REVIEW: Only Lovers Left Alive

I saw this film a couple of weeks ago already, but I never found the time or energy to review it. However, I loved it enough to push my five million essays and nagging conscience aside and tell you why I loved it so much.

So, if you've been around for the last couple of years, you've probably noticed how Tom Hiddleston, and to a lesser extent, Tilda Swinton, have been appearing in a lot of films. That's why I was rather surprised when I found out that the big movie theatres in Belgium were not showing Only Lovers Left Alive. Since I really wanted to see it, we decided to go to an indie movie theatre in the centre of Brussels, which actually ended up being a very good experience. 

Only Lovers Left Alive tells the story of two ancient vampires, Adam and Eve, who have been around for longer than they can remember. Due to their incredible age, they get very bored; Adam's musical instruments no longer interest him as much and Eve has read about everything worth reading. We get to witness two vampires filled with spleen, trying to deal with the meaninglessness of immortality, each in their own way. This makes for beautiful, wistful scenes, but do not be alarmed, it's not all sad. Comic relief comes in the shape of Eve's little sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska) who does not care all that much about appropriate behaviour and being subtle - a vampire teenager, if you will. Some of Adam and Eve's conversations will also bring a smile to your face; they talk about historical figures, writers, musicians, and otherwise. Adam even has a wall on which he has pictures of all the people he once knew or was inspired by. 

A final and crucial element of the film that really needs to be mentioned is the music, written mainly by Jozef van Wissem and SQÜRL. It is absolutely fantastic, but works best in the context of the film, as I found while I used it as background music the other day. The images and music together create a beautiful yet melancholic atmosphere that I couldn't even put into words if I tried; it was simply incomparable to anything I'd ever seen before. So quite simply, if you have any affinity for vampires, indie films or melancholical music at all, you should probably go see this film. You won't regret it.