Sólo los amantes sobreviven

“I don’t have any heroes.” Jarmusch chose a similar direction as he did with Dead Man – back to the roots of the genre, back to the starting point. Before the time when vampires became sexy, massively popular killers. Instead of a raging bloodbath, Jarmusch offers up a hypnotically minimalistic hipster love story that – because of the lack of a narrative structure – works better as an essay on the value of immortality in a world of ephemeral experiences, things and people than as a drama with a plot that progressively develops. Unlike the human zombies that surround them, Adam and Eve are conscious of historical contexts. Disregarding fashion trends, they pick and choose what appeals to them from human history, evaluate the new in the context of the old, and understand time as being cyclical rather than a linear march toward increasingly better technology (the circle as a symbol of eternity appears in the mise-en-scene from the beginning). However, this approach is not a choice for them, but a necessity. Their lives also go in circles, as they no longer have anywhere to go, so they simply keep moving, discovering what is already known to them. Jarmusch does the same as a director. He does not enrich his poetics with new elements, as he merely makes use of what his fans already know and like. He uses the perspectives of the immortal outsiders (Adam and Eve do not belong anywhere in terms of time or space) to examine the present in such a way that is close to him. The important thing is to give vent to the imagination, to ceaselessly find the old in the new and the new in the old. The narrative indicates several times that the conventions of civilisation do not allow Adam and Eve to give expression to their nature (the appetising sight of fresh blood in the hospital and later on the plane). It’s not difficult to find a parallel with sexual minorities. These are all stimulating ideas and Jarmusch definitely does not straightforwardly present them to us through a pair of superbly written characters, as if they are superior to everything else. It was nice to ponder the attempts at imaginative reinterpretation of the genre, stylistic inventiveness (only the intoxicating hypnotic sequences will remain in the viewer’s memory) and brilliant work with the visual aspect (as in so many other vampire films, the production design was inspired by 19th-century art), but I didn’t see much that was new in any of it. 70% (24.03.2014)

Atmosphere, melancholic mood, artsy historical jokes, rinse and repeat. It does have style, though. (26.04.2014)

Jarmusch tests the limits of the audience's perspective - you'd stake another filmmaker for the cheapest name symbolism - while building one of the best musical playlists ever. In a melancholic atmosphere, he lets two cursed men of infinite time pass who have run out of reasons to live, letting one of the year's essential viewing experiences mature as the hours tick by. 4 ½. (05.05.2014)

At the time of its release, Jim Jarmusch’s melancholic and peculiar variation on the vampire theme was mostly tolerated by critics of the middle and older professional generations, who spoke of quirks, hipsterism and emptiness. Over the years, however, Only Lovers Left Alive has become a popular film among the younger generation, whose moods and thoughts Jarmusch appeals to with precision. It could be said that it is not Jarmusch who has aged and lost his poetics, which were valued by his current critics, but rather that they have lost the sensitivity that once led them to adore this icon of American independent film. Conversely, Jarmusch remains the same and speaks best to the same audience, which comprises romantically tattered young people. As Jarmusch himself says, genres fascinate him because they represent frames in which each artist can paint his own picture. This is exactly how he approaches vampires and creates from them the immortal (and thus polished-by-centuries) powers of his earlier characters of existentially ragged dead men and nocturnal creatures desperately longing for kindred spirits while simultaneously despising society, as well as the history and traditions of refined amalgams of devotees of world culture. Jarmusch’s vampires are cool, romantic intellectuals and artists elevated above earthly needs and devoting themselves to the beauty that is associated with that which has stood up against time and fashion, while suffering the loss of that beauty from today’s hectic world. (28.07.2019)

The boundaries of control, which brought many film fans to the brink of despair or the threshold of fury, appealed to me, partly because I enjoyed Jarmusch's mannerisms and self-centeredness. For a while now, I've felt that if Jim doesn't change his approach, the day will come when the scythe will hit the stone, and that was perfectly fulfilled in the case of this film. I endured 65 minutes of concentrated boredom, only to fast forward through the rest of the film, and I must admit, I bitterly regret those very long 65 minutes. The film is simply too empty for me. In my opinion, it's a clear artistic failure. Overall impression: 20%. (07.11.2016)

A postmodern vampire romance that goes hand in hand and side by side with Jordan's Byzantium. It has an extremely slow pace, a script reminiscent of fan fiction, and the divine Tilda reigning over everything. This can also be the path the genre takes. (19.08.2014)

You see the posters, you've seen the movie. The beautifully framed shots with amazing mise-en-scene are considerably more than the whole more-or-less story with characters so impenetrable that no one even wants to penetrate them. The sad kind of movie that if it wasn't dutifully artsy, lyrical, and independent, it would have been 45 minutes shorter and at least respectable. That said, it's funny how what the film really lacks most is what's often picked on in Czech films, the lack of a dramaturg who has the balls to say to a famous, renowned director, "Hey don't you feel like this is a little past the point of mind-numbingly boring?" (24.03.2014)

One thing that really annoys me about Jim Jarmusch's films is how the stories are dragging out. Jarmusch is able to add such a tremendous amount of tediousness into each of his films that I always spend at least a part of it being bored. Other than this, the premise seemed very interesting, the acting performances were quite decent, and I was also intrigued by its criticism of the current state of affairs. If it hadn’t been for the sluggish pace, I would have given four stars. (08.05.2019)

The film "Only Lovers Left Alive" is stylized, it has its own pace, its specific music and sound side, its specific acting, slow, tired, resigned, in which the faster moments excel, of which there are not many. The horror atmosphere is minimal, not at all, but for example, the airplane scene is very well shot, even though it logically comes across as lost according to the style. A good film, but not easily bearable. (03.09.2014)