It’s strange to think that Jim Jarmusch’s 2013 film,
Only Lovers Left Alive, a dreamlike love note to and revision of vampire mythologies, isn’t available on any of the major streaming services. But then again, a film full of luxurious, lingering shots of titular vampiric lovers Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) perusing their centuries-old music and book collections should strike a blow for owning the physical artifact or leaving the goddamn house, we guess.
Only Lovers is no
Twilight; instead it filters the sensuality of
Dracula through a lens of
Naked Lunch and
Picture of Dorian Gray and Kurt Cobain’s doomed life. Much of the action takes place in Detroit and Tangier, where the eternally devoted Adam and Eve maintain their bloodthirst with all of the scientific calculation of a William Burroughs. The performances are spot-on, and the film is beautifully shot and decadently paced, feeling like an extended fever dream, as Jarmusch no doubt intended. A word of advice: Either sit wayyyy up front or put on horse blinders or sit at the very back, or you’re going to have to see every couple in the joint turning to each other and whispering, “That’s us,” roughly six hundred billion times. Cartoonishly chomping on free popcorn like you’re Max Cady in
Cape Fear might be a momentary balm, however.
8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 | Gods & Monsters, 5421 International Drive | 407-270-6273 |
godmonsters.com | free
