Only Lovers Left Alive

Tom Hiddleston Director: Jim Jarmusch Jim Jarmusch

Overview

Noted indie director Jim Jarmusch directs the vampire story Only Lovers Left Alive. Tom Hiddleston stars as Adam, a bloodsucker who makes a living as a reclusive musician in Detroit. He reunites with the love of his life, Eve (Tilda Swinton), a fellow vampire who leaves her home overseas to be with him in the downtrodden Motor City. They eventually get a visit from Eve's irresponsible sister (Mia Wasikowska), who irritates Adam and eventually causes trouble with the one human -- the vampires refer to the living as zombies -- with whom the depressed music hero gets along. Only Lovers Left Alive screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/19/2014
UPC:	0043396440753
Original Release:	2013
Rating:	R
Source:	Sony Pictures
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	2:03:00
Sales rank:	17,578

Special Features

Traveling at night with Jim Jarmusch; Deleted and extended scenes; Yasmine Hamdan "Hal" music video

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Hiddleston	Adam
Tilda Swinton	Eve
Mia Wasikowska	Ava
John Hurt	Marlowe
Anton Yelchin	Ian
Jeffrey Wright	Dr. Watson
Slimane Dazi	Bilal
Carter Logan	Scott
Aurelie Thepaut	Flight Attendant
Ali Amine	Taxi Driver - Detroit
Dave W.	White Hills
Ego Sensation	White Hills
Nick Name	White Hills
Fouad El Achaari	Man on Street, Tangier
Hawchi Mustapha	Man on Street, Tangier
Abdelkader Dourkan	Man on Street, Tangier
Mohamed Chairi Felah	Man on Street, Tangier
Bilal Chair Felah	Man on Street, Tangier
Omar Raissouli	Man on Street, Tangier
Yasmine Hamdan	Yasmine
Marc Codsi	Guitarist
Noureddine Touati	Gnaoua Player
Hanane El Karni	Young Moroccan Lover
Hamza Kadri	Young Moroccan Lover

Technical Credits

Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch	Director,Screenwriter
Greg Brautigan	Asst. Director
Reinhard Brundig	Producer
Bina Daigeler	Costumes/Costume Designer
Sebastian Fahr-Brix	Asst. Director
Anja Fromm	Art Director
Viola Fügen	Associate Producer
Viola Fügen	Associate Producer
Affonso Goncalves	Editor
Manuela Groh	Production Manager
Alainee Kent	Associate Producer
Johanna Koch	Makeup Special Effects
Christos V. Konstantakopoulos	Executive Producer
Drew Kunin	Sound Mixer
Ellen Lewis	Casting
Carter Logan	Co-producer
Volker Lorig	Special Effects Supervisor
Richard Mansell	Associate Producer
Marco Mehlitz	Co-producer
Gian-Piero Ringel	Co-producer
Marco Bittner Rosser	Production Designer
Yorick Le Saux	Cinematographer
Anu Schwartz	Art Director
Stacey Smith	Executive Producer
Christine Strobl	Co-producer
Jeremy Thomas	Producer
Jozef VanWissem	Score Composer

Editorial Reviews

Director Jim Jarmusch has settled into a phase of his career in which he keeps applying his funky, low-key sensibilities to various genres. There was a Western (Dead Man), a crime thriller (The Limits of Control), and what passes in his world for an action flick (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai). Only Lovers Left Alive is his take on the vampire movie, and if you're at all familiar with Jarmusch's unique, deadpan aesthetic, rest assured that the film delivers exactly what you would expect. The story centers on Adam (Tom Hiddleston), a centuries-old vampire who currently resides in the very run-down city of Detroit. He makes money as a musician -- he has a devoted cult following -- and has a single human contact, the closest thing he has to a friend, who brings him supplies. He's also arranged a deal with a local doctor to make withdrawls from a blood bank; that way, he doesn't have to kill people to stay alive. Adam is initially depressed because the love of his life -- or afterlife, rather -- Eve (Tilda Swinton), has been avoiding him in Europe for the last hundred years or so. He sends word that he wants to reunite, and she soon leaves her mentor (John Hurt) and travels to the Motor City. Together, the duo mope beautifully until they are interrupted by the arrival of Eve's wild-child sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska), whom Adam hates. As is often -- though not always -- the case with Jarmusch, the plot of Only Lovers Left Alive isn't as important as the mood, the tone, and the thematic suggestions that swirl around the main characters. The movie is offbeat in the traditional sense: The rhythms are slower than you'd expect, but they never feel stilted. Jarmusch has a fondness for the goofy -- like the Biblical allusions in the protagonists' names -- that keeps this from ever becoming too straight-laced. The movie eventually evolves into a mood piece that uses the folklore of vampires as a metaphor for how human beings are living too long and using up precious resources. The film seems to be saying that all that's left are love and music, and that there are worse ways to go out as a civilization. Jarmusch shot the picture in Detroit and uses the city's lived-in, dilapidated surroundings to superb effect -- they underscore the story's elegiac themes. As corny as Jarmusch can get -- his vampires refer to humans as "zombies" -- this is not a movie played for laughs, nor is it particularly easy to warm up to. The director is more or less demanding that you meet him on his terms, but that's not a problem when he already possesses a very well-known and quickly identifiable style. Only Lovers Left Alive shows that Jarmusch's muse seems to be as eternal as Adam and Eve.

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert