance to outshine the two heavyweights.
If you decide that Only Lovers Left Alive‘s excess of cool is a jab at the hipster ethos surrounding the modern vampire myth, then you may find this palatable. Self-conscious pastiche or mindless foray into an anaemic genre? Possibly both, making it a failure on two fronts. – Eoghain Meakin
