Jacob's 31 Day Halloween Movie Challenge - Day 25

Day 25: Only Lovers Left Alive

A movie that is unapologetically its own thing, a staple of any Jim Jarmusch film, this one tells the tale of a hipster vampire couple. 

I remember seeing the trailers for this film and being annoyed at how hipster it looked, and please don't let me be misunderstood, this movie has many hipster elements (one of the vampires owns a visible copy of Infinite Jest, not kidding), but there's something very hypnotic about both the tone and the deliberate pacing of the film that keeps the annoyance at bay, as if the movie itself is a vampire putting the viewer in a trance. 

There's not much in the way of story structure (another staple of Jarmusch's), instead it's more of a look at a week in the lives of this married couple who've been together for over a century. 

What makes it unique in terms of a vampire story is the characters' connection to music, philosophy, literature, etc. in that they've met and witnessed many famous artists. Art is the one thing they feel the "zombies" (their term for us mere mortals) actually did right, a sense of superiority that of course also falls into the hipster category. 

At one point Mia Wasikowska's character actually accuses Adam and Eve (the lead couple) of being hipsters, bringing to light the idea that Jarmusch knew that that's exactly how others would view these characters. This opens up a whole other theory about this entire film being an exploration of making the act of being contrarian an entire lifestyle, literally making these hipster characters an entirely different species from humans, exactly how a true-to-definition hipster would view themselves.

The acting is great, particularly Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, though a special shoutout goes to the late Anton Yelchin, who I didn't even recognize until I remembered seeing his name at the beginning and realized that guy with the beard was him. 

It's a very odd film and certainly not for everyone, but if you're down for a slow-paced, voyeuristic experience that feels more like a hangout than a structured movie with set-ups and pay-offs, then you'll definitely enjoy it.