Only Lovers Left Alive

Name: Only Lovers Left Alive
Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance
Released: April 11, 2014
Duration: 123 min
Rating: 79
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska, Tilda Swinton

2014

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 208 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 208 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 11, 2014 | R

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston

Summary: Adam and Eve have been lovers for centuries. Both are cultured intellectuals with an all-embracing passion for music, literature and science, who have evolved to a level where they no longer kill for sustenance, but still retain their innate wildness. Adam, a reclusive underground musician hiding out in the ruins of contemporary Detroit,Adam and Eve have been lovers for centuries. Both are cultured intellectuals with an all-embracing passion for music, literature and science, who have evolved to a level where they no longer kill for sustenance, but still retain their innate wildness. Adam, a reclusive underground musician hiding out in the ruins of contemporary Detroit, despairs about human civilization’s decline, and worries about future survival. Eve, who is perhaps 3000 years old to Adam’s 500, takes a longer view of history and is more optimistic. She leaves her home in the ancient city of Tangier to come to his side. As blood has been tainted by the zombies (humans), the formerly immortal Adam and Eve must secure uncontaminated blood from hospitals or they will perish. Eve’s close friend, Christopher Marlowe, is an elder vampire who provides Eve with hospital blood. Adam gets his supply from Dr. Watson, a skittish hematologist who provides safe blood at a price. Adam and Eve’s precarious footing is further threatened by the uninvited arrival of Eve’s carefree and uncontrollable little sister Ava. Unlike Adam and Eve, Ava hasn’t yet learned to tame her wilder instincts, and her recklessness concerns Adam.… Expand

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Genre(s): Drama, Horror, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 123 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Keith Uhlich

Apr 8, 2014

If Jim Jarmusch’s languorous, laconic style isn’t your bag, his stone-faced vampire comedy won’t make you a believer. Those who’ve already been bitten, however, will swoon like the film’s toothy leads whenever their lips touch neck juice. Read full review

IndieWire Eric Kohn

May 26, 2013

If you can groove with Jarmusch's patient, philosophical indulgences and the wooden exteriors of his characters' lives, the movie rewards with a savvy emotional payoff about moving forward even when the motivation to do so has gone. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

May 8, 2014

The casting of Hiddleston and Swinton was a stroke of genius: They emanate a particular sort of cool only they seem privy to, accentuating their alienation. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

May 26, 2013

If it is an exercise in style … well, what style. With its retro-chic connoisseurship and analogue era rock, this is a brilliant haute-hippy homage. Read full review

Sheri Linden

Apr 10, 2014

The unhurried film is a beauty. Shooting digitally — a first for Jarmusch and a paradox for a movie that so ardently celebrates the artisanal — cinematographer Yorick Le Saux uses nocturnal lighting to eloquent effect. The titular lovers are beauties too, soulful and captivating. Swinton and Hiddleston make their love story one for the ages. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Susan Wloszczyna

Apr 11, 2014

Like most of Jarmusch’s films, the emphasis is not on action but interaction—especially the verbal kind. And atmosphere. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Apr 18, 2014

Only Lovers Left Alive is simply dead, an exercise in style, bland humor and vague gesture that yet seems to have been made in the naive expectation of a conventional response - that is, of an audience's actually caring. Read full review

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User Reviews

Thegodfatherson

Apr 11, 2014

Yes, Only Lovers Left Alive is another vampire movie. Yes, the characters are very pale and old and romantic. Yes, it is very much full of clichés and stereotypes. However, it is also wickedly smart, beautifully shot, filled to the brim with talent and full of cultural witticisms. This is aYes, Only Lovers Left Alive is another vampire movie. Yes, the characters are very pale and old and romantic. Yes, it is very much full of clichés and stereotypes. However, it is also wickedly smart, beautifully shot, filled to the brim with talent and full of cultural witticisms. This is a movie for film lovers and pop culture enthusiasts. It is a vampire film that takes advantage of its time span; cultural references dating back hundreds of years can be found at every corner. Only Lovers Left Alive does not focus on blood and gore, it is not a thriller nor a horror, it doesn't even truly focus on the world of vampires. Instead, Jarmusch studies the eternal, he explores the quiet, perhaps boring, every day life of a modern, intelligent and ancient being who has, quite literally, seen it all.… Expand

6 of 10 users found this helpful64

allan_dz

Mar 12, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Jim Jarmusch achieves excellence in Only Lovers Left Alive. This is the most romantic movie made in decades; Jarmusch truly understands how love is expressed in its most pure form. Adam and Eve are two vampire lover, who live apart, they both understand the world in a different way, but this means that they complete each other; there cannot exist one without another, but this has nothing to do with being physically together, it is more about what do they talk and how much they need to communicate. Jarmusch´s cinematography is about contemplation, about creating a world where the most beautiful things are there for you to find them in details. The music composed by SQÜRL band where Jarmusch´s band is sublime, it rounds up the whole underground-intellectual vibe of the movie. Finally Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddelston understood exactly what Jarmusch was creating and took acting to another level.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

MarcDoyle

Apr 12, 2014

Love the simmering feel of this film - Hiddleston and Swinton are amazing in it. The juxtaposition of the overnight versions of Detroit and Tangiers is inspired. This is my favorite Jarmusch movie since Broken Flowers.

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

ClaireK

Jan 22, 2015

Mia W. totally steals every scene she's in. Amazing actor. Nice film if you can get past the clichés and predictability. I liked it. Beautifully shot.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

foxgrove

Apr 11, 2014

A simple premise is backed up by a unique interpretation of modern day vampires. The playful screenplay includes dialogue which is often witty or droll and has amusing things to say about the human condition and celebrity. On both these topics it hits more than a few bulls eyes. With theirA simple premise is backed up by a unique interpretation of modern day vampires. The playful screenplay includes dialogue which is often witty or droll and has amusing things to say about the human condition and celebrity. On both these topics it hits more than a few bulls eyes. With their other worldly features both Tom Hiddlestone and Tilda Swinton certainly have the right look and they deliver rich characterisations as the vampire lovers living in seperate dwellings in different countries. Jim Jarmusch's best film to date (I generally dislike his work) is certainly a different take on a tired genre and he allows proceedings to generate charm at a leisurely pace. The production design and music capture the dark milieu creating bags of atmosphere, and the ending is sublime. Be sure to invite this amusingly off beat tale into your life.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

lasttimeisaw

Nov 10, 2014

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Jarmusch’s latest offering is a tall tale of the nocturnal vampires when immortality overkills, one pair of centuries-old vampires, Eve (Swinton) and Adam (Hiddleston) resides in Tangier and Detroit respectively, reunites to brave themselves in the dismal of human race’s sovereign (in the fanged’s term, we are called “zombies”) since Adam is referred as “a suicidal romantic scoundrel”.

continue reading my review on my blog: google cinema omnivore, thanks… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

sethvdk

Jan 9, 2015

This movie was the most pretentious, condescending, boring piece of garbage I've ever seen. I felt like I'd been invited to a party full of misunderstood art-house hipsters desperately trying to out-cool each other. Tom Hiddleston's performance mostly consists of him lounging on a sofa withThis movie was the most pretentious, condescending, boring piece of garbage I've ever seen. I felt like I'd been invited to a party full of misunderstood art-house hipsters desperately trying to out-cool each other. Tom Hiddleston's performance mostly consists of him lounging on a sofa with his shirt off, strumming a guitar and brooding about how nobody understands his art. It made me want to punch him in his greasy face. How this movie is getting such acclaim is beyond me. There's nothing deep, subtle or thoughtful about it. It just sucks.… Expand

4 of 9 users found this helpful45

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