A must-see on the NZIFF calendar. Before entering the theater, I talked about the film with Barbara, an old lady I met several times at the film festival, and learned that the film critics were generally disappointed with the film. But our consensus is of course: anyway, we are here to see Jarmusch, and it is already a pleasure to see his film language.
After watching the movie, I didn't want to say that I was disappointed, but it was really unsatisfactory, maybe because his last film, The Limits of Control, was too exciting, and the audience couldn't help but expect too much. The story of the film is very simple, and the issues you want to express are also on the surface, and there is no room for the audience to think, which may be one of the reasons why it was not well received.
Second, I personally feel that the film is too long-winded. I mean compared to Jarmusch's films, too many life-like scenes and dialogues make the film look childish and clichéd. There are no specific examples here, but it is a general feeling, which can be cut more neatly, or cooler.
Third, imagine two literary vampires who have lived for thousands of years. They have reached the peak in all fields of human society, not only literature, science, politics, philosophy, etc., etc. They may even know the tricks of Jesus. They can choose to live according to the customs and traditions of any time and any place! This is simply too cool, super!
However, when they told me their stories about themselves and the great artists in history without caring, it made me think of Midnight in Paris, and I got goosebumps, haha. I thought to myself, it shouldn't be as tired as Woody Allen, this is not Jarmusch.
Well, that's all for some small regrets, here are some cool senses that I still remember.
The story of the film is very simple, and there is no deep meaning in it. As the title says, in this world, only love can live forever. To put it pessimistically, the end of mankind, if we go on like this, we all know what it is. "Have the water wars started?" "No, they are still all about oil."
Two vampires who have experienced thousands of years, the only thing that is highly affirmed to human civilization is art. 5000 years of human civilization, what is the most essence? philosophy? theology? science? politics? law? Art!
Eve can read text in any language at any time. Imagine being able to directly read the ancient Babylonian poems thousands of years ago without translation, and because of the life experience at that time, you can intuitively experience the emotion and beauty of those love poems, what kind of pleasure would that be?
Adam, who wrote music with Bach and Schubert to a considerable degree, is now obsessed with creating psychedelic, noise, goth metal. It's pretty cool, and only Jarmusch can think of it.
Oh no, the people of the Celestial Dynasty should be more powerful. I think, if this movie is transplanted to China, I mean if ah, then I think Adam will definitely participate in The Voice, X-factor, even Happy Boys, and there will definitely be a picture of Li Yuchun on his wall next to The lady. Photo. Long live the heaven!
Zombie boys, fresh blood, sth special for you, etc. The meaning of these expressions is obvious. The thrill of a cup of fresh blood should make the audience who are familiar with Jarmusch laugh out loud. It's so cool that I can't help but want to light a cigarette and take a deep breath.
By the way, the most worth mentioning is the filming location. Before this film, I watched an Indonesian documentary in another film festival with my friends. At that time, I discussed a few words with my friends about the film, barbaric, violent, and low level of civilization. I say that it is precisely in the 'most civilized of modern times' countries that there is this most barbaric, violent, and most anti-civilized state violence -- look at Detroit today. As a result, I watched the Detroit movie a few days later, and Jarmusch just happened to be on point. Don't forget to make a joke on Jack White.
The end of the film is to the point. After a long period of scientific and rigorous discussion, TMD can't understand it at all. Anyway, the result is that they are dying anyway, so let's turn the zombie couple in front of them into vampires, because Only lovers left alive.
Perhaps, as some commented that this is one of Jarmusch's most poetic films, yes, it's time to choose an angle when you have the chance to watch it a second time.
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