2013 vampire movie
Rating: 14/20
Plot: A mopey vampire reconnects with the love of his eternal life, another vampire. They find their lifestyles threatened by rabid fans, an impulsive sister, and changing times.
Pal Larry and I disagreed on The Limits of Control, the Jarmusch feature film that preceded this one. He, a longtime Jarmusch fan who would rank Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law as two of his favorite comedies just like I would, hated it. I liked it, but in a sort-of lukewarm way, and it would be the movie I'd put last in a list of best Jim Jarmusch movies unless Permanent Vacation counts. I don't really remember the movie all that well either. This movie, which automatically gives you a sour taste in your mouth because it's a vampire movie in a time when somebody like Jim Jarmusch just shouldn't be making vampire movies, has a similar feel to that movie. And that means that it doesn't really feel all that Jarmuschian. I have reasons to believe that Larry disliked this one, too.
I liked it though. What really stood out to me was the music, a large chunk performed by Jarmusch's band SQÜRL, this crunchy screeching guitar-driven doom-psych stuff ostensibly performed and recorded by Thor's brother's character in this movie. It was a little like a darker, less competent Godspeed You Black Emperor! and perfectly complimented the overall ennui or lethargy that hung from some of these characters. What are you going to do when you've lived for centuries, apparently starfucking but ultimately existing as a recluse and outsider despite being gifted? You multitrack yourself and compose music in collaboration with the cosmos of your brain's right hemisphere. Or the left one. Alligators and crocodiles to me. The spinning opener with a Wanda June cover is a thrilling opener.
I also liked the performances. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton. Actually, in this movie, Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are very nearly Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston. They're vampiric, and although their names--Adam and Eve--are really too cheesy, I like their tired apathy and their eternal perseverance. And I bought their love even though it wasn't explicit. Of course, how could that love not be real when the couple is dancing to Charlie Feathers and eating blood popsicles while playing chess? Even better than those two was John Hurt as Christopher Marlowe, that Christopher Marlowe. I've learned that John Hurt kind of steals any movie he's in though.
This is also sneakily funny, like your typical Jarmusch comedy. No, it's not as funny as his earlier films, the ones that might make you laugh out loud, but it's still funny in that way where some people won't even know it's supposed to be funny. Hiddleston gets a standout line and walks around in a comical get-up as "Dr. Faust." The comedy's subtle, but you'll have to let out a controlled chuckle if you're a hipster so that the other hipsters around you will know you're in on it.
You'd be tempted to think this is a movie about love because there's a romance at the heart of it and the word "lovers" is in the title. It might be a semi-autobiographical movie about the director, a bit of an auteuristic outsider himself. And it might be a movie about Detroit, a city which, according to Swinton's character, "will bloom again." Detroit is really another character in this story.
I don't think there's a chance we're getting another Stranger Than Paradise, and I'm not sure Jarmusch's maturity (or whatever you want to call it) as a not-very-prolific filmmaker really excites me. The movies of this second half of his career are still more interetsing than most of what's out there though.
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