Only Lovers Left Alive (2014)
83%RT Audience Score: 75%
Awards & Nominations: 9 wins & 44 nominations
Worth watching for Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton’s performances alone, Only Lovers Left Alive finds writer-director Jim Jarmusch adding a typically offbeat entry to the vampire genre
Only Lovers Left Alive is the perfect movie for anyone who wants to hang out with vampires and listen to some old soul records. It’s a fun and sweet character study that’s both enjoyable and artful. Plus, Tilda Swinton dancing freely and wholeheartedly is a scene that you won’t want to miss. And let’s not forget about Detroit, which looks like a place any vampire would be happy to be. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy this sparkling script and charismatic cast that injects a new burst of life into the vampire genre.
Production Company(ies)
HBO Documentary Hit The Ground Running Films, Notorious Pictures,
Distributor
Sony Pictures Classics
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Hamburg, Germany
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language and brief nudity
Year of Release
2013
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Surround 7.1 Datasat Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 2m
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Language(s):English, French, Arabic, Turkish
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 11, 2014 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 19, 2014
Genre(s)
Drama/Romance
Keyword(s)
starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Anton Yelchin, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Jeffrey Wright, directed by Jim Jarmusch, written by Jim Jarmusch, drama, romance, horror, fantasy, R rating, box office gross $1.9M, reviewed by Sarah Mirk, Jason Bailey, Jonathan Romney, Rene Rodriguez, Bill Goodykoontz, Tom Long, Nikki Baughan, Taylor Baker, Matt Patches, Kristy Strouse, Dustin Chang, art film, vampire genre, centuries-old, modern society, artistic, sophisticated, offbeat, character study, Detroit, Jeremy Thomas, Reinhard Brundig, Sony Pictures Classics
Worldwide gross: $7,609,187
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $9,666,316
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,973
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,054,124
US/Canada gross: $1,879,534
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,387,662
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,989
US/Canada opening weekend: $87,989
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $111,777
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,897
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $7,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $8,892,436
Production budget ranking: 1,720
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $4,788,577
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$4,014,697
ROI to date (est.): -29%
ROI ranking: 1,561
Tom Hiddleston – Adam
Anton Yelchin – Ian
Mia Wasikowska – Ava
John Hurt – Christopher Marlowe
Jeffrey Wright – Dr. Watson
Director(s)
Jim Jarmusch
Writer(s)
Jim Jarmusch
Producer(s)
Jeremy Thomas, Reinhard Brundig
Film Festivals
Sundance, South by Southwest, Cannes, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
9 wins & 44 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (208) | Top Critics (71) | Fresh (179) | Rotten (29)
The film is mostly a fun, sweet character study, but it’s enjoyable flow is marred periodically by its own desire to be cool.
January 20, 2021
Sarah Mirk
Bitch Media
TOP CRITIC
Somewhere around the lovely scene of Tilda Swinton dancing, freely and wholeheartedly, to the old soul record, Jarmusch’s M.O. becomes clear: ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ is a hanging-out move, just with vampires.
June 18, 2016
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
It makes for one of the most enjoyable and artful pieces of cinematic dandyism in the Jarmusch catalog, and for all its poised flipness, one of the saddest and most serious.
July 1, 2014
Jonathan Romney
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Even vampires get the blues.
May 8, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald
TOP CRITIC
This is a film that finds horror not in the extreme, but in the mundane. That alone makes it a worthwhile entry in a genre that it both inhabits and rises above.
May 8, 2014
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic
TOP CRITIC
Somehow it’s all very entertaining and weird and fitting, with Detroit looking like a place any vampire would be happy to be.
May 2, 2014 | Rating: B
Tom Long
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
A sparkling script and charismatic cast injects a new burst of life into a genre that’s become pallid and toothless…
January 11, 2022
Nikki Baughan
AWFJ Women on Film
An appetite for blood is exchanged for a lust of human culture. Written and instrumental, creators and sites of creation.
August 19, 2021 | Rating: 95/100
Taylor Baker
Drink in the Movies
Don’t expect too much plot – this is all about luxuriating in the picture, and sucking down every ounce of blood Jarmusch has drawn from his obsessions.
July 7, 2021
Matt Patches
Polygon
An intellectually inviting, endearing, and wonderful movie. And yes, there are vampires too.
March 7, 2021
Kristy Strouse
Wonderfully Weird and Horrifying
With Jamusch’s deadpan humor abound, Only Lovers Left Alive is a beautiful, funny, playful pun at vampire genre and also a poignant contemplation on long term relationship. I mean, how do you keep up the freshness when you have eternity together?
February 24, 2021
Dustin Chang
Floating World
With great performances all around, Beyond the Hills is an emotionally exhausting experience. Even with a running time of 2 1/2 hours, the film succeeds in holding your attention from beginning to end with unrelenting tension.
February 24, 2021
Dustin Chang
ScreenAnarchy…
Plot
Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston’s performances are worth watching alone.
Jim-Jarmusch.jpg
