This is a beautiful and artistic movie on many counts: mesmerising soundtrack, atmospheric sets and settings, dreamy camera-work and scene-play, methodically under-stated acting, and slow but sure character development. We get to know the four vampires, especially Adam (played brilliantly by Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (played by the versatile Tilda Swinton), from a series of contrasts and paradoxes as their motives, moods and lives change. They seem both ancient and modern,languorous yet focused, familiar but alien.
As the slim story-line and minimal back-story unfold, the movie focuses on triggering our empathy for creatures who have survived for several centuries, facing many challenges, the most constant of which is the threat of boredom and existential alienation. Apart from blood - as food and drug - their main motives for survival are human knowledge and culture: art, science, literature, music. Living on 'back-door' blood samples from hospitals, these 21st century vampires now avoid feeding on humans because of the growing chances of detection by modern police agencies.
Things had been going fairly smoothly for Adam, a retired rock star hiding away in an old house in Detroit, until his old 'lover' Eve returns from Tangiers, soon followed by her troublesome 'sister' Ava from LA. Ava brings heat to the door, and Adam's quiet life changes. But, as noted, the story is not the main thrust of this movie, nor is vampire mythology (it's not a standard horror flick). My feeling was that the director (Jim Jarmusch) wanted to take a fresh approach to the old narrative theme of empathizing with the experience of being immortal, as well as exploring the metaphor of living with a serious drug habit. He does well on both counts. A classy, moody movie, which you should definitely watch before making any decisions about becoming a vampire.
As the slim story-line and minimal back-story unfold, the movie focuses on triggering our empathy for creatures who have survived for several centuries, facing many challenges, the most constant of which is the threat of boredom and existential alienation. Apart from blood - as food and drug - their main motives for survival are human knowledge and culture: art, science, literature, music. Living on 'back-door' blood samples from hospitals, these 21st century vampires now avoid feeding on humans because of the growing chances of detection by modern police agencies.
Things had been going fairly smoothly for Adam, a retired rock star hiding away in an old house in Detroit, until his old 'lover' Eve returns from Tangiers, soon followed by her troublesome 'sister' Ava from LA. Ava brings heat to the door, and Adam's quiet life changes. But, as noted, the story is not the main thrust of this movie, nor is vampire mythology (it's not a standard horror flick). My feeling was that the director (Jim Jarmusch) wanted to take a fresh approach to the old narrative theme of empathizing with the experience of being immortal, as well as exploring the metaphor of living with a serious drug habit. He does well on both counts. A classy, moody movie, which you should definitely watch before making any decisions about becoming a vampire.